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Due in large part to the successful bond referendum, a systematic and comprehensive effort to address the needs of our school district’s facilities is now underway, and construction has already begun.

Some highlights of projects that will be completed prior to the start of school this fall.

Contractors have begun to repair the drainage and to replace the track and field in Panther Stadium at Spring Lake Park High School.

Seven additional classrooms will be built at Park Terrace Elementary this summer. The new classrooms will be equipped for audio enhancement, enabling students to not only hear better, but to actually perform more effectively in the classroom.

At Westwood Elementary, a new media center will be built in what is presently the main entrance to the school. The old media center is being renovated into four additional classrooms.

In addition, architects and engineers have also met with staff and community members to begin the planning and design stage for the bulk of this long, but exciting and worthwhile process.

A community-school New Elementary School Design Committee has already had two meetings, including a day-long tour of three other districts, to explore ideas for programmatic and structural designs.

After gathering input from staff and community this spring and summer, architects will begin the design development phase, which will last throughout the fall of 2006. As these designs are developed, so also will construction documents, which will be used for the solicitation of sealed bids for each of the projects.

Bids for all parts of the project, including a part of the high school, will be received between December 2006 and March 2007. The final high school bids will be received between October and December 2007.

Contractors wanting more information about these projects and the bidding process should contact the Kraus-Anderson Construction Management firm directly.

Much of the construction will begin in earnest in the spring of 2007.

In spring of 2007, the district’s Early Childhood programs will vacate their present location (the 1955 section on the south side of the high school) so that demolition and construction can begin on a new high school fine arts/physical education/athletic wing.
The Early Childhood programs will temporarily relocate to the former Health Partners Building, located on 81st Avenue NE.

In June 2007, substantial work at Park Terrace Elementary will continue. A district-wide early childhood wing will be constructed at Woodcrest Elementary, and work on the new K-3 elementary school near Highway 242 and Cloud Drive in Blaine will begin as well.

Projects at all K-3 elementary sites will be completed for the start of school in the fall of 2008, and students assigned to the new elementary school will begin there that fall as well.

Major projects will then begin at Spring Lake Park High School and at the Westwood complex, and by the fall of 2009, most of this work will be completed. The remaining work is scheduled to be completed in early 2010.

With work being conducted at so many sites and over an extended period of time, a significant amount of timing and staging is critical for the success of this venture.

It is also our intention to have most of the work done when school is not in session because the safety and security of our students and staff is our first priority.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation during the construction and transition phases of the facilities projects.

The district is fully committed to completing all projects on time and in a cost-effective manner.

Individuals who would like more information and more detail are encouraged to participate on the district’s Community Construction Oversight Group, which meets about every 4-6 weeks to review the progress of design and construction projects, to hear from the architect and construction manager, and to provide feedback. Any resident may participate on this group and should call Kathy at 763-785-5513 if interested.

I also encourage you to visit the district’s website (www.springlakeparkschools.org.) now and throughout all phases of planning and construction. We will provide continual updates and reports, photographs, drawings, and videos.

Thanks to you we’re building a brighter future for kids.

Dr. Don Helmstetter

Superintendent