Transcript 

00:00:03 JoAnne 

We're giving you more than just the 411. This is the Harrisburg 412 podcast coming to you from Southern Sioux Falls and Harrisburg, SD. 

00:00:19 JoAnne 

Welcome to Harrisburg 412, the podcast. My name is JoAnne VerMulm, communications director for the Harrisburg School District, and we're joined today by Mr. Tim Graf. Welcome to the show and Mr. Graf. 

00:00:31 Tim 

Thank you. 

00:00:33 JoAnne 

Today, we're focusing on growth in the southern half of our district, specifically Harrisburg proper, which includes Liberty Elementary and Freedom Elementary. 

00:00:41 JoAnne 

To give everyone some background, if you've lived in or around the city of Harrisburg for any length of time, you've seen farm fields transform into foundations in every direction if you aren't. 

00:00:52 JoAnne 

One of the 558 residents who were here in 1980, or descendant of them, driving past the many subdivisions in our community, may not give you pause. 

00:01:02 JoAnne 

But some of those residents may have walked beans where your house now stands, or they could drive 55 miles an hour all the way to 57th St without having to stop so. 

00:01:14 JoAnne 

Mr. Graf, can you expand on our boundaries within the district? 

00:01:19 JoAnne 

Because I think a lot of people don't realize how far and wide they actually reach. 

00:01:25 Tim 

I think one of the interesting things is that we extend actually to the West of I-29 Interstate I-29A part of our district. We go all the way down to 57th St in Sioux Falls. And then another good chunk of our district on the northern border is actually at 69th St in Sioux Falls. Depending upon where you're at, we actually extend further to the north and 57th as you go further to the east in the district, then we go really almost to the Iowa border and in spots within the district and South to 270 6th St for the most part. So we have over 70 square miles, but I think the interesting part is that we've grown by 629% since 2001 and we continue to experience just the same trajectory of growth, which has been really incredible and I don't think both as a community of Harrisburg and within the the school district, I don't think there's anything close to that within the state of South Dakota as far as the amount of growth that we've had. 

00:02:33 Tim 

And that's driven largely by, obviously the Sioux Falls Metro area, of which still 2/3 of our residents come from the City of Sioux Falls ZIP code. 

00:02:44 JoAnne 

So for people who haven't lived here for a long time, I'm just going to give you some quick background as to how we got from that one building that housed all the students in 70 square miles to now 14 buildings in 2002. 

00:03:01 JoAnne 

A new high school opened on South Cliff Ave to accommodate growth in the district. 

00:03:08 JoAnne 

The school board quickly realized a new elementary school would also need to be built, and while explore elementary location in the northwest corner of the district may have seemed like an odd choice at the time. 

00:03:21 JoAnne 

It quickly became surrounded by houses, apartments, etc. Opening in 2005. 

00:03:28 JoAnne 

The continued development of neighborhoods resulted in expansion of the new high school to include eighth grade as well, because they no longer fit all at the original K12 building. 

00:03:41 JoAnne 

And Journey Elementary was also constructed around that time to accommodate growth in the northern part of our district, opening in 2008, in 2009. 

00:03:51 JoAnne 

Harrisburg High School at its present location opened with 425 students. In comparison, we currently have about 1600. 

00:04:01 JoAnne 

The previous high school transitioned to Harrisburg Middle School and since that time, two additional expansions at the high school have been constructed to accommodate increasingly larger class sizes coming up through the ranks, as well as an alternative school. 

00:04:18 JoAnne 

Between 2011 and 2024 additional elementary schools have been built in 2013 N Middle School Opened and Harrisburg Middle School became S middle school. 

00:04:30 JoAnne 

Both E Middle School and Freshman Academy are currently under construction. 

00:04:34 JoAnne 

And both are expected to open in the fall of 2023. Mr. Graf, when you started in 2019, how many buildings have you seen go up in the district? 

00:04:44 Tim 

I think last year we opened Adventure Elementary was the first year that adventure was in existence. 

00:04:50 Tim 

And then, not a new building, but a large addition to the building our current freshman Academy at Harrisburg High School, which houses about four up to 450 kids. 

00:05:01 Tim 

And now we're when I hear you say we open the current high school at little over 400 kids, now this year we're going to be more than that, 16150 students enrollment range and continuing to grow and that's we knew we were at capacity and that's what led to the current plan of opening the new freshman Academy that will eventually be added onto and become a second 912 campus at some point in the future. 

00:05:28 Tim 

But I think that the board's commitment has always been to keep a levy that is level across the district for the taxpayer and to not build more than what we need until we get to that point. And so that's a challenge in that you always need to stay proactive but still be cost effective and what you're doing and not build too much too soon or else you can't keep that level mill levy. 

