Rochester School Board selects northwest site for new middle school

After months of consternation over the best location for a new middle school, the Rochester School Board finalized a deal Tuesday night to purchase 40 acres of land in northwest Rochester.

The board settled on a 40-acre property on 65th Street NW near the future corner of 55th Avenue NW, choosing it over an offer of donated land from businessman Mark Kramer near 50th Avenue NW and Badger Hills Drive NW. The board meeting’s agenda packet cited concerns with grading and sloping the Kramer property, in addition to location problems — land adjoining the property is in Byron’s school district, likely leading to neighbors being forced to attend different schools. 

Tuesday’s discussion stemmed from the Rochester City Council’s decision to deny the district’s request to annex 40 acres of land in the Hart Farm neighborhood in southwest Rochester. The purchase agreement for the Hart Farm property was terminated at Tuesday’s meeting, and the district will be refunded the $2.74 million it paid for the property. 

Friction between the district and city over the Hart Farm property had been present for more than a year and came to a head in January, when the offer of donated land came to the public’s attention. Now, it’s looking like neither site will become the home of Rochester’s fifth public middle school.

(Conversations continue on the Kramer site, district officials said. The board has taken no formal action on the offer of donated land.)

“It’s unfortunate that the [southwest] land annexation was denied, but we are eager to continue working with the City on the [65th Street] land annexation,” said RPS superintendent Michael Muñoz. “We feel confident that we will be able to navigate the process in order to break ground by October 2020.”

The 65th Street property will cost the district $800,000, although the district says it will save over $1 million in total construction costs over the Kramer property. The district expects their annexation request to be heard by the city council by mid-June. If approved, as Muñoz said, construction would begin in October. If all goes according to plan, the new school would open in September of 2022.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Cover graphic courtesy School Board packet