The public has spoken and now the Anoka-Hennepin School District has responded.  This week, District 11 staff presented several more options for school boundary changes to the School Board following community meetings in the past month.  

The additional proposals impact students at Andover, Evergreen Park and Monroe elementary schools along with Roosevelt Middle School in Blaine.

Here in Coon Rapids, less than 600 students would be impacted by boundary changes including shifts at seven elementary schools.  At the middle school level, hundreds of students will be shifted from Northdale Middle School to Coon Rapids Middle School.  All of those students will eventually go to Coon Rapids High School together.  Similarly, all students at Northdale and Roosevelt will go to Blaine High School.

"This is not an easy process, it's always hard no matter what, everybody who's impacted has got a feeling of loss as you move through the schools and it's very difficult," said school board chair Tom Heidemann.  "That's one of the reasons why I just want to say we gotta do it right, its gotta last because we don't want to have to do this again soon."

In all, the boundary changes impact 4,500 students or about 11 percent of the school district.  Additional community meetings will be held on the following dates from 6-8 p.m.:

April 18 - Coon Rapids High School
April 30 - Blaine High School
May 1 - Champlin Park High School
May 9 - Anoka High School
May 10 - Andover High School

To learn more about the boundary proposals and check out maps, click here.