Good Day Kimball. I hope everyone has been doing well this autumn season. The colder weather has decided to join us this November. It has been good seeing all of the farmers getting the weather needed to harvest the crops. Hopefully that process went well this harvest season. This is my favorite time of the year, driving the combines and tractors in the field, watching the progress of harvest getting completed.
The winter activities are off and running. The students have been working hard for the upcoming winter season. Expectations are high for the groups to do well and improve on last year?Äôs performance. This winter season is also exciting from an administrative perspective as this week I get to start the process of replacing the school district?Äôs track surface.
The track has had to have the most rumors of why it is in the condition it is since I arrived, so here are the facts about the track. The first one is, the track is not the right size. Despite popular belief, the track is too long by 5 feet. So this spring we are going to redo the surface so the length will be official size to allow the school district to host track meets here for the first time in many years.
The track surface that we are putting in is called a Mondo Track. The things that make this track surface so special is that there are only four other schools in the state of Minnesota that have this track surface. It is also the only track surface that is used for the Olympic Games. This surface will allow us the capability to also host sub section events as well as section events because of the high quality of the surface. This is exciting for the community of Kimball. It will allow the district to get the name of Kimball out in the state as the place to host major track and field events. Kimball will have the best of the best with this track.
The question has been asked, ?ÄúHow can Kimball afford to get this track??Äù The simple explanation is the state of Minnesota and Minnesota Department of Education changed the formula for outstate districts to have access to deferred maintenance dollars from the state that goes into the long term planning for 10 years. The track is not being renovated or built from scratch, so it qualifies for equalization dollars. That means the state of Minnesota is helping to cover 33 percent of the cost. That explains why the track was not on the building bond questions. The items on the building bond questions receive no extra aid from the state. If any of them would qualify, the board and I would put them as a part of this project to get aid from the state to help pay for them.
The construction of the track won?Äôt happen until after the last day of school in May. The surface has to be ordered and the asphalt has to be poured when the weather is warmer. It will be a great day to see the students and the adults having the chance to use a new blue colored track in the near future. That?Äôs all for now, have a great weekend, and GO CUBS!