DLPS Business Manager Melissa Hahr swears in Andrew Sogge who was recently elected to fill the School Board position recently vacated by LeeAnn Johnston.
The Devils Lake Public School Board met at 7 a.m. on Friday, Sep. 26. Following the call to order, Pledge of Allegiance and approval of the agenda, newly elected board member, Andrew Sogge was sworn in by Business Manager Melissa Hahr.
The remainder of the meeting was about bathrooms.
The uncertainty regarding the renovations taking place at Prairie View has been settled by correspondence from the Attorney General. That means that plans for the bathrooms being built at the elementary school can now go forward.
Some plans had been on hold since February while they awaited the decision in an ever-changing political climate. The decision the school board received was not an “official” decision – that would have taken well over a year to render. This informal decision is often considered “nearly as good as” an official decision.
However, now they can go forward assuming “this is the end of it” regarding gender compliance with the restrooms included in the school’s renovations and addition.
According to the AG’s correspondence, the restroom design considered the individual bathroom “closets” a suite. As far as the design is concerned, the north side of restroom suites will be designated for boys and the south side will be designated for girls. A change order to modify the original design will turn two of the closets to one handicap restroom eliminating one closet on each side, boys and girls, in the new construction.
The informal opinion follows the law.
Board member Sheri Olson asked, “Who is going to oversee the restroom use?” and the response was that the Administration would monitor that.
With the changes to Title 9 at the federal level it has been confusing to know “where the winds were blowing” regarding new bathroom construction such as this at Prairie View.
Would they have to include sinks in each of the closets, too? What would that cost? How would that change the overall plans for the suites? Discussion centered on this issue and that the school would “follow the law” once they knew what that was. At one point Sogge was addressed, because of a letter he had submitted early on in this process, regarding the planned bathrooms for Prairie View as a parent of students attending DL public schools.
“Will this satisfy you and your concerns?” he was asked, and responding affirmatively, Sogge restated that if the district’s wish was to “follow the law” and that was what he wanted to know.
Board member Emily Foss moved to “follow the recommendation to change the design and labeling of the bathrooms” as a result of the AG’s opinion.
It may have held construction up a bit, but at least now they know they will be in compliance and the work can go forward. In the roll call vote, only one board member voted “no” to the motion, Olson.
Now the district must educate the public on what they are doing and why. Some discussion led to determining that in the “Progress at Prairie View” excerpts on social media would be a good place to inform parents and family members of the plans going forward.
Superintendent Ned Clooten was grateful that this decision came down before they had finished construction of the suites. That would have meant a much larger price tag on the change order, perhaps as much as $50,000 and possibly fines of $1,500 for an official complaint.
The next school board meeting will take place October 27 and Clooten reminded everyone of the October 6 ribbon cutting at 2 p.m. at the Ag Center and the 50th Anniversary of the LACTC celebration that same day.
