Andrea Johnson/MDN Earth work started last week on the site of the new Minot North High School in northwest Minot. The school is slated to open in the fall of 2024.

Earth work began last week on the site of what will be the new Minot North High School.

Voters approved a bond issue last year that will pay for renovation and construction at the site as well as renovation of Minot High School-Magic City Campus into a four-year high school and renovation of Minot High School-Central Campus into a third in-town middle school. All of the projects are scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2024. Some work at Magic City Campus has also been completed. The projects are to be worked on when students are not in attendance.

Minot Public School District assistant superintendent for the secondary level Kim Slotsve said students know which of the two high schools they will be attending. Letters went out to the families and students who will be attending North Minot High School will be given the opportunity to join volleyball and golf and football teams for that new school and practice as Minot North High School Sentinels. Slotsve said the school district will also seek input from students on a new mascot for the Minot North High School Sentinels, the school nickname that was chosen earlier this year by the Minot Public School Board. She said a Sentinels mascot might look like some type of guard.

It will be a busy couple of years for the school district, but administrators are excited by signs of visible project on the site of the new high school.

Classes for the Minot Public Schools will start on Wednesday. Slotsve said she would predict an increase in student enrollment numbers over the start of school last year, but the final total will depend on how many students actually show up for the first day of classes.