- Dassel-Cokato Schools
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Timeline
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May 2023
- District Team meeting May 10, 2023, at 3:45 pm
- 5/15/23 - Focus Group HS CTE at 3:15 pm
- 5/15/23 - Focus Group HS Science at 3:45 pm
- 5/16/23 - Focus Group HS Admin Office at 3:15 pm
- 5/16/23 - Focus Group CE Pilot Project at 3:45 pm
- 5/16/23 - Focus Group DE Pilot Project at 4:15 pm
- 5/17/23 - Focus Group MS CTE/FACS at 3:15 pm
- 5/17/23 - Focus Group SPED/DCD at 3:45 pm
- 5/17/23 - Focus Group HS FACS/AG at 4:15 pm
- District Team meeting May 25, 2023, at 3:45 pm
April 2023
- District Team meeting April 5, 2023, at 3:45 pm.
- 4/17/23 - Focus Group Dassel Elementary Pilot Project at 3:45 pm
- 4/17/23 - Focus Group Cokato Elementary Pilot Project at 4:15 pm
- 4/18/23 - Focus Group HS Admin. Office at 3:45 pm
- 4/18/23 - Focus Group SPED/DCD at 4:15 pm
- 4/19/23 - Focus Group HS FACS at 3:45 pm
- 4/19/23 - Focus Group HS CTE at 4:15 pm
- 4/19/23 - Focus Group AG at 4:45 pm
- 4/21/23 - Focus Group MS FACS at 3:45 pm
- 4/21/23 - Focus Group MS CTE at 4:15 pm
- 4/21/23 - Focus Group HS Science at 4:45 pm
February 2023
- District Team meeting February 15, 2023, at 3:45 pm.
January 2023
- 1/9/23 - CTE/Science/FACS tours of Paynesville High School, Sartell High School, St. Cloud State University's ISELF building, and the Environmental and Technological Studies department.
- 1/16/23 - Focus Group SPED/DCD at 3:45 pm.
- 1/16/23 - Focus Group HS Admin. Office at 4:30 pm.
- 1/17/23 - Focus Group DE/CE Pilot Projects at 3:45 pm.
- 1/18/23 - District Team meeting January 18, 2023, at 3:45 pm.
- 1/19/23 - Focus Group CTE/Ag at 3:45 pm.
- 1/19/23 - Focus Group HS FACS/Science at 4:30 pm.
December 2022
- SCSU CTE professors spent time touring DCHS spaces and talking with staff about current and future programming.
November 2022
- The District Team will meet to touch base about the 2023 STEM room work and begin discussing the 2024 scope of work projects.
October 2022
- The HS/ MS Facs/ STEM focus group met for a second time on Wednesday, October 19th, to further discuss MS STEM. SitelogIQ representatives presented classroom design concepts for the MS STEM room. Some of those ideas included storage and organizational components, flexible seating, and additional electrical outlets.
September 2022
- The District Team met for an initial kick-off meeting with SitelogIQ representatives. The team reviewed project scopes, next steps, and the anticipated two-year timeline.
- Focus groups will begin meeting this fall to discuss specific projects' design and programming.
- The HS/ MS Facs/ STEM focus group is scheduled to meet on Monday, September 26th, to discuss MS STEM.
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@DasselCokatoSchoolDistrict466Email
Mark Raymond, Superintendent
Phone
(320) 286-4100 ext. 1003
Follow along as we move through the project design and building process over the next couple of years.
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Educate. Innovate. Succeed.
The Dassel-Cokato School Board called for a special election on Tuesday, August 9, 2022, to authorize general obligation bonds not to exceed $17,900,000 for facility improvements. The voters within Dassel-Cokato School District #466 approved the single-question request. The unofficial results are: 1,300 Yes (56.2%) and 1,000 No (43.48%)."Thank you for your support. We are excited to move forward with projects that will update our facilities and offer new opportunities to our students, staff and community."
- Mark Raymond, Superintendent
Progress Updates
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December 2022- January 2023
In December, the schematic design process (the preliminary site and construction plans) for educational projects began by scheduling meeting times for individual focus groups. Each group will be tasked to think about the project scope and how potential solutions could meet student needs now and for years to come. Planning educational spaces for today while also anticipating the future is difficult. Supporting that concept is an article from a few years ago, published by Dell Technologies, which reported that 85% of jobs in 2030 have yet to be invented.
One way to help work towards that goal is to learn from various other programs. In late December, a group of CTE professors from St. Cloud State University toured our spaces and met with staff to discuss CTE classes and spaces compared to other schools and industry needs. This collaborative group of professors works closely with many high schools across Minnesota.
