Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Eagan High will be extra special - 11/12/1987
Star Tribune/Thursday/November 12/1987 . 9A
School "Overlapping of design and construe-
S h41
' tion is something you just don't do in
t public work," said Ted Rozeboom,
Continued from page lA Ra the project's managing architect.
"Most government bodies don't want
twice the cost of the last Twin Cities to take that kind of risk. This school
his project until the last contract is
How innovative? The architects say let in May, but they're so far behind
the school will look more like a high- that they don't have much choice."
tech corporate research center. That
will be appropriate, they say, fora Although plans are not final, Roze-
school with its own satellite dish and boom said the school building will
mainframe computer, a school where look "much less institutional and
private industry is expected to playa more corporate; it will have much
bigger role than ever before in Min- more glass and less brick."
nesota public'education.
That's part of the reason for a pro-
Little wonder, then, that Wilson is jetted cost of $72 per square foot,
the envy of fellow principals. s which state officials say is about 10
percent above the average for Twin
"It's everybody's dream to build your Cities school construction.
own place, spec it out and start it Tom Wilson
up," he said. "And this is going to be The district, however, saved on some
something at the cutting edge of edu- bridges across the Minnesota River land costs by locating the schools on
cation." have helped it become the state's a 93-acre site next to a city park,
fastest-growing city. It has more than where it will build tennis courts as
Wilson hopes to wire all 80 class- 40,000 residents but no high school, part of an intergovernmental partner-
rooms in the two schools for a new meaning that some Eagan teen-agers ship:
generation of teaching aids: ceiling- ride a bus 14 miles one way to classes
mounted projectors that can beam in Rosemount. Inside the schools, semi-open three-
videotapes or computer programs walled classrooms will allow sharing
onto a big screen. Meanwhile, Rosemount High, which among teachers, Rozeboom said.
less than 50 years ago graduated a There also will be some sharing of
"You've got to think bigger than you senior class of 11, is bursting with faculty members and facilities be-
know," Wilson said. "A lot of this 2,575 students in a building designed tween the 1,200-student middle
stuff hasn't been invented yet." for 2,000. The district's other high school and the high school, although
school, Apple Valley, is 450 students Wilson said children in the two levels
The cost of all this is unknown, but over its capacity of 1,800. will seldom encounter each other.
Wilson hopes that much of it can be
obtained through a partnership with To alleviate this crowding, district The major exception will be when
a Minnesota technology company. voters authorized a $47,5 million gifted students in grades six through
Unisys, Cray Research and North- bond issue in March. Besides the eight take certain high school
west Airlines have large facilities in Eagdn high school-middle school courses, he said.
Eagan, and Wilson has already complex, the money will go to build-
sought their help, as well as from 3M, ing a 13th elementary school, reno- That's just one feature of a unique
Honeywell, Apple and others. vating the Rosemount Middle teaching plan that has impressed
School, expanding the football stadi- state officials.
He hopes a company will design and um rind buying land for future
install much of the classroom tech- schools. "They're trying to integrate technol-
nology free or for a bargain price. ogy and content right from the begin.
According to the Minnesota Depart- nmg," said Gil Valdez, manager of
"We're trying to appeal to both their ment of Education, enrollment in the instructional design for the state edu- li
business sense and their sense of district grew 54 percent to almost cation department. "It's part of the
neighbor," he said. "So far nothing is 16,000 in the last 10 years and is structure, not something that has to
certain, but we've gotten some very expected to increase another 54 per- be brought in."
positive reception." cent to more than 24,000 by the year
2000. At that rate, the department The same goes for the new high
The chance for a public-spirited cor- said, the district fills a new elemen- school's teachers. Wilson already has
poration to show off its wares in a tary school every two years, a new recruited many teachers from the dis-
major new high school may not come middle school every seven years and trict's existing schools and brought
again soon. a new high school every 13 years. them into the planning of Eagan
High.
About 20 Twin Cities-area high With that in mind, Eagan High is
schools were built from 1969 until being designed to expand from its That means the teachers will be
the last one, Eden Prairie, began con- original capacity of 1,200 to 2,000 eager to work with the new classroom
struction in 1979 at a cost of $9.5 when the need arises. technology rather than having it
million. Since then, however, nine forced on them, Valdez said.
high schools in Minneapolis and its Design work by the architectural firm
first-ring suburbs have been closed of Hammel Green and Abrahamson "The idea is to make education more
because of declining enrollments. Inc. will continue even as site grad- like real life," he said. "It empowers
ing, foundation work and steel fram- students to prepare for change. In-
Lately, though, a boom has taken ing are being completed. stead of waiting for the future to
hold in Eagan, as three new freeway happen, they're creating it in Eagan."