00:05:55 Tim 

And so I think that's one of the things I've admired about when I look back over the history of the last 20 years of and look at the growth at how Harrisburg has managed that and been able to keep that level levy. 

00:06:10 Tim 

We hope to continue that into the foreseeable future and have through the last couple. 

00:06:15 Tim 

Of building projects and so where we currently have the two under construction that you see. 

00:06:20 Tim 

Today, and we just recently completed two and this is my fourth year in the district. 

00:06:24 Tim 

So kind of incredible when you look at the amount of change and it doesn't look like there's any slowing down anytime soon. 

00:06:31 JoAnne 

And this would you say is a pretty unique situation for Superintendent to be building a building maybe every other year? 

00:06:41 JoAnne 

Or two buildings at the same time. 

00:06:43 JoAnne 

This is not what happens in your average school district. 

00:06:46 Tim 

No without question and I've I've been fortunate to be a part of districts where we've done building projects, but there was always 11 building project in the district. 

00:06:56 Tim 

Shows that previously and so very unique, and I I know Mr. Holbek probably did seven or eight building projects during his tenure here and so that it is very unique, but our districts very unique. 

00:07:12 JoAnne 

Yes, and I feel like we're getting really good at building buildings. 

00:07:16 JoAnne 

At this point. 

00:07:18 Tim 

When you bring that up, one of the things that we've looked at and continues to be true as we build at a cost per square foot that is significantly less than whether what other districts do. 

00:07:29 Tim 

I think we found a blueprint that we are able to do it in a cost effective manner. We continue to use that model. 

00:07:36 Tim 

And will continue to use that model into the foreseeable future and need to get good at that because we do need to build and want to recognize the support that the the taxpayers have given us and their willingness to continue to to give in trust those decisions to the district to continue to build to be able to accommodate the growth and so we appreciate that and I think it we owe that to the taxpayer to make sure that we're as cost effective as possible. 

00:08:06 JoAnne 

So this plan is a little bit of a unique situation just because we are working with an existing building, which was our original K12 building, historical building, but we have growth around this area that we need to address. 

00:08:24 Tim 

Well, as you mentioned, Liberty Elementary was the original K12 building and because of that it's been several additions to it and it's a bit of a maze itself and it's also the oldest building. 

00:08:36 Tim 

But it's a building that we can't take out of the out of the use and we have to continue to use it for education purposes. 

00:08:44 Tim 

We can't keep the commitment that the board is made for many years and decommission it, so to speak. We have to continue to use it because to build 2 buildings would be really not feasible and cost prohibitive and so we're at capacity right now or over 560 students that are enrolled at Liberty. 

00:09:09 Tim 

It was expanded with I think 8 different additions over the years, but the classrooms at liberty are 720 square feet, most of them. 

00:09:19 Tim 

There's some of the newer ones that are that are larger, but many of them are that 720 square feet, so they really don't lend themselves very well for. 

00:09:28 Tim 

Education today, as we know it, almost all the other classrooms and districts are 900 square feet or larger. 

00:09:34 Tim 

That's 25% larger than what the older ones at liberty is. The school designs that we use now have common area learnings, breakout spaces because kids are more involved than they ever used to be and they're more collaborative approach than what we ever had. 

00:09:54 Tim 

And when I was going to school, certainly. 

00:09:57 Tim 

And so the smaller classrooms there do accommodate early childhood education well and smaller bodies, smaller class sizes in our primary grades. 

00:10:06 Tim 

And so part of what we're proposing is a plan that eliminates some of the inequities in the district but also keeps the use, the history. 

00:10:17 Tim 

Tradition that we've had at liberty in that building. 

00:10:22 Tim 

The entire history of the school district, so we currently have 4 subdivisions in the Freedom Elementary zone that are underway and currently in Progress, 3 subdivisions and developments that are being built in the Liberty zone. 

00:10:36 Tim 

And when we are already at capacity, it really puts a lot of stress on that building and so we we do need to have plans. 

00:10:44 Tim 

Doing nothing is something that's really not an option for us. 

00:10:48 Tim 

And so we have been proactive the last couple of years. 

00:10:50 Tim 

We moved head start from liberty to freedom to make additional space. 

00:10:55 Tim 

We also moved the Tiger Reserve program to Adventure last year when venture was open to create additional space, and yet again we're expecting to use all the rooms except possibly one this coming year at liberty. 

00:11:10 Tim 

And we know that we also moved Junior kindergarten along with other programs out of there. 

