 The Brainerd community passed a referendum last April, allowing School District 181 to move forward with major renovation plans. The blueprints for those plans were unveiled tonight during an open house. A reporter Rachel Johnson has the story. Excitement filled the Washington Educational Services Building, where the public was able to view the blueprint 181 plans for the first time. We're just really excited to share the work that our staff and administration and community teams have been working on. The goal of the open house was to get feedback from the public, since without them and their approval of the referendum last April, none of it would have been possible. We are most appreciative of our community and supporting our school district and believing in the education that is happening here. The projects that were highlighted during the open house tonight were renovations to Miss Elementary, Harrison Elementary and the High School, with an addition of a new elementary school in Baxter. This has been a work for many years, so obviously with the referendum, there's been a lot of work on the vaccines, a lot of discussions, a lot of meetings with the staff, with the community. One of the biggest projects that the district has planned is renovations to the high school and the addition of a performing arts center. To the north, we still have our academic quadrant that will still house the same academics that it originally housed, with some finish improvements occurring. To the north of that is the new 1200 seat performing arts center, which will also incorporate the band orchestra and choir rehearsal rooms. The district is looking forward to getting feedback from the public, allowing them to take the next steps forward in the project. Eventually, when we feel that we have the right plan, we'll bring it forward to the Board of Education and get approval, so that then we can go into the next phase of design, which is looking at individual spaces within the buildings. Although it is a large undertaking, the renovations and new buildings will have an immense impact on the Brainerd School District and the community as a whole. This will be something that will be a transformation for years and years to come. So as we continue to look at the growth in the Brainerd Backstair and the SWA area, this will certainly help as we grow. The school district hopes to continue their community partnership throughout the duration of the project and into the future. Reporting from Brainerd, Rachel Johnson, Lakeland News. For more information on the project or to view the blueprints online, you can visit the story on our website at lbtv.org. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.