It’s no secret that times are tough in the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District. Two referendums didn’t pass last fall, a former employee was elected to the School Board, the superintendent resigned, budget cuts are taking place and 1,000 trees saved during the construction of Prior Lake High School might be on the chopping block. We’d like to suggest that everyone needs to work together so that these situations can be dealt with in a positive manner.

School Board member Chris Lind took the first step this week by deciding not to pursue a lawsuit against District 719. We’d like to commend Lind for making that tough decision and state we think it was the right one. His choice shows he can put the needs of the district ahead of his own. Bravo, Chris!

While many residents still have a bitter taste in their mouths about the levy results, we’d ask them to follow Lind’s example. He’s dropped his lawsuit threat and an advisory opinion issued this week by the state Commissioner of Administration confirms that the data regarding why he was dismissed should stay private, as allowed for under the state’s Data Practices law. We’ll admit that we would have liked for the commissioner to advise the opening of his personnel file. But that didn’t happen, so we’re ready to move on.

And speaking of moving on, we hope Tom Westerhaus can do so in a positive manner. A resident’s concern about walking distances was met with a sharp response from the outgoing superintendent this week, who said: “Everyone on this board cares. This sadness is misdirected.”

Westerhaus added that 60 percent of voters in the district said “no” to the referendum. “I don’t want these kids to walk, but don’t put the blame in this direction,” he said.

The Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board and administration are easy targets for residents whose children are impacted by increases in walking distances and budget cuts. What’s a parent supposed to do? So it’s really not fair for the outgoing superintendent to direct his anger at a resident because he’s not going to be here for the fallout.

We understand that the superintendent and the School Board don’t want to implement increases in walking distances or to cut the budget. They are educators and didn’t get into the business to hurt students. However, tense remarks to residents who express concerns about budget-cutting decisions don’t make things any better. A compassionate response will get more votes on the next try for a referendum.

And speaking of the referendum, it will be interesting to see what the results show when the School Board gets a look at the referendum survey. Already, residents were saying the survey was one sided. To that, we ask, what did you expect? The School District is trying to get a referendum passed – plain and simple. No one’s made any secret about it, so if the survey was one sided, that’s why. Sure, taxpayer’s money was used to fund the survey, but unless something happened recently at the state Legislature, local school districts still need to raise money from taxpayers to stay in business. There’s no law that said a survey has to be fair to any one side or the other.

Then about those trees, which may not seem as important as the rest of the items mentioned here. SS-9 was preserved when Prior Lake High School was built and extra money was spent to engineer the site plan so that the woods and wetlands surrounding the school would be preserved.

PLHS is nestled in an area that is very pleasing to the eye and one of those reasons is that six acres of SS-9 were preserved for the public and students to enjoy. Even though the district’s environmental education program has yet to get off the ground at PLHS, that doesn’t mean it never will.

The only reason the Savage City Council is entertaining the idea of removing SS-9 is that the Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board opened the door to the possibility. The dollars being flashed by Prior Lake Aggregates to remove the woods in exchange for paying for a road and ball fields is very enticing; however, we urge the district to look at things long term. You can’t replace 1,000 mature trees with seedlings, no matter how many you plant.

Yes, a road is needed to connect the old gravel pit site to the PLHS site, but the city can negotiate those financial details when the road is actually needed, which isn’t today. And the urgent need for more ball fields just isn’t there. With two new fields at Redtail Ridge Elementary (just down the road) and plans for more fields at Thomas Ryan Park, there are other options. As to the concerns about the safety of the retaining wall – which will face away from PLHS property and be built on the gravel pit’s land? Put up a fence around it to keep kids out and take measures to reduce further liability by posting “no trespassing” signs or something along that lines. It’s not a 70-foot wall that goes straight up – it will likely be tiered and fan out onto the gravel pit’s property.

We urge the School Board to step up and take responsibility for SS-9 by dropping its pursuit of permit approvals from the city of Savage that would allow for the woods to be destroyed. Once the trees are gone, that’s it. The opportunity to partner with the city to make using SS-9 more accessible through city-owned woodlands to the west will be gone, too.

In conclusion, it’s time for the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District to move past the problems of the last six months. Leave the negativity behind and get onto the next challenges in a positive manner that will be remembered for years to come.

 (Editorials are one of several opinion and commentary pieces appearing regularly in this newspaper. Unless otherwise noted, editorials are written by the editor, who can be reached at editor@savagepacer.com.)