Anoka Hennepin School District Attendance Proposal Would Impact Local Schools
More change could be coming to the Anoka Hennepin School District. Thanks to November’s referendum, new schools are being built and attendance changes could be coming to a couple local schools.
There are 38,000 students in the district coming from 13 different cities, including Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. There is overcrowding in some schools, while others are below capacity.
To fix this, the district wants to combine the attendance areas at Evergreen Park World Cultures Community School in Brooklyn Center and Monroe Elementary in Brooklyn Park. Under the proposal Evergreen Park, currently a pre-K-5 school, would serve grades 3 through 5. And Monroe Elementary, currently a K-5 school, would serve students in kindergarten through second grade.
Chuck Holden, chief operating officer of Anoka-Hennepin schools, says the changes for those schools won’t involve shifting any school attendance boundaries. Evergreen Park and Monroe are located within a mile of each other. If this proposal becomes reality it would take affect in the 2019/2020 school year.
Holden says “it’s very early in this process” and the district wants parent, teacher and community feedback. The district hopes the school board can make a decision by next September.
“We know that the STEM program is very successful and attracts into Jackson Middle School and Champlin Park High School,” Holden said. “So we thought rather than shifting boundaries, or forcing neighborhoods to move, it may be a better opportunity just to include Evergreen Park in that same STEM school and make them a split campus.”
The next step in the process is to have public meetings with parents at the schools. If people can’t make those in person, they can give their feedback on the Anoka-Hennepin web site.
