Interdistrict middle school’s building plans move forward

Interdistrict middle school’s building plans move forward
8/27/1999 2:35 PM

Plans for Crosswinds Middle School, the East Metro’s interdistrict arts and science middle school, were approved Wednesday by the Woodbury City Council. The council approved the final plans for construction of a permanent site at the former Jordan Ranch, near Battle Creek Lake.

Architects drafted a new version of the school’s design at the request of the Woodbury City Council, using brick for the school’s exterior instead of the original plan’s concrete and metal exterior. The increased cost of the brick exterior will be included in a new bonding request to the Minnesota Legislature this fall.

The school will seek two separate construction bids for the project — one with and one without a gymnasium. If the Legislature does not approve the bonding request for the increased cost of the brick exterior, the gymnasium will be added in a second phase of construction.

Crosswinds, which opened in fall of 1998 in a temporary location at Saint Paul’s Arlington High School, expects to double its enrollment to 120 students this year. The year-round school will serve about 650 students when it moves to its permanent Woodbury site in fall of 2001.

Crosswinds’ collaborating school districts include Inver Grove Heights, North St. Paul/ Maplewood/ Oakdale, Roseville, Saint Paul, Stillwater, South Washington County and White Bear Lake. For more information about Crosswinds, call Principal Juanita Hoskins at (651) 487-7361 or Barbara Burke, Interdistrict Initiatives Project Director, at (651) 228-3616.