• Making Champlin Park schools Fit for the Future

    Voters are curious about what exactly is happening to the schools in their neighborhoods and attendance boundaries. Check out the Champlin Park cluster flier and infographic for details on Champlin Park High School, and elementary and middle schools that feed into it. 

     

  • So what's Champlin Park High School having done? 

    • CPHS concept plan Champlin Park High School will receive $16.4 million in additions totaling 38,400 square feet, and other improvements to another 9,300 square feet of space in the school.
    • Chief among the projects is an addition to the building to create safe and secure learning environments through the removal of 12 portable classrooms.
    • There will also be an expansion of the school’s security control space to address pre-911 security conditions and provide safety for all students. Also, zoning doors will secure areas so students have a secure central activities area after hours.
    • Also included in the work: the classroom expansion will include new science labs, health classrooms, music storage expansion to store equipment and instruments that are currently stored in teaching space; a scene shop to support the performing arts programs; and team areas and planning space for staff.
    • In addition, an expansion of Champlin Park’s strength/fitness space to provide all students and school/community programs with opportunities before and after school; athletic storage expansion to provide additional space for school programs and extracurricular equipment needs; and activities support space located at the community activities entrance to better serve teams and the community, and provide for improved supervision.

      

    What about Jackson Middle School and Champlin-Brooklyn Park Academy? 

    • CBPA and JMS concept plans Champlin-Brooklyn Park Academy (CBPA) will receive a $24.9 million, 57,700 square foot addition to add classrooms and core spaces, such as restrooms, for a capacity of 900 students.
    • CBPA elementary students will relocate out of the portion of the school connected to Jackson Middle School and into the new space. Jackson Middle School students will move into the space vacated, allowing the middle school to alleviate current capacity needs and remove the existing portable classrooms.

     

    What about Evergreen Park World Cultures Community School, and Dayton, Monroe and Oxbow Creek elementary schools? 

    • All across the district, science labs, media centers, and classrooms haven’t been improved with appropriate technology, power infrastructure, or reconfigurations to meet today’s learning needs. Districtwide, $4.5 million will be used to provide schools with equitable space that supports today’s learning needs and quality maintenance improvements, including at Evergreen Park World Cultures Community School, and Dayton, Monroe and Oxbow Creek elementary schools.
    • In addition, special education classrooms throughout the district have deficiencies, including restroom configuration. Districtwide $1.9 million will be used to provide special education students with updated facilities to better serve their physical and learning needs, including at Champlin Park High School, Jackson Middle School, Champlin-Brooklyn Park Academy, Evergreen Park World Cultures Community School, and Dayton, Monroe and Oxbow Creek elementary schools.

     

    What's happening elsewhere in the Anoka-Hennepin School District? 

    • Similar additions and improvements will be occurring to schools in the Andover, Anoka, Blaine, and Coon Rapids clusters.
    • In addition, River Trail Learning Center in Coon Rapids, which serves district special education students with the highest needs, will get $11.1 million in additions and improvements, including additional classroom and program space for students with significant emotional and behavioral needs; security modifications to provide safety for all students; and a cafeteria expansion to accommodate the growing student population.
    • Due to rapid population growth and new home construction, the district will use $70.8 million to construct two new elementary schools — one in Blaine and another in Ramsey — which will reduce overcrowding in schools where student populations are significantly growing.

      

    Some facts about Anoka-Hennepin’s buildings and its history of referendums 

    • Every day, thousands of students at nine district schools attend classes in portable classrooms in yards and parking lots because the permanent building they go to doesn’t have adequate space. There are 62 portable classrooms in all, posing a safety and security risk to students and staff.
    • The last time Anoka-Hennepin’s School Board asked voters to approve major additions and renovations to district facilities was in 1999 (construction of Andover High School, Rum River and Oxbow Creek elementary schools, and an addition to Oak View Middle School), and the last time the community was asked to approve a new operating levy was a decade ago, in 2007. In both cases, the community was involved in the planning and voters approved the proposals.
    • Just in the last seven years, several district schools have seen their student enrollment increase 10-15 percent. These sites are running out of space to accommodate students as populations grow.
    • While existing facilities are well-maintained, the average age of district schools is 50-years-old. Schools built half-a-century ago were designed for the 1950s and 60s teaching model, and don’t have adequate science labs or media centers.