New York Mills School Board weighs building referendum, plans community open house

New York Mills School Board is asking residents to take a close look at a potential building referendum before any ballot question reaches voters, and the next stop is a community open house at New York Mills School.

The meeting is set for Monday, April 20, at the school in New York Mills, where district leaders plan to lay out what a proposed capital project would cover and hear directly from patrons about what they value most. The district has not yet gone to voters, but the discussion already centers on a project priced at $5,550,000 and funded through a combination of district capital reserves and construction bonds.

The work list is broad and practical. District materials call for auditorium upgrades, student bathroom renovations, reconstruction of the security vestibule and main entrance, a renovation of the 7-12 gymnasium, repair of damaged floors in four second-floor classrooms, exterior sealants and brick and chimney repointing, upgrades to fire alarm and carbon monoxide detection systems, and roof reconstruction. The district says the goal is to make the buildings safe, modern and conducive to learning.

If the project moves ahead, construction is expected to stretch from spring 2025 to fall 2026 and be completed in three phases. That timeline underscores how much would be riding on the decision for a small district that serves a wide mix of students in a single building.

New York Mills Secondary is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as a rural, remote school in Otter Tail County serving grades 7-12. For the 2024-25 school year, NCES reported 362 students, 25.15 classroom teachers and a student-teacher ratio of 14.39. The district building itself houses pre-K through 12th grade and spans 184,000 square feet, according to city information.

Superintendent Adam Johnson leads New York Mills Public School ISD 553. The school board includes Amy Mursu as chair, Kristina Ehnert as vice-chair, Jodi Seelhammer as clerk, Derek Braukmann as treasurer, and directors Derek Geiser, Brian Schermerhorn and Ethan Kern.

The district says it has been preparing students for life for the past 100 years, and leaders now appear to be testing how much support exists for another major investment in the school campus. Minnesota’s Department of Education keeps a statewide referendum history for districts, a reminder that capital campaigns are a familiar tool in school finance, but one that usually succeeds only when voters believe the need is clear and the price is worth it.