Wayzata School District Reviews Building Needs Due to Growing Enrollment
(7/24/13) – Wayzata, MN: Reports of new housing developments, increasingly larger classes moving from the middle schools to Wayzata High School and the addition of state-‐funded all-‐day kindergarten beginning in fall 2014 have resulted in the Wayzata School Board scheduling special presentations on the impact of growing enrollment at its August 12 and September 9 school board meetings. For the past three years, the school district has been reviewing its building needs to address deferred maintenance and capacity issues, with an initial focus at the elementary level. A citizens’ task force met last spring to analyze enrollment trends, and recommended the school district consider an addition to the high school due to increasingly larger incoming classes from the district’s three middle schools. The state’s recent decision to fund all-‐day kindergarten adds new pressure to the elementary schools for more classroom space. “The incredible growth in family-‐oriented housing developments and the opportunity to offer state-‐funded all-‐day K to all families is a one-‐two punch to our building capacity,” said School Board Chair Sue Droegemueller. “We are delighted to welcome new resident families to our schools, and we need to ensure we have spaces for them when they arrive.” “We know we have to look at expanding high school capacity, because those students are already in our middle schools,” said Superintendent Chace Anderson. “The changes to all-‐day K and the growth in housing developments are new information that will greatly impact our elementary schools.” To allow time for continued planning and communication with the community while still addressing the capacity issues in a timely way for students and families, the Board anticipates a bond referendum will come before voters in 2014 to fund these building needs. Preliminary building estimates show total costs in excess of $100 million. WHAT: School Board presentations and discussions on enrollment growth and building capacity WHEN: August 12 and September 9 School Board Meetings, 7:00pm WHERE: Wayzata City Hall, 600 Rice Street, Wayzata INFO: Materials will be posted at www.wayzata.k12.mn.us when available Excellence. For each and every student.