00:11:20 Tim 

And so there's really not much else we can do short of looking at the next building project. 

00:11:27 JoAnne 

So what can be done to maximize the use of our current facilities and also ensure the right size is built at the right time without having to raise taxes? 

00:11:37 Tim 

Well, the proposal that we've kind of put out to the public and they're trying to seek as much input as possible, and from not only. 

00:11:45 Tim 

The parents of Liberty students, but also from community and district residents is we have held two public meetings already in August, and we will also be having a meeting this coming Tuesday, August 16th, 6:30 PM in the band room at Liberty of anyone interested in attending that we'd encourage your attendance. 

00:12:09 Tim 

That is going to be you can find the band room and entrance E on the east side of liberty. 

00:12:14 Tim 

We're going to talk about the proposal in depth, but really what's being proposed is to a joint use facility with the school and the city and and then also that would be. 

00:12:25 Tim 

Until building a new building also on the West side of South Cliff on the southern end of Harrisburg. 

00:12:33 JoAnne 

So we'd be building a new building for liberty students, and which grades exactly would be housed in that building? 

00:12:40 Tim 

The new school would house either first grade through 5th grade or second grade through 5th grade. 

00:12:48 Tim 

While the current Liberty Building would be converted to an early childhood center with a pre kindergarten head start, Junior kindergarten in kindergarten and then possibly first grade. 

00:13:01 Tim 

When I say possibly first grade, it really will depend upon how much growth we've experienced in the next year if we open the new building. 

00:13:09 Tim 

In grades one through 5, it's very likely that at some point that first grader would have to come back to liberty. 

00:13:16 Tim 

Because the new building will also run out of space at some point because we would open that with a fairly large number moving those grades over there. 

00:13:26 Tim 

We've not changed the school boundaries of liberty to do that, and that's how it's one of the toughest things and what parents and families and kids object. 

00:13:36 Tim 

The most is they want to stay in the schools they're at and so this would have the least amount of upheaval. 

00:13:42 Tim 

And then making these changes would also give freedom some more space as well, because we could then bring head start back over to liberty as well as junior kindergarten classes and give us more room for growth there with the additional developments going up in freedom. 

00:14:00 Tim 

As you know that is really a necessity as well. 

00:14:05 JoAnne 

And as we do with all projects, because we have to always keep in mind the future around here, this new building would be built to be expanded. 

00:14:15 JoAnne 

Is that correct? 

00:14:16 Tim 

Yeah. It would actually be designed as a potential future K5 building, even though we'd open it as A-15 or 2/5. 

00:14:24 Tim 

One of the things it unique, so school buildings is a lot of times people will say, well, why don't you just build them Baker, but don't you build? 

00:14:30 Tim 

A bigger elementary. 

00:14:31 Tim 

Well, for one, we like Elementary's to be more of a a size that you can accommodate and build a sense of belonging within that elementary school. 

00:14:44 Tim 

But you also have a limited number of sections that you can use those common area spaces in. 

00:14:51 Tim 

For example, the gymnasium is used pretty much throughout the day and you can only schedule so many classes within a gymnasium. 

00:14:59 Tim 

Same thing with your library. 

00:15:00 Tim 

Same thing with your computer spaces or your lunch room, for example, and so. 

00:15:05 Tim 

To go beyond a certain number, it really makes both staffing and those common area space is very difficult to be able to make work or you'd have to build a second common space or a second lunch room or gymnasium or whatever that case may be. 

00:15:23 Tim 

And so we we do look at that. 

00:15:26 Tim 

We are looking at this as being either one five or two five that could easily be designed for future K5 use as well because we don't know beyond the next 6810 years what the use of liberty will be certainly. 

00:15:40 Tim 

Be used as a school and community facility, but just what would be holds there as far as educationally is kind of hard to know. 

00:15:50 JoAnne 

So why does this plan work, Mr. Graf? 

00:15:52 JoAnne 

Because, obviously not having to redraw boundaries is a huge plus for this plan. 

00:16:01 JoAnne 

What else about this plan makes this make sense for our district? 

00:16:06 Tim 

I think it addresses several needs that both the district has and the City of Harrisburg have. 

00:16:23 Tim 

There's community related agencies that could use additional space. 

00:16:28 Tim 

There's also in the district we have well beyond the amount of space that we use in the Central Office area and so the district needs. 

00:16:36 Tim 

More space. 

00:16:38 Tim 

So converting a wing of Liberty Elementary to be used for district office space, also allowing the city to be able to come in. 

00:16:47 Tim 

We've already got a partnership in place with the city with the use of the library. 

