CRHS Biomedical Sciences
Program joins NWSISD
Bush Foundation grant to
boost anti-bullying efforts
Anoka-Hennepin schools remain a
state leader in student achievement
Eisenhower Elementary named
ENVoY demonstration site
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FOCUS
ANOKA
-
HENNEPIN
SCHOOL
ON ANOKA-HENNEPIN SCHOOLS
Anoka-Hennepin keeps taxes low while
also maintaining district history
DISTRICT
WINTER 2015
Community gives
district high marks
By Superintendent
David Law
One of the
most common
questions I
hear when I
am out in the
community is,
“How is it
going with your new job?”
After nearly six months of
getting that question, I think
about how to answer that on
both a personal level and a
district level.
Personally, I can tell you I
would never have guessed
how welcomed I would feel
returning to this community.
The warm reception has
been a great help in making
the transition into the
superintendency.
Anoka-Hennepin’s Sandburg Education Center is 115 years old. It’s also a great example of how the district is maintaining its buildings
and history without burdening tax-payers.
Here’s a fun fact: Anoka-Hennepin’s Sandburg Education
Center is older than the airplane. Seriously — when the
building opened in Anoka in 1903 as a high school, Teddy
Roosevelt was President of the country, which, by the way,
had only 45 states in the union (Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii would join later), and the Wright
Brothers were still a few months away from their first airplane
flight.
Interesting, sure, but the point? “That’s some amazing and
rich history, obviously, but if people can’t tell the building is
more than 100 years old, that’s a good thing,” said Chuck
Holden, the district’s chief operations officer. “It means students and parents are walking into these great facilities and
See page 6
for details.
not worrying about them, and that’s important, because our
whole business is educating kids.”
Including Sandburg, of Anoka-Hennepin’s 47 schools and
facilities, 22 are 50 years old or more. After Sandburg,
Franklin Elementary School in Anoka, which was built in
1915, is next oldest, and will celebrate its centennial next
year.
With so many old buildings, it could be assumed the
district’s maintenance costs are high. But surprisingly, they’re
not. Anoka-Hennepin is literally doing more with less. It
ranks near the bottom of districts in the state in terms of
annual maintenance costs, spending just $678 per student
continued on page 5
2015
Sat., Jan. 24 I 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Jackson Middle School I 6000 109th Ave. N • Champlin
www.anoka.k12.mn.us/communitywellnessday
When I have been around
the district at formal settings,
such as my “Coffee with the
Superintendent” events,
fundraisers, and school
events, or in informal settings like the grocery store
or Target, people come up
to me and ask, “Aren’t you
the superintendent? I recognize you from your video!”
If you haven’t already seen it,
you can check it out on
YouTube at bit.ly/suptvideo.
People have been very
positive. On a personal level,
things are going as well as
I could have expected.
More importantly, how is
the district doing? At our
continued on page 2
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