Recommendation For Lake Harriet Addition Expected

Superintendent Bernadiea Johnson is expected to recommend fast-tracking the building process at  in her plan to deal with crowding there and at two other Minneapolis schools. Johnson is addressing the Minneapolis school board Tuesday night.

"As a result of our facilities planning, three schools have surfaced with critical and immediate capital and maintenance needs," Johnson told the board on Sept. 20, naming Lake Harriet's Lower Campus, Lake Nokomis Community School's Keewaydin Campus and Pratt Community School.

Johnson will likely recommend against conducting a feasibility study before beginning design and construction for the Lake Harriet addition, instead using information from a recently completed study of the district's buildings.

District officials say Lake Harriet will reach absolute maximum capacity next school year. The school already shows signs of bursting at the seams. With limited cafeteria space, some parents say, students are having to eat lunch only an 90 minutes after breakfast. Also, there is no space in crowded classrooms for students' boots or backpacks. Two portable buildings used for classrooms at the school's Upper Campus are more than 20 years old and need replacement.

Part of the increased enrollment, district officials have said, is economics—young parents have been unable to afford private schools or the move into nearby suburbs, as they have done in years past. However, parents at Lake Harriet contend many of these families— in Southwest—are drawn by a newfound sense that Lake Harriet rivals or exceeds the quality of schools in Edina and St Louis Park. Lake Harriet parents say these families, critical to stabilizing the district's previously declining enrollment, without action to move forward on an addition.