00:16:52 Tim 

They frequently use the community room as well, allowing them to use some of these spaces. 

00:16:57 Tim 

And these are already secured areas and spaces where the public has comes into on a daily basis. 

00:17:03 Tim 

Currently there would be no change there. 

00:17:05 Tim 

There would be no access to the rest of the building, but the areas that they're already able to, the public is already able to access, they would continue to be able to access and so it really checks several of the boxes and then the during non school hours that the city would also be able to city residents could use for walking, for it could use for community education, could use for community theater 

00:17:30 Tim 

There's just a number of opportunities that would be available for the city and city residents to be able to use. 

00:17:37 Tim 

As well. 

00:17:38 JoAnne 

So what is the advantage of having our first or second grade through 5th grade at the new building and then holding early childhood programming at our existing building. 

00:17:50 Tim 

Along with keeping the same boundaries and keeping the peers together within that Liberty zone. 

00:17:59 Tim 

The other advantage is your upper elementary grades would also benefit from the larger classrooms and being able to do that and then. 

00:18:06 Tim 

You'd still have a similar number of sections as if you built another K5, but if you just build another K5, you haven't addressed the district needs. 

00:18:16 Tim 

As far as additional office space, you haven't addressed the city needs and at the same time you've kept all the Liberty students in a building. 

00:18:26 Tim 

That has inequitable classroom size and in programming is is more difficult. 

00:18:33 Tim 

So those are really the main things. 

00:18:36 Tim 

It's not feasible to go out and build 2 new K5's at the same time, so those are certainly you could build a new K5, but those are some of the downfalls if if we were to follow that plan instead. 

00:18:50 JoAnne 

And I suppose housing early childhood programming at Liberty Elementary would then free up room at Freedom Elementary, which is currently nearing capacity. 

00:19:03 JoAnne 

So if I have children at both the current liberty building in an early childhood class, and I have a fourth grader at the new building, how would pick up and drop-off work for parents who have children in two locations? 

00:19:18 Tim 

I think that's one of the concerns that we've talked about the most is I think certainly what we'd want to do and our will should be able to do, is to have a shuttle go between the two buildings at the beginning or end of the school days so parents are not expected to drop off kids. 

00:19:37 Tim 

That live in the Liberty zone are not expected to drop off at both locations because that would just add to the traffic congestion. 

00:19:44 Tim 

And I think we can shuttle where families that do have kids at both levels would be able to shuttle between the two buildings. 

00:19:52 JoAnne 

So why wouldn't we just tear down this old building and put two new ones up? 

00:19:57 Tim 

I think the biggest thing is just it's not economically or logistically feasible. 

00:20:03 Tim 

I think the other piece of that is that just the when you look at this historical piece of Liberty when it was a K12 facility, it's still structurally sound. 

00:20:16 Tim 

It has a lot of value left to the district and just trying to be good stewards with taxpayers money really is not an option to just eliminate the building. 

00:20:28 JoAnne 

I also personally feel like it would definitely not be in the spirit of preserving what is really the heart and soul of what has made Harrisburg what it is today. 

00:20:40 JoAnne 

Correct. this plan allows us to build without raising taxes. Is that true? 

00:20:46 Tim 

Well, that's been the commitment that the school board for the last 20 years is made is there to keep a level levy and this, this plan continues that it's due to the extreme growth that we see in the district. 

00:21:01 Tim 

Which has obviously generated the additional students that we continue to see, but it also generates a large increase in valuation and that is what drives the ability to continue to fund these projects and also what's driving the the need for them so. 

00:21:27 JoAnne 

What are some other advantages you see in this plan, Mr. Graf, that our listeners should know about? 

00:21:31 Tim 

I think there's some neat opportunities that this is not part of the immediate plan and actually the the whole timeline takes about three years to complete everything is what the whole plan. 

00:21:45 Tim 

Would take as far as the time frame, but there are other advantages the the all of the administrative staff could then be housed together. 

00:21:53 Tim 

We got people kind of scattered around the district right now. 

00:21:56 Tim 

We also have people in out buildings in the Liberty parking lot, then some modulars. 

00:22:01 Tim 

Those modulars are located in an area along Willow Street that. 

00:22:05 Tim 

We know that there's a lot of developer interest in developing Willow Street and along Willow. 

00:22:12 Tim 

The district would certainly entertain options at that point to sell those buildings along Willow and use for retail and commercial space. 

00:22:21 Tim 

'cause, as the city continues to grow, we know that the downtown revitalization and what the looks of that is going to be quite different 10 and 20 years out than what it is today. 

