Golden Valley Approves Meadowbrook Elementary Expansion
Golden Valley’s Meadowbrook Elementary gets the green light for expansion.
It comes after months of careful consideration by the city and school district over traffic concerns, even as Golden Valley voters in the Hopkins School District overwhelmingly approved a referendum last fall.
Space is at a premium for the nearly 800 kindergarten through 6th grade students at Meadowbrook Elementary.
“It’s because we’ve already been growing, the students are here, and we are on top of each other,” said Meadowbrook Elementary Principal Greta Evans-Becker.
Meadowbrook Elementary is a Popular Choice
The success of this neighborhood school coupled with its great location off Highway 100 have made it an open enrollment hot spot, especially after an extra section of kindergarten and full-day kindergarten were added several years ago.
Concerns about Traffic at Meadowbrook
“It is a wonderful problem to have, such a great school that kids want to go to, but your job is to figure out how this fits within our city, within our traffic,” said Golden Valley resident Paula Pentel at a recent city council meeting.
Concerns over traffic outside the school and green space were aired at Tuesday night’s Golden Valley’s council meeting.
The majority of the crowd, however, came to support a school expansion. They all wore yellow buttons that read, “Room to Learn.”
“I was one of the 82 percent of voters in Golden Valley that supported this. I think it’s really important not to forget that, that the voters support this,” said Alicen Burns Spaulding, a Meadowbrook parent.
In the end, the city council unanimously approved the expansion in a five to zero vote. It paves the way for a nine room addition at the school.
Construction on the addition, north of the school, will begin this spring. When it’s complete, it will reunite the third graders now in separate wings of the school.
Concerns about traffic especially around pickup times, could result in an extra turn lane or two around the school.
But for now, this school is thrilled to get a little breathing room.
“It was a big wahoo, and a phew,” said Evans-Becker. “Yes, we’re very glad.”
The addition will be complete in the fall of 2019, with some of the new space ready for move-in next winter.
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