Consultant lists three Robbinsdale schools that should close
A consultant is recommending the Robbinsdale School District close three of its schools to account for declining enrollment.
The district, which had more than 28,000 students in the early 1970s, has seen its enrollment fall to fewer than 12,500 this year.
The firm Wold Architects and Engineers studied all of Robbinsdale's facilities and is now recommending three schools close after this year.
They are Sandburg Middle School in Golden Valley, Pilgrim Lane Elementary in Plymouth, and Sunny Hollow Elementary in New Hope. Sunny Hollow wouldn't close, though, because the district's Spanish Immersion Program would be moved there.
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The option is recommended over three others that the firm will present to the Robbinsdale School Board on Monday night.
"The other options don't deliver the same scale of benefits, and they don't support as efficient a delivery of educational initiatives," said Scott McQueen, project manager for Wold, in a statement.
Any final decision on closures will be up to the board.
"We understand that closing facilities is very hard for families, students, staff and community members," said Superintendent Stan Mack, in a statement. "We wish there were other alternatives to closing buildings, but this painful process has been something we've needed to do every few years since the 1970s after our enrollment peaked."