00:22:32 JoAnne 

So with the possible sale of land to kind of reinvigorate Harrisburg downtown, what other advantages would there be for the City of Harrisburg and its residents? 

00:22:49 Tim 

I think this plan is really a unique joint use facility, collaborative effort that is an opportunity for both entities to address their needs. 

00:22:59 Tim 

There's been pressure on both entities with growing pains and so the city I know is interested in increasing programming and recreational opportunities and during non school hours being able to have access to the Liberty building for residents to be able to walk or do the different activities that the city wants to offer is a a big benefit ended while they need to also address the infrastructures within the City not having to outlay additional capital dollars to build a recreational center or Community Center. 

00:23:32 Tim 

Those types of spaces really gives an opportunity for both entities to just be cost effective and maximize use of public facilities. 

00:23:41 JoAnne 

If the bond issue were to move forward, then Mr. Graf, what would the bond cover exactly? 

00:23:47 Tim 

Well, the bond issue would cover the cost of a new building, and with the way the inflation and the costs of building have gone up, that would be substantially more than what the last building would be. 

00:23:59 Tim 

At the same time, we think that you know the the estimates that we've gotten from the architect and looking at where we're at. 

00:24:07 Tim 

We think there's also going to be able to consider renovating the kitchen area itself, which has been a real issue for us at the in the cafetorium there some remodeling with that is a possibility depending upon where bids were to come in and then also we've not been able to provide a track, I think we had 140 middle school track athletes this past year and not having a track itself is again an inequitable situation when North Middle schools had one as well as the high school is that heavy use already, so. 

00:24:43 Tim 

So being able to provide that would be a goal as well. 

00:24:47 Tim 

That I guess remains to be seen until you actually get bids in, but that's not a major cost to add a uh track itself at the same time, it's it's definitely a need with the numbers of participants that we've had. 

00:25:00 JoAnne 

So for this plan to move forward, Mr. Graf, what sorts of things would have to be put into motion? 

00:25:06 Tim 

Well, though what's been discussed is really an aggressive timeline in in order to open this new building within two years, we really would have to have a voter approval. 

00:25:17 Tim 

This fall, it's not the only plan that it could be considered, but at the same time, to follow this we would need to to open by 2024. 

00:25:27 Tim 

We'd have to have a bond issue this fall. 

00:25:29 Tim 

The city and the school would have to, We've already had some preliminary discussions about what a long term lease between the school and city. 

00:25:37 Tim 

That would help to fund some of the renovations that would be necessary on the North End of liberty for the district to take over and the. 

00:25:47 Tim 

That would need to be accomplished and then of course, the voters would have to approve the the bond issue. 

00:25:53 Tim 

And if that happened, then the time frame would be that we would go into design phase right away later this fall in through the winter with construction to start next spring. 

00:26:03 Tim 

It takes about 18 months to complete a building with the goal then. 

00:26:07 Tim 

Of opening in 2425 school year for the new school on South Cliff for current Liberty Student. 

00:26:16 Tim 

Once beyond that, we would use that 2425 school year to then renovate the north wing at Liberty for the district office space and then three years out in 25 in the summer of 25. 

00:26:30 Tim 

The city could then take over some of the use of liberty and some of the office areas that which are currently used with district staff and then the district could then move into the north wing and that would complete a three-year process of what this plan entails. 

00:26:47 JoAnne 

This really does sound like a win win for both the City of Harrisburg and the school district. 

00:26:53 Tim 

I think both entities gain cost efficiencies out of this plan, and some of those are some of the same taxpayers. 

00:27:02 Tim 

And then we also want to make sure it's a win win for both entities because so many of our residents also come from the 108 ZIP code and we want to make sure that we're cost effective for all residents of the Harrisburg School District. 

00:27:17 JoAnne 

And I know the district also has a desire to start some Community programming. 

00:27:21 JoAnne 

Which all of our patrons would benefit from when the time comes. 

00:27:27 JoAnne 

That would be something that all of our district residents would be able to participate in. 

00:27:32 Tim 

And that's one thing we really have as a goal this year is to kick off some community Ed classes. 

00:27:37 Tim 

And I know the city has a similar goal, so we have to talk about what that looks like if we're joining a joining forces on that or if the district's ready to roll with that. 

00:27:46 Tim 

But that is certainly a goal is to at least begin that process and then grow it in future years. 

00:27:52 JoAnne 

Well, it just sounds like there's never a dull moment here in the Harrisburg School district. 

00:27:56 JoAnne 

Thank you to Mr. Graf for being our guest today. 

00:27:59 Tim 

Thank you for having me.