The process to plan, finance, design, and build the new school will take approximately 30 months. Because no remonstrance was filed against the project, it is moving forward. Walnut Grove opened to students in August 2019.
The school features 21st Century learning spaces designed to provide flexibility for instruction. A solar array was included in the project to help offset energy costs. The landscape around the school includes an environmentally friendly prairie grounds concept.
ENROLLMENT GROWTH
Center Grove has set a record high for the number kindergarten enrollments from 2016-2018. The district also saw an increase in the number of elementary students moving into existing neighborhoods. Elementary enrollment was projected to surpass 4,000 at the start of the 2019-2020 school year. That number is just 30 students below the maximum ideal capacity in each elementary school.
Center Grove has managed to keep average class sizes at the elementary schools within the Ideal Ranges identified by the Board by adding several new teachers. But we can only manage class sizes with additional room for those classrooms. Before Walnut Grove opened, portable classrooms were added to elementary schools to increase the number of students each building can accommodate.