Hi South High Supporters,
I wanted to give you a quick update on what's happening with Barnard Field. There are two meeting’s minutes you can read and both on the South High Site Council page. http://south.mpls.k12.mn.us/site_council_6 First. are for the special Site Council meeting on January 5th with Superintendent Graff where he told us the ABE/T+ project is proceeding, Site Council also voted to establish a committee to gather input for a Barnard Field plan. The second minutes to read are for the first meeting of the Barnard Field Committee on January 11th. The committee is in the process of gathering as much input from those that practice on it, coach on it, work with it, as well as the rest of us who would like input so that it is the best long-term facility for the future South students. Many of these areas are mentioned in the minutes. Surveys to the coaches and clubs have been sent out. Surveys to the parents/caregivers should be sent out soon. As always, please feel welcome to attend or to let me know if you have input you would like to see addressed or included in the committee. The upcoming committee meetings, January 25th and February 8th, 4:30 pm, have been sent out in the Tiger Pride newsletter and are posted on the South High site, but since many of you have been part of these emails for months now, I wanted you to know you are still very much included in the process. There is a long way to go and we don’t know the outcome. I hope you stay informed and vocal. Thank you, Scott Schluter South High parent Barnard Field Committee chair
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Update: There is a South High Field Planning Committee helping gather input on what the South students, staff, coaches and community want for a NEW South High athletic field and facility. Committee updates and minutes are located on this site and the South High Site Council page. What the options are from a space and budget standpoint are what we are wanting to determine. What can we do now? What can we do in the future by planning for it now? One thing was made clear by our coaches surveys, everyone wants/needs more space.
Hi South High Supporters,
A brief update on the special Site Council meeting and the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization meeting last night. Site Council meeting: Superintendent Graff stated that the ABE/T+ building is moving forward. There was no flexibility on this point. Mr. Graff went on to say that Jay Pomeroy of Anderson/Johnson, a landscape architect, was brought in to come up with an athletic field plan for South. When someone asked Mr. Pomeroy whether eight lanes would fit, he hesitantly answered “yes”. He was brought in just before 12/25/16, so he said he hadn’t time to plan it out. Mr. Pomeroy stated that he needed to know what South wanted. There is a good starting point that was done by the South High staff in 1995 and that was part of my presentation of the history of Barnard Field and the athletic field options that had been planned over the past 21 years. Jack Tamble of Adult Education and Rochelle Cox of Special Education gave a quick summary of their programs. Trent Tucker spoke briefly of working to have an athletic field for South. A Site Council vote was taken to form a committee to meet two times before the next Site Council meeting to have the workings for a plan for the South Fields. Mr. Graff would like to have the field done by 2018/2019. The goal is to include staff, students, coaches and community in the South High Barnard field plans. The CNO meeting had a presentation of the ABE/T+ to the Corcoran community by the two architects, David Miller and Rick Wessling from Urbanworks, Mark Bollinger, Jack Tamble and Rochelle Cox from MPS, Richard Mammon of Change, Inc. Mark Bollinger stated that MPS and CNO had been working on this project for seven or more years. At that time, Jim Davnie, District 63 legislator and South High parent, asked David Miller, lead architect from Urbanworks, what he was charged to do with this project. His response was to build for the two programs. Mr. Davnie then asked if he was asked to include South for input and Mr. Miller said “no”. Mr Davnie asked the same question to Mr. Bollinger, who worked on purchasing the property for MPS and his response if he was asked to include input from South was also “no”. Ray Aponte gave a viewpoint from South. I also said it would have been so much better if South had been included by MPS in the same timeframe as CNO. Unfortunately, it makes it seem to some that we are against ABE and T+, which we are not. The lack of having all the parties at the table from the beginning makes it seemingly pit against each other and that’s not what we want at all. CNO unanimously voted to approve the ABE/T+ plan for the CNO Board vote next week. Scott Schluter South High parent History of Barnard Field 1995 - South High School Architectural Plans and Input -Show Entire Plan -Staff input on athletic needs and space-list -31st Street vacated in plan -Athletic fields north/south, 31st to Lake 2000 - City