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• Administrators say solution needed by next school year and it could involve several schools
by Nate Gotlieb
Contributing Writer
A committee of parents and administrators from four Elk River elementary schools is working to address overcrowding at Twin Lakes Elementary School.
The school has a capacity of 775 students but currently has 895, a number Elk River Area School District leaders project to increase. District policy requires it to develop an immediate plan for schools that are 15 percent or more overcapacity.
“We’re not going affect anyone this year,” Director of Community Engagement Charlie Blesener said at an initial committee meeting Monday. “But we need to make it workable by next fall.”
A plan could also affect enrollment levels at Parker, Lincoln and Meadowvale elementary schools, which are currently under capacity. The principals from the four schools recruited parents to serve on the committee.
Committee members on Monday suggested ideas ranging from limiting in-district transfers to changing school boundary lines, with the intent of making a solution workable for at least five years.
The plan is still in its earliest stages, and district leaders plan on using the feedback to develop potential boundary changes.
‘Immediate crunch’
The district last redrew its boundary lines before Twin Lakes opened in fall 2007. Staff has been monitoring the school’s growing enrollment for a while, but it became a pressing issue with the addition of districtwide all-day kindergarten and a larger-than-expected increase in enrollment at Twin Lakes.
The school typically adds about 20 students a year, said Joe Stangler, the district’s director of research and assessment. This year, it added about 50.
“That put an immediate crunch on the building,” he said.
In addition, district leaders expect the district’s east side to grow more rapidly in the coming years. Superintendent Mark Bezek said Twin Lakes will be surrounded by homes in the next three to five years.
“You can kind of see the pinch we’re in right now,” he said, “because we’re going to be surrounded by homes and we’ve got no space.”
The School Board this year closed Twin Lakes to new open enrollment and in-district transfers, though it grandfathered in students whose siblings already attend the school. Even if the district eliminated in-district transfers and open enrollment to the school, however, Twin Lakes would still be over capacity in a few years, Blesener said.
Six percent of Twin Lakes students are open-enrolled, and 8 percent are in-district transfers. More than 765 of Twin Lakes’ students live in the school’s boundary area.
Committee members on Monday asked about the potential of alleviating the overcrowding by utilizing the new Otsego E-8 school set to open in fall 2017. That wouldn’t work, however, because the district needs a solution by next fall, Blesener said.
Lack of space
During a lunch period this week, more than 200 students filled the rows of tables in the Twin Lakes lunchroom. Principal Dan Collins said he had to bring in a table from Lincoln Elementary School to accommodate all the kids.
“If parents, grandparents want to come to eat with their child, that’s when it becomes difficult,” he said.
The school, he said, has no meeting rooms for special education. Staff uses the media center as classroom space.
“Small groups are tough,” Collins said. “Even taking school pictures is a process.”
Twin Lakes parents at Monday’s meeting nodded their heads when asked if they are concerned about overcrowding. Collins said parents voiced their concerns to him on open house night.
Blesener said he was pleased with Monday’s meeting, noting how attentive and task-oriented the group was.
The committee will meet again Nov. 30 to work through its suggestions before presenting them to the School Board on Dec. 14.
The board will give feedback at its Jan. 11 meeting before a Jan. 26 community input meeting. The committee will present its final recommendations to the board Feb. 8, and the board will take action by March 14 so the changes can be implemented by next fall.