🏫 Anishinabe Academy might not move to the Cooper School site, after all
The plan to demolish the building and replace it with a newly-built facility for Anishinabe Academy could be scrapped in favor of a different site.
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Minneapolis Public Schools' sweeping reconfiguration proposals have put nearly all of the neighborhood's active schools in some degree of limbo, facing either closure or significant boundary changes.
Now, that limbo extends to the vacant Cooper School, too, as officials shared today that the plan to demolish the building and replace it with a newly-built facility for Anishinabe Academy could be scrapped in favor of a different site.
District planners identified Cooper as the preferred new home for the Native American magnet school last spring, deeming it the only available building in the district's portfolio that met the project steering committee's criteria. The school board has been unanimously supportive of the plan, budgeted to cost between $90 and $105 million, despite some public contention amid the district's high-profile budget issues. In June, the board formally endorsed the most extensive version of the plan, committing $2.3 million to design the new PreK-8 with the goal of opening in fall 2028.
But the vote included a caveat that the plan could change if the district's long-awaited "transformation" proposals freed up any other district buildings that would also fit Anishinabe's criteria.
On Wednesday afternoon, planners informed school parents and interested parties that they're now considering a second site, the "Wilder Complex" next to Powderhorn Park. The sprawling building currently houses Heritage Academy, an alternative high school that serves about 75 students, which would close under all three district transformation proposals. The building also hosts some early-childhood education programs.
In an e-mail, project staff tout that the 34th and Chicago site is located near a concentration of Native American families and institutions, has direct access to Powderhorn Park, and is large enough to accommodate Anishinabe's target enrollment of 650-700 students. It also has a 70-space parking lot across the street. The district says that, if selected, the building would still require significant renovation.
For now, Cooper remains the board-approved option. But the district is rushing to collect feedback on the new potential site, with the goal of presenting a recommendation to the school board on October 12. That includes virtual Q&'A's on October 1 (11:30-12:30), October 2 (11:30-12:30), and October 5 (6-7), along with an online survey. More information is available on the district website.
And it all hinges on the final form of the transformation plan, which the school board is scheduled to vote on November 10.