The advice given to all teaching staff was to continually ask oneself:
"What is the student experience you are trying to create?"
Instead of "what do you want students to learn?" ask, "what is the end goal?"The group advised that the answers to these questions would help further shape programs and plans for the future and that flexible spaces enable programs to grow and change with time.
As a continuation of that initial meeting, several DCHS staff toured CTE, Science, and FACs spaces at Paynesville High School, Sartell High School, as well as SCSU's ISELF building and the Environmental and Technological Studies department in early January. (see pictures in the photo gallery below)
Instructors spent time learning about how Paynesville reinvented dedicated spaces to provide a wider variety of student experiences through their Innovation Center. Formerly a media center, this space is now home to a wide variety of STEM/CTE project areas and gives students the ability to participate on an individual, group/club, or classroom basis. Sartell's 2019 built high school further explored new construction spaces for woods, shop and metals, science labs, and both commercial and residential-based FACS labs. The day concluded at St. Cloud State University, where the first attraction was a hand-held CNC machine. Inside the ISELF building were flexible, multi-disciplinary student-center spaces encouraging collaboration and hands-on learning. For DC staff, being able to ask about lessons learned and receive advice from others who recently went through the planning and construction process has helped give perspective and ideas as we move ahead.
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Design Team Meeting - November 22, 2022
The district team met on Tuesday, November 22nd, receiving a brief progress update and discussing expectations for the coming months. The mechanical projects (air handlers, new boiler, connecting to city water), replacing the original 1971 windows, and the middle school stem room projects are scheduled for the summer of 2023.
A question received fairly often is regarding the need for a two-year timeline. SitelogIQ team members Ryan Gram, Michael Smith, and Lawren Lenyard provided insight into the extended equipment lead times being experienced and that full-scale renovations generally take about a year to complete.
The SitelogIQ team also presented the district team's role as one of "checks and balances," ensuring all projects maintain goals and initiatives according to the bond's scope. Project solutions are being designed to meet the needs of students for the next 20 years, and to do so, input and perspectives must account for the present and future. Staff-based focus groups will work through each project with SitelogIQ team members, whose solutions and recommendations will then be shared with the district team.
Focus group meetings are anticipated to begin after the first of the year (2023) and continue through the spring. The district design team will meet periodically in correlation with focus groups and throughout the design process. -
August - November 2022
- Dassel-Cokato Schools staff attended a kick-off meeting during the Back-to-School Workshop week. Staff reviewed project lists and learned about the two-year timeline and next steps.
- Building leadership worked with staff to create design teams involving several people from varying positions. These teams will meet with SitelogIQ architects and designers to discuss each project space and work collaboratively to create student and facility solutions.
- Engineers and construction management team members have been planning facility projects set to occur in 2023.
- Projects include replacing 1971 windows, connecting to city water, a new boiler, and replacing air handling units in high school areas.
- Projects include replacing 1971 windows, connecting to city water, a new boiler, and replacing air handling units in high school areas.
- The MS/HS FACS and STEM design team met to discuss the expansion of the MS FACS room and renovation of a current classroom that will become the new STEM space. (see below)
- Dassel-Cokato Schools staff attended a kick-off meeting during the Back-to-School Workshop week. Staff reviewed project lists and learned about the two-year timeline and next steps.
January 2023 tours of CTE spaces in Paynesville, Sartell and at SCSU
































Project Schedules
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Project Scopes Overview 2023
High School/ Middle School Projects
- Replacement of 1971 windows
- New hot water boiler heating
- Changing piping to convert steam-heated areas to hot water
- Replacing air handling units in the shop, science, family and consumer science, and agricultural areas
- Disconnecting from the old well and connecting to city water
- Replacing four air handlers serving the gym and mezzanine
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Project Scopes Overview of 2024
High School / Middle School Projects
- Replacing Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning systems in High School Office
- Build a new addition to expand the Woods, Welding, and Machine Shops
- Build an addition for Small Engine space
- Renovate and expand the family and consumer science, and agriculture classrooms
- Renovate the science suites to support programming needs, including a robotics lab
- Redesign the High School entrance to provide a secure entry and a welcoming entry plaza
- Renovate the Middle School Industrial Tech lab
- Renovate and expand the Middle School Family and Consumer Sciences area
- Remodel space to support DCD programming along with an accessible restroom
- Outdoor project yard
- Renovate selected outdated ganged restrooms
Elementary School Projects
- Pilot project(s) within Cokato Elementary
- Pilot project(s) within Dassel Elementary