Local Community Members Get The Chance To Tour Future Brainerd Lakes Area Elementary Schools

It’s been over six months since groundbreaking work has been done on three Brainerd Lakes Area elementary schools. This week community members were given the chance to check out the work in progress.

“It’s really fun for people to see after all the diagrams and such, what the buildings are really going to look like and how the spaces are going to flow and how we’re going to be able to conduct high-quality education through these spaces,” said Brainerd Public Schools Superintendent Laine Larson.

ICS construction services are working on building renovations of Harrison elementary along with the new Baxter and Nisswa elementary schools.

“You don’t get an opportunity a lot of times to show people the work during the middle of construction, I think it’s a very rewarding, kind of team-building exercise that we get to partake in,” said ICS Consulting Team Leader Damien Williams.

With the Harrison project, the focus is on safety with a new safe and secure entrance being built along with other features.

“A new administration space, along with a new classroom space, also a brand new gymnasium, we also have a brand new kitchen that’s going to be implemented and then we’re going to use the existing gym space as cafeteria space,” said Williams.

The Baxter project will be a k-4 school that’s in desperate need of expansion.

“Right now the existing school is busting out the seams, there’s just not enough classroom space for all the students, so this is really an opportunity for more growth, which is taking place in Baxter,” said Williams.

Just like Baxter elementary, the future Nisswa elementary school is focused on creating more space.

“We have classroom additions, additional space to the gymnasium area, we’re also adding more space for administration,” said Williams.

Getting a first look at what these schools will be was a thrill for everyone involved.

“As I go through these buildings, I get really excited because we know that our class size, there’s going to be plenty of space where our students can learn to work cooperatively and work independently as well,” said Larson.

“We have increased safety and security in every building and that was our number one goal throughout this project,” said Larson.

During the building of these schools, the local economy has flourished.

“It’s a great opportunity for the local communities, we actually have 70% of our local contractors within a 60-mile radius of Brainerd, Minnesota, these projects are more important to them then just any other job,” said Wiliams.

The best part is that everything is right on track and on schedule.

“We are happy to say that every one of our projects right now is on time and within budget and so we are really excited,” said Larson.

Renovations on all three schools are expected to be completed by the fall of 2020.