Osseo Elementary: The very last last day

Parents say Osseo Elementary School harkens back to a simpler time, when kids walked along tree-lined streets to school, just blocks from the downtown pharmacy with a soda fountain, grocery store and the city park with its new bandshell. Thursday morning, fourth-grader Leah Younkers made the five-block walk, her routine over hundreds of school days. Her mother, Shaune, accompanied her. So did four neighbor kids and another parent. Leah proudly carried a flower for her teacher, and wore the orange T-shirt that spelled out in black lettering Osseo Elementary's lifetime: "1954-2008."

Next year, Leah likely will go to Elm Creek Elementary, in Maple Grove, more than a mile away. That's too far to walk and would involve crossing a busy street.

"I'm kind of sad," said Leah, armed with a Sharpie pen so other kids could autograph her shirt. "But I'm happy, too, because it's summer. But I don't want to have to say goodbye to the school."

In yet another year of budgetary pain for Twin Cities schools, Osseo schools, despite a stable enrollment, has likely suffered most.

While other districts have gotten by with layoffs and program cuts, Osseo has gone a step further: shuttering two elementary schools and shuffling programs at four others to make the puzzle pieces fit together. The school closings - Osseo and Edgewood Elementary School in Brooklyn Park - save $800,000. But school officials had to cut $16.3 million to deal with the crippling deficit, which meant the loss of scores of teachers. At the root of the district's budget woes: revenue that hasn't kept pace with expenses and a referendum request last November that was only partially successful.

Other districts warn that, while they haven't shut down schools for next year, school closings could be coming. Districts such as Anoka-Hennepin, Robbinsdale and St. Louis Park have said that closures could be discussed as boards start preparing for the 2009-2010 school year and decide whether to hold fall referendums.

Magnet program moving in

Elsewhere in the Osseo district, Weaver Lake Elementary School may as well be closing, as far as many parents are concerned. Its regular pre-K through sixth-grade program is folding and being replaced by a magnet program in science, math and technology, the program that used to be at Edgewood. Almost all of its students, who aren't choosing the magnet program, will move to other elementary schools next year.

As the clock ticked to dismissal time Thursday afternoon, a couple dozen moms and dads chatted, hugged and wiped away tears as they waited for their kids in Weaver Lake's front hall. Principal Scott Taylor paid tribute to the large numbers of school volunteers who have been a part of the school's classrooms, playground and extracurricular activities since its 1991 opening.

"I don't think there's been a day that has gone by -- an hour that has gone by -- that we haven't had a parent volunteer in this building," said Taylor, who will be at Park Brook Elementary School next year. Last week, while the third-grade teachers took their students on a field trip, Teresa Lunt and about a half-dozen other parents worked in their classrooms, removing posters and bulletin board trim. Lunt said she'll continue her volunteer work at her son Max's new school, Fernbrook, in Maple Grove.

"I have a vested interest in my son's education and success at his school," she said. "It's just important for me to make it the best situation it can be. ... My hope is that it never happens to anyone again."

The economic reasoning

Osseo officials say there are sound reasons for closing Osseo Elementary and changing the program at Weaver Lake. With only 345 students in one of the district's oldest buildings, Osseo is considered costly and inefficient to operate. Osseo Schools official Don Pascoe said the school's operating costs are $1,145 per student, the highest of any district elementary. Plus, it was scheduled for $725,000 in improvements in the next two years. The district has no plans for the building, and the thought of an empty school bothers many neighbors.

"It's an empty building sitting in our community," said Renee Miller, who has two children who attended Osseo for the last day Thursday and lives a block away. "That's just not good. ... It's a fabulous neighborhood. It's a neighborhood school. There's a small-town feel. Kids walk to school, and everyone knows the kids. Everyone looks out for the kids. It's kind of scary not knowing what's going to happen now."

Edgewood is relatively costly to operate, at more than $800 per student, and would have been the most expensive elementary school in terms of the $1 million in improvements needed over the next two years. Pascoe said Weaver Lake's larger size makes it a natural place to house the expanding science, math and technology magnet. Also, Pascoe said, nearby schools had room to take current Weaver Lake students who didn't want to stay for the science, math and technology program.

Late last month, Osseo principal Phil Sadler, an Osseo graduate himself, pointed out his office window to two houses; the students in them are among the 80 or so kids who walk to school. He also pointed to a tree planted years ago in memory of a teacher who died at her desk.

"Closing this building, it just seems impossible," Sadler said.

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