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Madera Elementary principal highlights new building, enrollment gains and expanded services
Summary
Principal Mr. Gruenhagen updated the Brookings School District board on the new Madera Elementary building, expanded preschool and early-childhood spaces, staff and student counts, and program priorities including MTSS and literacy.
Mr. Gruenhagen, principal at Madera Elementary, presented a progress and overview report to the Brookings School District 05-1 Board of Education summarizing the new building's facilities, staffing and student programs.
Gruenhagen described the recently completed reconstruction that followed the district's bond campaign and included a secure vestibule entrance, a full-service prep kitchen, added classrooms and flex spaces, a large new gym and updated playground spaces. He told the board the school opened in the fall following demolition and construction during 2023–24.
He said Madera has about 394 students (an increase he attributed in part to opening preschool and expanding early childhood special-education services). Class sizes range from about 19 to 24 students. Gruenhagen reported roughly 60 students are identified as English language learners and about 80 students receive special-education services through an IEP; he described those two groups as comprising roughly one-third of the student body. He listed staffing and support roles in the building, including paraeducators, special-education case managers, an interventionist, an EL teacher, occupational and physical therapists, custodial and child-nutrition staff, and playground supervisors.
On programming, Gruenhagen described the school's continued emphasis on literacy and MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support), cross-curricular approaches that embed reading and math into encore classes, and family-engagement events such as Bingo Night and other community nights. He noted the school's PTA provided meals and coordinated events, and praised staff participation in family nights.
Board members asked what help the board could provide; Gruenhagen asked only for continued public emphasis on early learning and early-reading priorities and recognition of staff workload. The board and superintendent thanked the principal for the update; no action or funding request accompanied the presentation.
