District Purchasing New Home for Riverwoods Program

ST. CLOUD -- An alternative learning program in the St. Cloud Area School District will soon have a permanent home.

Back in December, the school board approved a six-month lease at 713 Anderson Avenue North for the Riverwoods program. The district then came to a deal with the owners of the property to buy it for a total of $1,575,000.

Executive Director of Finance and Business Services Amy Skaalerud says the funding is coming from multiple existing sources.

The building will be funded primarily from money that remains in a capital bond that the district issued in 2015. There is also money sitting within the general fund in reserve in assigned fund balances. Some of that is from the proceeds when we sold Wilson and the lot adjacent to the old Tech High School. There's no levy component of this. There's nothing that will impact any sort of tax or levy.

The size of the property will allow for future growth and includes a 33,000 square foot building with a 19,000 square foot addition as well as a 7,500 square foot recreational building.

The Riverwoods program was formerly located at St. Cloud Children’s Home. Students in the program will report to the new site when they make their return to hybrid learning on January 19th. The board approved the purchase agreement at Wednesday night's meeting and the closing is set for Tuesday.

Riverwoods is a Level IV EBD (emotional behavioral disorders) specialty program that provides additional support to students who have been referred and helps give them the skills necessary to return to a traditional school setting.