Shakopee to Potentially Build Second High School in Near Future

The time has come where Shakopee has expanded to the point conversations have begun for a second high school.  The district will be considering adding a second high school as the Middle School and Junior High grow to capacity, and elementary school number continue to grow. The topic is a hot debate between many who simply can not see Shakopee as a two High School town.  Shakopee does face current forecasts for the current High School to be over capacity by the 2015-2016 school year and significantly overcapacity thereafter. The city will look at a 1,600 student capacity High School as the next major district building to be constructed.

Shakopee will be adding a sixth elementary school, Jackson Elementary, due to open in the Fall of 2011, and middle schools and Junior high class rooms are filling up fast.  The district is currently deciding what direction they will be going with proposal including temporary options for a Kindergarten Center or an all  Sixth Grade building. These decisions will need to be made soon as new elementary school boundaries are being redrawn for the 2011 school year as well.

Lakeville recently split high schools between North and South and Chanhassen High school recently opened their own, parting from Chaska. Migrating to a two high school city seems the most realistic and sensible approach as the dynamics of the community has changed. There are many positives to having multiples high schools in a city, especially more opportunities for students to excel in extracurricular activities and leadership roles within the school.

Shakopee Real Estate boomed with all of the new construction in 2010 near the current high school, and ranked as one of the highest building permits originated in the state for the year.  Many developments that remained quiet in 2008 and 2009 had large builders, such as Centex and Lennar, buy remaining lots and quickly sell out most of their inventory.  Shakopee has many more opportunities for growth within the community. To retain the current residents in the community I believe we need to bring in more move up single family homes. Currently Shakopee has an abundance of townhomes currently representing 45% of the active Shakopee MLS inventory.

Will Shakopee be split North & South? East & West? What type of arrangement would you like to see?

We would love to hear your comments, praises and/or concerns about this topic.