New Brighton school district's 2 buildings will close for summer

St. Anthony-New Brighton schools will launch a $21.9 million construction project Monday that will affect every classroom and force the schools to shut down for the summer.

The project is funded by both $11.5 million in bonds approved by voters last May and another $10.4 million tax levy, which did not need voter approval and will go toward improving the air quality in the district's two buildings.

In addition to paying for new air flow systems, the district plans to use the money to build a new computer lab at Wilshire Park Elementary School in St. Anthony, new science labs at St. Anthony Village High School, and a safer student dropoff zone for both the high school and St. Anthony Middle School, which are housed in the same building.

"We're gutting the science rooms, relocating them, and bringing them up to 2009 standards," said school board vice chairwoman Jane Eckert. "The spaces where they have science were built more than 50 years ago." The official groundbreaking for the project is Monday at Wilshire Park Elementary.

In a district as small as St. Anthony-New Brighton, the project means virtually every space is affected.

"Our district will be totally shut down from after graduation night until a week before Labor Day," Eckert said.

The idea is to have the lion's share of the work done in time for the 2009-2010 school year.

This means that the district administration will have to temporarily relocate to a building rented from St. Anthony for its community services program. Students who want to go to summer school will be steered, instead, to the West Metro Education Program (WMEP), an integration consortium to which St. Anthony-New Brighton belongs. WMEP operates two of its own schools.

A few small construction pieces -- such as remodeling the high school kitchen and installing an elevator in the high school for disabled students -- will be put on hold until summer 2010.

St. Anthony-New Brighton voters approved the $11.5 million bonding request by only 105 votes. They turned down three other bonding requests, which would have allowed the district to add a new gym to the secondary school building and renovate the auditorium, among other things.

The district attracts many of its more than 1,700 students from surrounding districts through the state open enrollment program, which allows students to attend schools outside their home district provided there is room to accommodate them.