St. Cloud voters soundly approve $65M in upgrades at aging Apollo High School

ST. CLOUD – School district residents here soundly approved a special election Tuesday that asked for $50 million to bring the aging Apollo High School up to par with its sister school across town — as well as $15 million for a new multipurpose athletics facility on Apollo’s grounds.

About 6,500 district residents voted in the election. The first question, which sought approval to add a secure entrance and improve educational spaces, passed with 62% voting “yes.” The second question, contingent on the first passing, passed with 54% voting “yes.”

“I’m so excited for our kids,” said Laurie Putnam, district superintendent, on Wednesday morning. “It’s been hard for our kids and our staff on our north side [because of] how differently they experience their education because of the facilities that they are in.”

Six years ago, the district opened a new Tech High School, which replaced a centuryold building. The new school boasts flexible learning spaces and equipment for career and technology classes, as well as first-rate performing arts and athletics spaces.

Apollo opened in 1970, at the height of the modular education movement, and was designed for students to come and go, with classrooms ranging from large lecture halls to tiny dark spaces that limit supervision and instructional capabilities.

“It’s just not the way we instruct 15-, 16-year-olds anymore,” Putnam said.

St. Cloud resident Delbert Brobst, 81, voted in support of both questions Tuesday. Brobst taught at Apollo for 30 years and said it was “on the forefront of technology in the 1970s” but understands not much has changed there since.

Attempts to upgrade the building in the past decade have faltered. In 2015, voters turned down the district’s request for $167 million to build a new Tech High School, renovate Apollo and add secure entrances at all schools.

The following year, the district put two questions before voters. The request to build a new Tech High School passed, but the second, asking for about $39 million to renovate Apollo failed, with about 51.5% of voters saying no. Administrators then started planning for a referendum in 2020 but postponed it because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Putnam has said the projected cost for Apollo improvements was $54 million in 2020, which is equivalent to about $74 million today due to inflation in construction costs. But the district didn’t need to ask for that amount because it used one-time pandemic relief funding to get a head start on some upgrades, including replacing furniture and outdated classroom technology, redoing restrooms and flooring throughout the school and renovating the auditorium.

“Any dollar coming out of our community’s — our families’ — pocketbooks means something, and so I don’t take $65 million lightly," she said. “But if we hadn’t used those funds so carefully, it would have been even more than that.”

Still, voter approval was needed for the district to issue bonds to fund the last few priorities. Even with the upgrades made in recent years, Apollo was the only school in the district without a secure entrance. A recent law change mandates that districts undergoing building additions must create storm shelters. So because the secure entrance, to be built onto the building, is considered an addition, the district needs to add a fourth gym that doubles as a shelter.

“It needs to be renovated, and now is the time,” said Jane Oxton, 77, of St. Cloud, who voted in support of both questions Tuesday. “That’s what you do — you support education.”

Margie Schlangen also voted yes on both questions. She was more confident in the need for the secure entrance and building upgrades, she said, but ultimately decided to also support the multipurpose athletics center, too.

“I was a little iffy on that but I just thought, let’s go for the whole deal,” Schlangen said.

The athletics facility, which will feature a full-size turf and walking track, will provide year-round access for students and residents.

“It’s a new place for this community to come together, whether it’s itty-bitty [kids] for soccer ... or adult softball leagues or seniors walking — there’s going to be so many more opportunities where people can gather,” Putnam said. “We really want our schools to be integral elements of the community.”

St. Cloud school district was one of a half-dozen school districts in Minnesota to hold special elections Tuesday asking voters to support multimillion-dollar projects and facilities upgrades.

Most of the school referendums were in northern Minnesota, including Nevis, Osakis, Pequot Lakes, and Pine River-Backus. The southern outlier is the Mabel-Canton school district, located near the Iowa border.

The Nevis school district announced that voters rejected a $41.5 million referendum. Voters also rejected a $32.6 million referendum in Osakis, which residents rebuffed two years ago when asking for a $35 million bond.

Voters in Pequot Lakes passed a series of ballot questions, saying yes to a $55 million bond referendum that voters rejected in 2023. A 10-year $600,000 capital projects levy also passed.

In Pine River-Backus, an $896,000 capital projects levy passed.