School closed, but fundraising continues on Owatonna

OWATONNA — A long-scheduled benefit for the Recovery School of Southern Minnesota is now a going away party.

Last month, the school’s board decided to close the school, which served kids with chemical dependency problems, but they will proceed with a benefit fiesta.

“The benefit had been planned as a way of supporting our mission and staying open. It has been in the works prior to the school closing, and it was not meant to support the school’s closing,” said Director Gary Braun, who has been with the school for two years. “It had already been an scheduled engagement, and we felt it was still worth having and doing because we still had expenses that needed to be paid.”

Bob Duenes is behind the dinner and dance benefit. Duenes served as the chemical dependency counselor when the school was still open. He said he came up with the idea at the end of the school year as a way of supplementing other fundraisers they had done, such as a cookie dough sale.

At the time, the idea was to raise money to keep the doors open. Though the school will no longer operate, financial needs still exist.

“The money will be a benefit for the school because there is a lot of debt. That’s where the money is going to,” Duenes said.

Braun said the school had about $100,000 in debt when the board decided to begin the closure process at a June 30 meeting. They have hired an attorney to develop a plan to dissolve the charter school. Braun estimated that the whole thing would take roughly 30 to 45 days.

Braun said the school’s funding came from a mix of state and federal dollars. The amount was based on student enrollment, which came in lower than the board expected when it worked out a budget for the school year over 2009 and 2010. The total student count was in the low 20s.

“The benefit is really to offset the expenses that we incurred this year due to our lack of enrollment, which left us short for this school year,” Braun said. “And there will be closing costs.”

Though the total number of students is small, the closing of the school will have a significant impact, Braun said. The 20 or so young people in the school’s care will now have to find somewhere else to go. The school drew students from a seven-county area.

“That’s the toughest thing about the decision. There are no similar programs in this region, so the kids were hurt the most,” Braun said. “Some will probably go to an (alternative learning center) within their home district and others may look for smaller types of programs but neither will have a recovery component.”

Duenes agreed.

“It’s really sad to see that the school closed because I feel it’s a very much needed program,” Duenes said. “It’s sad that there wasn’t more financial support behind it because we have a lot of adolescents struggling with these issues. I hope someday that someone will start up another charter school for kids at risk.”

The dinner-dance will be held at the Elks Club on Saturday. Dinner will be served from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with food provided by Plaza Morena. A band called La Moda from Del Rio, Texas, will be playing at the dance, which will run from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Duenes said 200 tickets will be available. Tickets can be bought in advance for $20. Those who wish to buy them ahead of time can call 451-0796. They are also available at Plaza Morena. Tickets can also be purchased at the door for $25.

Clare Kennedy can be reached at 444-2376.

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Member Opinions: By: secretsquirrel on 7/29/10 After reading the headline, it occurred to me that this could actually be all schools. Close the doors but continue collecting. I sure hope these guys can find some way to make it work and re-open.
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