Seven Anoka-Hennepin schools salute their last year

At seven of eight Anoka-Hennepin district schools slated for closing this spring, Saturday will be a day to commemorate their histories and identities.

The schools will host hundreds of staff, students and alumni in official closing celebrations that will feature dozens of yearbooks, photos, tapes of old concerts and other assorted memorabilia, including snapshots of the schools through history. The idea is to go out with a happy bang, not a whimper.

"It's going to be filled, basically, with memories," said Anissa Cravens, principal of L.O. Jacob Elementary in Coon Rapids. Cravens said she expects the L.O. Jacob open house on Saturday to attract hundreds of visitors. It will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. "We're planning for 500," she said.

The school was built in 1921. After the school year ends in June, it will reopen next year as River Trail Learning Center and will house special education students who currently attend Coon Rapids' Bell Center.

Cravens said a school timeline on white poster paper will stretch down both sides of an entire school hall. Throughout the building, current students' artwork or stories will represent their most poignant memories of the school. Poster paper will also be on all the classroom doors, allowing former students and teachers to write down their memories associated with particular rooms. Kiosks also will be available where alumni can jot down thoughts, observations, and memories.

"I've gotten confirmation that three generations of principals will be there," Cravens said.

At Champlin Elementary, slated for closing, volunteers have sent out 500 invitations to celebrate the history of the 71-year-old school. Principal Todd Protivinsky said the school memorabilia on display will include minutes from old PTO meetings, as well as samples of student work through the decades.

The eighth school to be closed, Washington Elementary, in Anoka, held its commemorative open house March 25. Washington will reopen next year as a sixth-grade campus for middle school students.

Another school to be closed -- Park View Early Childhood Center in Champlin -- will become an elementary school.

The school board voted to close the eight schools last November because a dwindling student population created what district officials considered to be excess classroom space. Also, district officials figured the school closings would save them $3.1 million a year.