The ISD 728 Community Facilities Task Force presented its three recommendations to the School Board at the January 12, 2026 meeting, with District Directors Joe Stangler and Cory Franson sharing the committee's message on their behalf.

This committee has worked since September 2025 to create recommendations they will bring to the School Board regarding strategies they think should be considered to meet the Board's defined goals for addressing long-term student population growth, especially as the southern end of the District is nearing building capacity. Additionally, it is focused on developing no more than three recommendations for solutions that are both financially viable and responsible.

The Facilities Task Force process was structured to first participate in a deep dive orientation focused on reviewing District data. Following this review, the task force proposed, developed, and refined its initial recommendations. These concepts were then brought to the public to solicit feedback via survey. After reviewing this feedback, the task force made appropriate revisions prior to the January presentation. 

Ultimately, the 2025-2026 Task Force Recommended these three ideas: 

1. Build a new Otsego High School (grades 9-12) to address capacity in the south end of the District, and address the remaining capacity needs via construction and/or remodeling. 
2. Build a new elementary school in the south and either: 

• a. address high school capacity needs with an expansion at Rogers High School (difficult and not recommended due to space/land needs) and move Grade 5 back to elementary schools to ease middle school capacity, OR
• b. Move Grade 9 to the middle school model and make needed additions to RMS/PVMS to address space needs. 

3. Move all school boundaries to the north - meaning Otsego students would spill into Elk River for middle school and high school services (a temporary easement of crowding issues in the south). 

Here is the presentation from the Directors to the Board.