The Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools board voted 4-3 on Dec. 8 to keep schools closed for the November 2026 Election Day.
The board opted to keep schools closed for the Nov. 3, 2026, election since Redtail Ridge Elementary School is used as a polling location. The board originally suggested keeping schools open, but Rob Cothern, district director of administrative services, said several parents, teachers and staff were concerned with having the school open to the public while in session.
“We are having people come into the building in a different way than we would during any other days of the school year,” Cothern said.
Board members Amy Bullyan, Jessica Olstad, Mary Frantz and Dustin Smith voted in favor of closing schools while Lisa Atkinson, Jessica Mason and Charles Johnson voted against.
Olstad said that she would prefer to err on the side of caution when it came to the safety of students and staff, especially in the wake of the Aug. 27 mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis that resulted in a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old dead. Thirty other people, including 26 students aged 6 to 15, were wounded.
“Not to be doomsday, but we didn’t think someone would shoot through the windows of a church, but here we are,” Olstad said, “So, I’m not comfortable with kids eating lunch 20 feet away from people who we have not vetted.”
While understanding the safety concerns, Mason said having a day off in the middle of the week is difficult for families and students.
“I think it’s extremely disruptive to families and especially students with disabilities,” Mason said.
Mason asked if the gym doors were typically locked on Election Day. District superintendent Dr. Michael Thomas said doors are closed, but not locked.
The approved school calendar also keeps spring break on the original dates of April 5-9.
Cothern said moving the district’s spring break from the original suggested dates to the revised dates of March 29-April 2 would require students to take final exams when they return from break since it would be the last week of the quarter. The original spring break dates would have the students starting a new quarter when they return from break.
Board members agreed that the original spring break dates were a better option.
