News & Announcements

The Lakota School Board’s Master Facilities committee held its quarterly meeting on Nov. 17. Responding to a request from the Board at the last meeting, Chief Operations Officer Chris Passarge updated the committee on enrollment data and capital improvement projects.

With the new grade bands approved by the Lakota Board of Education, the Master Facilities Committee met on May 5, 2023 to continue its discussion on how best to make the plan become a reality and meet the future educational needs of Lakota students in a fiscally responsible way.

Lakota’s Master Facilities Committee met on March 6, 2023 to begin reviewing possible locations for new buildings that would align with the approved Master Facilities Plan (MFP).

At its Dec. 12, 2022 meeting, the Lakota Board of Education approved Master Facilities Plan (MFP) option four. The facilities committee will return to the community for input as it begins to put more detail behind the approved plan. 

At the Dec. 5, 2022 Master Facilities committee meeting, the Board reviewed potential operational savings between plan options three and four.

At the Oct. 3, 2022 Master Facilities Plan meeting, (MFP) the committee members reviewed potential operational savings and announced a second community meeting in October.

Members of the district’s master facilities committee met on Sept. 6 to receive an update on community engagement and discuss the project’s timeline for selecting a final plan. 

Lakota Local Schools announces its next community meeting on the Master Facilities planning process.

Members of Lakota’s master facilities planning (MFP) committee met on Aug. 8 to review feedback from recent community meetings and additional information on potential savings related to maintenance and operating expenses.

Join leaders from Lakota Local Schools on Wednesday, July 13 at Freedom Elementary School to learn more about the district's Master Facilities planning process. 

Lakota Local Schools has launched summer meetings to gather feedback from the community about its Master Facilities Plan (MFP) options. “This is just the beginning of the process,” said Superintendent Matt Miller.

At the April 14 Master Facilities Committee meeting, the Board narrowed down several plan options to prepare for future community engagement sessions. The options, which fall into three different grade-band configurations, also include estimated costs associated with each.

After pressing pause on Lakota’s Master Facilities Planning (MFP) process last spring, the Board of Education has reengaged, and expanded, the committee to build a plan to protect the district’s most important physical assets in a way that supports the education of its 17,000 students. This work kicked off at the Board of Education’s Jan. 24 work session.

The most recent series of community listening sessions, focus groups and a ThoughtExchange reinvigorated Lakota’s Master Facilities Planning (MFP) process, which was paused in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through all these opportunities, participants were asked to reflect on lessons learned from the pandemic that might alter Lakota’s original visioning exercise completed over a year ago. 

“When thinking about the future of education, what lessons have you learned through the COVID-19 pandemic that we should consider in our master facilities planning (MFP)?” This question was asked of our parents, students, staff and community members in the district’s recent ThoughtExchange survey.

In March 2020, the Lakota Master Facilities Plan (MFP) committee pressed pause on its work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee reconvened in November to continue this important process, as outlined in Lakota’s strategic plan. The last time Lakota completed a modified MFP was in 2008. The last comprehensive plan was completed in the early 2000s.

In line with Lakota’s strategic plan, which calls for an in-depth assessment of our facilities, the district launched a full-scale master facilities planning process last year. The end goal was to build a plan that protects the district’s most important assets - Lakota’s 25 buildings valued at more than $400 million - and supports the type of learning that will carry our schools into the future.