When I have the opportunity to speak in our community, there are two things that I often mention: we are a young community (median age – 28) and we are a growing community (I estimate we are close to 10% growth for this decade just 4 years in – we grew 18% last decade). Mix state funding for all-day kindergarten, with a young, growing community, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that our schools are busting at the seams. Last summer, the Moorhead School System started working with an architecture company, Cunningham Group, to help develop and design a facility plan for the next decade. This fall, they started meeting with a community based task force to help define priorities within fiscal constraints. I attended a couple of the workshops, and was pleased to note that the initial focus was on kids and education. They allowed for outside-the-box thinking and encouraged a focus on goals that were developed by the community in an earlier process. How we, as a community, work together to maintain and enhance our children’s educational experience is important and should be done in a thoughtful, pragmatic, yet visionary way. Last night, the school board had an opportunity to get a first look at possibilities. As a larger growing community, many things are happening so I’ve called for a joint meeting between our County Commissioners, City Council and School Board to happen March 2 at 7pm at the Hjemkomst Center. We all intertwine in our community and I felt that that communication and bigger discussion needs to happen. I would like to encourage you to continue to participate with your ideas and suggestions.