The Forest Lake Area School Board is considering two major changes next fall to address a significant drop in enrollment — a loss of 1,000 students over the past 10 years.
All district sixth-grade students, currently enrolled in six of the district’s seven elementary schools, would be moved to Forest Lake Area Middle School, creating a middle school for grades 6-8. This year, the district has 427 sixth graders.
District officials also are considering a plan to consolidate Forest View Elementary School and Forest Lake Elementary School.
Moving sixth grade to the middle school would provide “tremendous opportunities academically,” Superintendent Steve Massey said, including consistent learning time in the core academic areas and expanded experiences in the arts and career exploration gateway courses.
“For what our sixth-grade students would get in our middle school, that’s hard to replicate in an elementary setting,” he said. “There’s just more options and flexibility in the middle level than there are at the elementary level. The sixth-grade state standards are middle-level standards, and trying to teach them in an elementary environment is challenging.”
The district, which has about 5,600 students, also is considering a plan to consolidate Forest View Elementary School and Forest Lake Elementary School.
Those schools, which are next door to one another, are currently partner schools: Forest View Elementary School, built in 1968, serves 330 students in grades kindergarten through third grades and also houses preschool programming, and Forest Lake Elementary School, built in 1957, serves 314 students in grades fourth through sixth.
The schools became partner schools in the 2010-2011 school year; Forest View went to K-3, and Forest Lake went to 4-6.
Under the plan proposed by the district, Forest Lake Elementary School would close, and all students would attend Forest View Elementary.
Forest View Elementary School. (Courtesy of Forest Lake Area Schools)
Consolidating the elementary schools into one building will “provide for greater efficiency across our elementary programming, while also keeping the strong tradition of community-based elementary schools,” according to Massey.
Fewer children
Forest Lake Area Schools serves all or part of the following municipalities: Columbus, East Bethel, Forest Lake, Ham Lake, Hugo, Lino Lakes, Linwood Township, Marine, May Township, Scandia, Stacy and Wyoming.
According to Massey, there are fewer children in the district today than there were 20 years ago. “We have more 65-year-olds in our district than school-aged kids,” he said. “There are just fewer kids residing in our community. The number of kids going elsewhere is remaining steady. The number of families going to home-school is remaining steady.”
The population decline is likely to continue as the current rate of children being born is lower than the rates of generations before them, Massey said.
As a result, district officials have been taking a close look at the district’s overall system to find a way to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of students and families in a community with fewer children, he said. The plan is called “Reimagine 2025,” he said.
Massey hinted at possible school-boundary adjustments in the future.
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While the district is serving fewer students overall, Massey said there are communities within the district where the youth population is growing, including Lino Lakes, Linwood and Columbus. Population declines are expected in Forest Lake and Scandia, he said.
It is likely that the school board may need to review attendance boundaries in the future, possibly for the 2026-2027 school year, district officials said, “in order to balance the number of students served by each school and provide a consistent educational experience for elementary students around the district.”
Massey has been holding meetings across the district to discuss “Reimagine 2025.” A number of meetings are planned over the next week.
A public hearing on the proposal to move sixth graders to Forest Lake Middle School and to consolidate the two elementary schools is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sept. 23 at Forest Lake Area High School Media Center. The board is expected to vote on the plan at its Oct. 3 board meeting.
