Which elementary school is going to be repurposed?
Which elementary school is going to be repurposed?
Over the last several months, the district’s Building a Better Future plan shared that an elementary school would be repurposed to serve pre-kindergarten grades, enrichment and community-based programming needs. After much research and consideration, Crest View Elementary School has been chosen to be repurposed. This means Crest View’s students and staff will be moving schools in fall 2025 – the start of the 2025-26 school year.
What’s next: This transition will be a multi-step process with communication at the forefront to ensure that Crest View families and staff are fully informed and able to make the best next step decisions. In April 2024, our Crest View staff and families were informed, followed by our greater school district community.
Key dates:
- Reminders mid-April 2024 until June 2025.
- Event(s) to celebrate Crest View May 2024 and onward.
- Crest View families to preview transferring school(s) in late September 2024.
- Construction at Crest View to start June 2025.
- Crest View staff and students begin their new journeys at transferring schools in September 2025.
Go deeper: Crest View was specifically chosen as the elementary school to be repurposed for a variety of reasons, including its central location to neighborhood schools, opportunity to expand to offer more community services and lower student enrollment that is reaching unsustainable levels. Learn more at district279.org/Repurposing. Reach out to BetterFuture@district279.org with any questions.
Our district has been committed to investing in our school buildings in an equitable manner. Investments by city from 2018 to today, including Building a Better Future projects, shows that Brooklyn Park will receive about $2 million more than Maple Grove (Maple Grove 41.6% of dollars, Brooklyn Park 42.5% of dollars).
Building a Better Future will be adding outdoor classrooms to remaining elementary and middle schools. Currently there are outdoor classrooms at Zanewood Community: A STEAM School, Rice Lake Elementary School and Brooklyn Middle STEAM School.
Brooklyn Middle STEAM School uses their outdoor classroom all year long, including for science, math, English, art and physical education classes. They've also invited in special guest speakers and held community meetings and schoolwide celebrations in the space.
The safety and security of our students, staff and community is the highest priority of the district. The approved technology levy is funding the technology needed for safety and security improvements at district schools. The bond will be addressing safety and security needs in relation to the physical school buildings. This includes improvements to the entrances at Maple Grove, Osseo and Park Center Senior High Schools and additional safety/security enhancements at all schools in order to meet district standards as well as the latest safety/security best practices.
The majority of construction will be completed in three to four years. The included graphic shows the construction start times for each school. Please note, many of our schools have multiple phases or projects that are part of their improvements so you’ll see construction coming and going in some cases, as well as stretching over multiple school years.
Social-emotional supports help scholars learn to get along with others, which is critical to success in school, life and work. Scholars then effectively apply their knowledge, attitudes and skills to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Research shows that the presence of social-emotional supports enhances academic performance and reduces classroom disruptions.
Flexible learning spaces are areas where teachers and scholars are able to adapt the environment to learning needs. Desks and furniture are movable, and technology tools and connections are readily accessible. These adjustments can be made for both smaller groups within a class or classroom-wide groups. Scholars have a more enriched, collaborative learning experience as a result.