Screen Photo The Minot School Board discussed the outcomes of appraisals of three idle elementary schools in the district being considered for sale.

The Minot Public School Board approved the hiring of a new Special Education director and principal for Sunnyside Elementary at its regular meeting on Thursday.

Nicole Strand was hired as the Special Education director and will begin in her new role on July 1. Superintendent Scott Faul said three candidates were interviewed for the position by two interview committees.

“We had great candidates, and great interviews. Our recommendation is to hire Mrs. Nicole Strand for the position. She has great special education and leadership qualities, abilities and experiences that we were impressed with,” Faul said.

Current assistant principal Nicole Chase was chosen as the new Sunnyside principal. Assistant Superintendent Bryn Iverson said the committees were impressed by all the candidates pursuing the position, but Chase was the one they recommended.

Enrollment report

Superintendent Scott Faul provided the enrollment report, sharing that since the Sept. 30, 2024, established enrollment of 7,567 students there had been a drop of 71 students as of March 31 to 7,496.

“So that’s trending obviously not in the right direction. As you look at individual schools in the last month, we continue to lose the majority of our students at the high school level. We lost 10 students at Minot North and eight at Minot High,” Faul said. “We are not trending in the right direction. As the state pays the lion’s share of education based on our per pupil payments, that September date is really important as it sets the baseline.”

Appraisal reports

The board also reviewed appraisal reports for three vacant elementary schools in the district – Bell Elementary, McKinley Elementary and Jefferson Elementary. The appraisals were performed by Simonson Appraisals of Loretto, Minnesota. Bell was appraised at $620,000, Jefferson at $630,000, and McKinley at $470,000.

Faul told the board that the district continues to get calls expressing interest in all three properties, as well as undeveloped property near Erik Ramstad Middle School. Faul told the board they could provide direction regarding the sale of the schools, but he cautioned that further discussion was warranted.

“I think about the expansion with the Sentinel project coming to town. We don’t have a timeframe for that. We don’t know what that brings for kids and growth. If growth were to happen on the north end of town, we know we’re tight on our schools. That’s always the thing with McKinley if that has to turn back into a school again because if you sell it, then we’re stuck and in need of a new school. Those are things to consider,” Faul said.

Board member Sabrina Herrmann noted that the report for Jefferson found the useful life of the school was far more diminished with it being closed for around 10 years. Board member Scott Louser mentioned the Sentinel program was likely to be delayed for at least 18-24 months, and any impacts on the local market wouldn’t appear for two to three years.

“Whatever it is we decide to do, I want to be very public about the process and not take a phone call, have a decision, have our price and sell it. It has to be on the open market. I don’t want to be in a position of playing favorites and having somebody say, ‘I have an idea. Sell the building,’ and we do it,” Louser said. “If we’re going to sell, it needs to be made available to the market, whether that’s an open listing scenario or an auction or whatever.”

Business manager Laura Dokken clarified the manner of the sale would be at the board’s discretion. Herrmann responded saying once the properties are sold they are gone, and they are a one-time opportunity to create revenue for the district.

“Once these assets are gone, they’re gone. So I think we have to be really careful to make a decision on which ones make sense that we’re keeping that probably could be utilized for us as a district in the future. There might be ones that aren’t as attractive that we probably won’t see growth in that area that we could maybe consider talking about,” Herrmann said. “But I definitely think we need to make some really smart decisions because it’s a one time influx of dollars based on what we would get for it and then we’d no longer have those assets, and our only option would be to build a new school if we would need that space for whatever reason.”

The board tabled the decision for a special board meeting at a date to be determined.

The remainder of the meeting was held in executive session to discuss negotiations strategy. The next regular board meeting is Thursday, May 8.