Cramped St. Louis Park elementary might stir redistricting

St. Louis Park's smallest elementary school is trying to fit a lot in.

Aquila has had more than 500 students for the last 10 years, Superintendent Astein Osei told the school board, the largest population in the smallest square footage in St. Louis Park, but Aquila has felt more crowded lately.

"Why does it feel tighter now? We've increased programming," Osei said.

Aquila Elementary School is straining its capacity, full with new students in the growing neighborhood and a bevy of programs. The school has classrooms where children who are just starting to learn English get intensive language courses, space for children with special needs to get services to help them learn, robust enrichment classes that all students receive four times a week on top of art, music and gym, plus space for before- and after-school programs.

All the programs, Principal María Graver said, are part of a change in approach to elementary education.

"When I was growing up education was 'sit and get,'" Graver said. Now, she said, it's all about getting to know students as individuals, and as members of families and communities, and trying to make lessons relevant. "So they understand the why, and they're engaged in their own education," she said.

"All of these things are beautiful," Osei said. But they take space, and Aquila is short about five classrooms. The school board is beginning to consider possible changes to elementary school districts in St. Louis Park to maintain all those programs, and accommodate growth in the Aquila district. The discussion is in its early stages, and no changes would take effect before the 2024-25 school year.

The neighborhood has many of St. Louis Park's most affordable apartments and houses, and is a common first stop for newcomers to the United States, Graver said. Add to that the new apartments and condos springing up in the Texa-Tonka neighborhood along the future Green Line light rail, Osei told the school board meeting last week, and the potential exists for an influx of new families.

While Aquila is growing, enrollment in St. Louis Park overall is not, and the city's other elementary schools have smaller classes. This spring and summer, the school board will consider changing elementary district boundaries to keep the school populations in better balance among all three schools, while keeping class sizes below the district's targets.