Maple Grove resolution opposes closing schools

As residents of Maple Grove, we ask the Maple Grove City Council to approve a resolution to oppose Dist. 279's proposal to close these schools The Maple Grove City Council approved preparation of a resolution to oppose Osseo School Dist. via Larson Publications

[Former MG Resident]

I can't believe that Osseo/MG would want to consider such a plan. Each of those elementary schools are going to be messed up. The kids will not get the current education that they are receiving today. I was reading on the District 279 website and it indicated that not only are the elementary schools going to be a mess, they are expecting 7-12 grade to walk to school if they live within a 2 mi. radius. It is pretty cold and dark some mornings to have your child out walking to school. The class sizes are expected to grow another 4-8 students. Also, they have a plan to cut jr high sports. Great...what do you think is going to happen to those kids? The kids are going to find trouble elsewhere. You wonder why the society is a complete mess. The kids have no activites to keep them busy to distract them from creating trouble. If you keep your kid involved in activities the less chance you have of them doing drugs, break in etc... When left unattended they find trouble. It is just their nature. I guess for all of those that are living in the Osseo District, the best thing to do is to move out to Delano...a small town with a great school district with only 24 kids per classroom. They were rated as one of MN top schools. It would be worth your tax dollar. It is too bad that Osseo/MG is doing this because it is going to hurt everyone's property values in the ends. Not too many people want to move their families into a school system that is similar to Minneapolis. This makes me sad to see. At one point, I considered moving back into to MG, but if the school system isn't going to be the same, I guess it would be pointless.

[chris m]

Has anyone considered the possibility of Maple Grove and Maple Grove leaving District 279 altogether? I spent K through 12 within District 279. I attended Kindergarten at Cedar Island school back in 1976. Back then it made sense to have broad geographic school district (Champlin, Osseo, Maple Grove, Corchoran, Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center and Plymouth) because the rural population warranted it.

However, given the exponential growth to the northwest suburbs, it seems very apparent that District 279 has become less efficient at managing such a large district. They need to adapt to the times and break up the school district into more manageable, smaller districts. Maple Grove has their own high school, they have a junior high and they have great elementary schools that their residents care about. One reason the important funding issue did not get passed was because residents outside of Maple Grove voted against funding it. Part of the decsion-making process for closing our Maple Grove schools was made by people living outside of the Maple Grove boundaries. Given the explosive population growth, accompanied with a rich ethnically diverse population. Maple Grove should leave District 279 and go their own way!