of Minneapolis Lake/Hiawatha Master Plan -show map -athletic fields enlarged -31st Street removed 2003 - MPS asks Minneapolis to vacate 31st Street -Mpls refused vacate and 2nd request at plaza street also denied 2014 - Sale of 6.5 acre Brown Institute site - Bollinger letter of expanding existing neighbors - Bates letter asking about SHS expanding fields to Lake 2016 - January MPS Board letter by CNO, SHS, Cano, Foundation - asking for master plan for campus before any building takes place 2016 - CNO submits "mid-town campus" plan - plan shows need for enlarged athletic fields and entire new SHS building 2016 - This is the fourth property owned by MPS - The Y was to have a competition pool for South High swimming. - 1995 plan states only 50% of phy ed space needs, so 15 minutes of phy ed is walking to Fieldhouse. 2016 - Eight Superintendents over this time period. Show South High Star Tribune video from 11:10 to end. http://www.mnfootballhub.com/news_article/show/186211?referrer_id=648058 This is what this is all about, the students. The ability for the students to compete, to succeed, to fail and to get picked back up. It is also about the ability to allow the students and the community to cheer our students on, to feel welcome and appreciated and to welcome and appreciate each other. Shocker that apparently there are updates to Barnard Field improvements to be shown by MPS AD Trent Tucker and a Mr. Pomeroy. I know of no one who knows anyone or anything about any involvement in these "updates”. No idea who Mr. Pomeroy is. No idea on the improvements. Transparency is still very opaque. Scott AGENDA SITE COUNCIL South High School Media Center January 5, 2017 4:00 – 5:00 pm 4:00 – 4:05 Welcome and Introductions (Steve Richter) 4:05 – 4:15 Superintendent Comments (Superintendent Graff) 4:15 – 4:25 Principal’s Report (Ray Aponte) 4:25 – 4:35 History of Barnard Field (Scott Schluter) 4:35 – 4:45 Update on ABE/TPlus Building
4:45 – 4:55 Update on Barnard Field improvements
4:55 – 5:00 Future Items
Hi South High Supporters,
Three important events this week pertaining to the South High Athletic Field: 1. Special Site Council Meeting Superintendent Ed Graff is attending a special South High Site Council meeting this Thursday, Jan 5th, 4 pm. in the SHS conference room across from the office. This is an open meeting and all are welcome. http://south.mpls.k12.mn.us/graff_to_visit_site_council_thursday.html 2. MPS Presentation of its Lake St Building Plans There is also a presentation by MPS of their plans for the ABE/T+ building on the site next to the South High athletic field at the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, Thursday, Jan 5th 6 pm, 3451 Cedar Av S. http://south.mpls.k12.mn.us/mps_to_present_plans_to_cno_thursday_night.html 3, Occupy Barnard Field Rally Parents United for South High and the Site Council are hosting the entire South High community at “Occupy Barnard Field” to rally in support of campus improvements, Friday, Jan 6th, 3:30-4 pm at Barnard Field. http://south.mpls.k12.mn.us/parent_event_at_barnard_field.html Superintendent Ed Graff will be at the Site Council meeting. At the October 26th meeting at South, he told us the Lake St. building plans were a “done deal”, but on December 19th, he replied to a Site Council meeting request by saying "No final decisions related to significant projects at or near South High will be made until after the January meeting.” Our goal for this meeting is two-fold in (1) to once again show the history of South’s plans to improve and expand it’s campus, it’s fields, it’s practice space and (2) to ask the District for a viable plan that addresses the needs of South before the Lake St. building is finalized. History included: 1. 1995 architectural plans showing a north/south field to Lake St and vacating 31st St. (These are the plans that built the third floor in 1997.) 2. 2000 City of Minneapolis Master Plan of Hiawatha and Lake showing an enlarged South High athletic facility and vacating of 31st St. 3. 2003 MPS plans to vacate 31st St and then attempting to get Mpls to turn 31st into a plaza street. 4. South High Foundation’s plans to increase the field size and parking. 5. 2016 Corcoran Neighborhood Organization’s plans to increase the athletic facilities and build an entirely new South High Campus to Lake Street. We have been told about plans for the fields that MPS says would work in the existing footprint, but each time I do the measurements, their plans don’t physically fit in the current space! This just tells me that no one has done their homework with an actual plan. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or if there is anything you would like to pass along if you are not able to be there. Thank you for caring and hoping and let us hope Mr. Graff listens to what has been said in our past and what the student’s of South need for the future. Scott Schluter South High parent [email protected] [email protected] More history at: http://mpsneedsaplan.weebly.com/ |
Scott Schluter
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