Osseo Public School District lays out four boundary scenarios that would move up to 3,700 students; community input to shape final plan

Dr. Haddell, superintendent of Osseo Public School District, told a community meeting that no decisions have been made and invited parents and caregivers to review four draft attendance-boundary scenarios the district developed with community-built parameters.

The district serves about 21,000 students across roughly 31 buildings and stretches across multiple cities, Dr. Haddell said, noting a new northwest elementary scheduled to open in 2026. "All voices are valued in our room," she said, framing the session as an opportunity to "hold space" for questions and feedback.

John Morstad, the district's executive director of finance and operations, reviewed the parameters used to create the scenarios: operational constraints such as transportation and building capacity, feeder patterns, state-law compliance, and targets for class sizes and demographics. "Ensure scenarios can function within our system, including but not limited to transportation, building utilization, enrollment both current and future, teaching and learning program offerings, and financial costs," Morstad said.

Morstad presented four scenarios. Scenario 4 would move the fewest students — roughly 1,800 elementary and middle school students — but would require revisiting middle-school boundaries by about 2028. Scenario 2 is a minimal-change option (about 2,100 students) that preserves neighborhoods and feeder integrity. Scenario 1 strikes a balance and would affect approximately 3,000 students while reducing split elementary-to-middle feeders; in this plan Edinbrook Elementary would split between Northview and Brooklyn feeds. Scenario 3 is the most aggressive, moving about 3,700 students to improve building utilization and eliminate noncontiguous attendance areas, but it would place three middle schools inside the Northview boundary and could prevent some students from attending their closest middle school.

The presenters emphasized that none of the scenarios affect high-school boundaries. Morstad said projected shifts in racial and poverty demographics would be small in most cases (generally within about 5%).

On implementation timing and transfers: the district expects to announce final attendance boundaries by the end of the school year, with new boundaries taking effect in 2026. The district will publish interactive scenario maps at district279.org/boundaries and made QR codes available at the meeting so residents can enter addresses and see how each scenario would affect their assigned schools. Dr. Haddell and Morstad urged attendees to submit feedback via small-group sessions at the meeting or through an online Google form; the core team will review input and post revised scenarios in March.

Morstad addressed frequently asked questions about transfers and open enrollment. He said current in-district transfer and open-enrollment students may remain at chosen sites and do not need to reapply. To evaluate the impact of the boundary changes, the district will not accept new in-district transfer requests to impacted elementary or middle schools during the boundary transition period through the 2027–28 school year. The district plans communications for the 2026 implementation in August 2026 and said materials will likely be searchable online before then.

Dr. Haddell closed by restating the district's commitment to gather input and to make adjustments based on community feedback. Several school board members, including Chair Tanya Prince and directors Kelsey Dawson, Erica Dawson and Keith Tate, were noted as present for the meeting.

Next steps: attendees were directed to small-group tables to provide immediate feedback; revised scenarios are expected to be released in March and the core team will review all submitted comments before recommending final boundaries.