Other views: School year begins to take shape in Minot

The first of many difficult decisions facing Minot Public School District administrators have been made. There will be many more to come.

Supt. Mark Vollmer announced recently that students from flooded Lincoln Elementary will attend classes at First Presbyterian Church, while the more than 500 students from Erik Ramstad Middle School will call the Minot Municipal Auditorium home for the 2011-12 school year. There will also be portable classrooms set up in the auditorium’s north parking lot. Head Start children will be in portables at Jefferson Early Childhood Center, and students from Central Campus Plus will attend class on the west side of Souris River Campus on the grounds of the Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center.

Vollmer stressed recently that no decisions have been made on what to do with flooded buildings, notably Ramstad and Lincoln. Officials haven’t been able to adequately assess damage to those schools because the buildings are still under water.

Now that the decisions have been made as to where students will attend classes this year, the real work will begin to prepare those sites for incoming students. Classes are set to begin Aug. 24 as scheduled. There will be countless details to be ironed out before that day, and the school year will certainly be a unique experience for everyone involved. But we’re confident students, faculty and administrators will adapt, and we fully expect the 2011-12 school year to be a successful one. And we hope it’s a one-year experience.

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