North school hits major roadblock

The St. Louis County Planning Commission voted 4-2 to reject a motion that would have granted a conditional use permit to ISD 2142 for construction of their planned new school north of Cook.

The commission failed to make a follow-up motion to outright deny the permit, but we confirmed later that the commission's intent was to deny. The commission will make a clarifying motion at their April 8 meeting to confirm that.

If so, it is a major setback for the school district's hopes of having a new school in place near Cook in time for the 2011-12 school year, as originally planned.

It also leaves a major quandary for the board. Typically, the planning commission is unlikely to look favorably on another permit application for the same site, particularly given that many of the concerns cited (safety, hunting rights, wetlands, etc.) probably can't be addressed with minor changes in the plan. It will most likely take a new site.

The board will have the option to appeal the decision, but the appeal would have to go to a district court, which would entail more money and more time.

Assuming the school board decides against an appeal, it would be forced to look to another site, after spending $180,000 for the current property, not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars more for design and engineering, wetlands delineation, soil borings, etc. The current situation means all of that money was likely wasted.

What comes next? I fear a fight over the possible selection of a new site. Some will want to renovate the Cook School and close Orr. Others will call for using the back-up site, at Gheen Corners. Neither of these options is desirable. In fact both would likely lead to a large exodus of students from the district.

We don't need an inter-community battle over the location of a new school. The three communities of Orr, Cook, and Tower-Soudan have done a good job of working together and it's made us a formidable force. The three communities need to stay united in favor of the best option, which is maintaining all three schools and focusing on changes in educational delivery that allow us to provide quality education more affordably.

The school district, at this point, does not need to be in a hurry. It doesn't face the financial crisis they advertised during the election. Waiting another year and taking a second look at the viability of maintaining the three schools would be the smart move for the board right now. They should not let Johnson Controls push them into making another rash decision that could flush more taxpayer dollars down the rat hole. The board got themselves in trouble by listening to Johnson Controls in the first place. They finally need to start doing some due diligence on their own. They've been led by the nose by JCI for too long already.