Bismarck school patrons this month will get a say in their future that could include a new high school or a school in Lincoln.

A public forum being held by the Bismarck School Board will look at school renovations and projects. The forum will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 13 at Simle Middle School. The board will use public comments in deciding a course of action.

"Every two years, the district accumulates enough issues and questions, and it doesn't lend itself to a survey or staff input," Superintendent Paul Johnson said.

This will be the third forum in five years. After Johnson introduces what the issues are for the forum, participants will break into small groups to discuss them and come up with ideas and opinions.

Some of the district's future building projects could hinge on its grade organization, Johnson said. The district currently has kindergarten through sixth grade in elementary, seventh through ninth grade in middle school and 10th through 12th grade in high school.

"We need to think about it because a lot of future plans are based on how we visualize grade configuration," Johnson said.

Space for all-day kindergarten exceeds what's available in some elementary schools, yet it could be mandatory depending on the Legislature's decisions. All-day kindergarten could mean more crowded elementary schools, unless the district builds another elementary school or makes arrangements with other facilities, like churches, to house kindergarten classes. The district would be short 11 classroom spaces if it had all-day kindergarten.

"If it is not approved this session, it will be approved in a future session," Johnson said about all-day kindergarten.

Some space could be made from moving sixth-graders to the middle schools. If the sixth-graders are moved to the middle schools, the ninth-graders would need to be moved to avoid overcrowding, and then the high schools would become crowded.

"We could make it work for the short term," Johnson said, but longer term could mean a new high school.

Ultimately, the district will be at a point where it needs to decide if it should build a high school or an elementary school. Added into the mix is Myhre Elementary School, which needs $2.5 million of work to bring it up to current building codes and fix an open floor plan that makes for distracting classrooms. Also, Lincoln wants an elementary school for its growing student population.

"If the board decided not to renovate Myhre, the students would have to go some place else and the Lincoln students would have to go some place else," Johnson said.

The displacement of the Lincoln students if Myhre closed is because Myhre students could be assigned to schools where Lincoln students are bused. One option proposed is to build a school in Lincoln for the the 530 students in the Lincoln area, if the district were to go forward with closing Myhre. The district wants comments on what to do with Myhre, whether to renovate it, or sell it and build a new elementary school, Johnson said.

The forum is open to the public. The district wants those interested in providing input to sign up with the district community relations department so they can arrange small discussion groups and have enough seating for everyone. People can call up to the day of the forum, and check out the information online, if it is too late to mail out the information, spokeswoman Renae Walker said. To register, call 355-3092. People will be asked to give comments on a group questionnaire and an individual questionnaire, which ask the same questions.

Background information for the forum is available on the school district Web site at www.bismarck.k12.nd.us, clicking on "current news" and clicking on "2007 Parent Forum."

After the forum, the comments will be compiled and presented at a future board meeting with recommendations from district administration. It could be presented as early as the last school board meeting this month, Feb. 26.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)