WPS November 2014 Communicator

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November 2014

Excellence. For each and every student.

Communicator PRELIMINARY 2015 PROPERTY TAX LEVY APPROVED HOMEOWNERS MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR REFUNDS

Blanket Donations Warm Hearts

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Wayzata High School Girls Tennis Captains Hallie Koehn and Kelly Yang, along with head coach Marci Weiner, delivered 70 fleece blankets created by ninth grade, junior varsity and varsity girls tennis team students, to kids fighting life threatening illnesses at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital on October 16. A special blanket was made and delivered to West Middle School eighth grade student Ben Puzzo, who is recovering from a bone marrow transplant at the hospital.

he Wayzata School Board unanimously approved the district’s preliminary 2015 property tax levy at its September 29 meeting. The Board will hear public comments and take final action at its December 8 meeting. The Wayzata School District 2015 preliminary levy for taxes payable in fiscal year 2016 is $56,395,370. This total levy amount represents an overall increase of $6.4 million, or 12.8 percent, from 2014. These changes will be reflected in property tax statements arriving in November. According to Jim Westrum, executive director of finance and business, “The majority of the 12.8 percent increase is from the voter-approved bonds passed in the February 2014 referendum. Voters approved $109 million in building bonds

for an expansion to Wayzata High School, building of the district’s eighth elementary and district-wide safety, security and technology upgrades. Without taking the voter-approved bonds into consideration, the levy increase would have been 3.5 percent.” Westrum said the 3.5 percent increase is due to the addition of all-day kindergarten programming, and also the result of a growing student population and families moving into the district. Some district homeowners may be eligible for a Homestead Credit Refund or special one-time property tax refund based upon their income and the amount of change in their local property taxes. For more information, visit www.revenue. state.mn.us.

Excellence for Our Growing School Community

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ur teachers and staff are doing a great job of focusing on the learning needs of each and every student in the Wayzata Public Schools, and construction plans to address the needs of our growing resident student population are moving along nicely. Since the last issue of the Communicator, additional input has been gathered on the schematic designs for the addition to Wayzata High School (WHS), as well as for the new eighth elementary school. This input came from user groups, made up of staff, parents, students and district residents who shared insights on specific aspects of the construction projects.

Design Development Phase in Full Swing The WHS project consists of a 4-story classroom and lab addition, a music/performing arts addition, a physical education addition/ locker room expansion, cafeteria expansion and the creation of new upper and lower commons areas. The new elementary school is a proposed 2-story, 83,000 square foot building designed for flexibility and collaboration to meet the diverse learning needs of students. Schematic designs continue to evolve incorporating feedback from the user groups, as well as analyzing the designs for structural, mechanical and financial considerations to stay within the $109 million budget approved 1

by voters in February 2014. The design development phase for the high school is anticipated to be final by mid-November and the design development of the elementary school will be complete by late November or early December. Formal ground breaking for both the WHS addition and new elementary school will happen in the spring of 2015. The new elementary and key portions of the WHS additions are scheduled to be open in the fall of 2016. School Boundary Adjustment Process to Begin in January The process to reconfigure school attendance areas in advance of the opening of the new eighth elementary school will begin after the first of the year and completed by June 30, 2015. There will an opportunity for public input into the process that is anticipated to impact many families across the district. In addition to elementary attendance boundaries, it is likely that middle school boundaries will also be reconfigured. Updates about the boundary adjustment and construction processes will continue to be shared with all district parents and in future issues of the Communicator. For more information, visit our website at www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/construction, call and leave your questions on the Construction Hotline at 763-745-5050, or send an email to

From

THE SUPERINTENDENT

construction@wayzata.k12.mn.us We are fortunate to be a growing school district with new families moving in every day and to have community residents so supportive of our schools. We take your trust very seriously and never take it for granted. And we are committed to continuously improving all that we do to better serve our students and their families. Enjoy the winter season and time with family and friends. I remain hopeful for a more moderate winter than last year. As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments on any educational topic. Please send me an email to chace.anderson@ wayzata.k12.mn.us or call me at 763-745-5000. – Chace B. Anderson, Ph.D. is Superintendent of Wayzata Public Schools


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