Caledonia Argus

School officials take concerns to county

Posted: 8/20/02

by Jane Palen
Managing editor

Safety concerns and the fear of losing students to a neighboring school district prompted members of the ISD #299 school board to attend the August 13 meeting of the Houston County Board. Also present was Jim Tool, who is the interim superintendent of the district.

Tool told commissioners that the board recently became aware that the first section of County State Aid Highway 3 (CSAH 3), the Brownsville road, is not scheduled to be paved until next year. Tool said that the board and administration have concerns over safety of the students who will be traveling on the gravel road. Caledonia businesses may suffer because people in the Brownsville area will travel to La Crosse rather than Caledonia to shop, and more parents may also decide to send their children to the La Crescent school district. The district, which is currently dealing with a statutory operating debt, will lose state aid for students who go to a different district.

School board member Chuck Schulte, a farm implement dealer, told commissioners that the condition of CSAH 3 has had an economic impact on his business and other businesses.

ìWe want to see if anything can be done to hasten the blacktopping,î he told commissioners.

County engineer Allen Henke explained that the construction of the first phase of the project, consisting of about five miles of road, has been completed and paving is scheduled for the spring of 2003. That date has not changed, noted Henke. However, the construction of the second half of the project has been delayed, and will not begin until the 2003 construction season.

The delay, said Henke, came about because last yearís construction season ran late.

ìWe did not get to the construction plans until late and we now are purchasing right of way. We canít proceed without it,î said Henke. Paving could not begin without a paving plan, and itís unlikely that a plan could be drafted and approved before November, which is the cut-off for paving projects to begin.

The original plan called for the construction of the second phase of the road to be complete this season, and for the entire road to be blacktopped in the spring of 2003. The plans now are for first section of the road to be paved in the spring, and the second phase to be paved in the spring of 2004.

Commissioners also noted that the road needs to settle before blacktop is applied.

Schulte told commissioners that the school board was really not interested in getting involved in county government, but there is a movement afoot in Brownsville to get students to enroll in the La Crescent school district.

Other school board members who attended the meeting were Cheryl Whitesitt, Bruce Bulman and David Klinski.

The commissioners noted that community members are welcome to call them or the highway engineer with questions or concerns.

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