Brainerd Schools Planning to Make Elementary Schools More Accessible

Multilevel schools without ramps or elevators, bathrooms without handicap stalls and narrow doorways that a wheelchair couldn’t pass through. These are among the problems at Brainerd’s elementary school brought to the Brainerd Superintendent during an 3rd party inspection.
Willert says without having every school with handicap accessibility it limits the types of students some elementary schools can educate, as well as the types of guests, parents and grandparents the schools can welcome.
Many elementary schools in the Brainerd School District are more than one level. And at Lowell Elementary School the first thing you have to do when you walk through the front door, is go up steps.
Superintendent Willert says they’re still looking for ways to fund these projects. He says the district plans to use some capital funding but is also looking towards grant dollars as well as community support to address the schools needs.