New Dundee Elementary School will soon be complete

The long-awaited opening of the new Dundee Elementary School is quickly approaching.

Construction on the 58,000-square-foot facility, located on a 15-acre parcel of land on Eighth Street in the southwest corner of town, is due for “substantial completion” by Aug. 16, according to Sean Lewis, the project superintendent for the primary contractor on the project, Kirby Nagelhout Construction. Dundee Elementary represents the fourth elementary school the contractor has constructed in the past seven years.

Construction began on the $28 million project in June 2023, and Lewis said there were no major issues that delayed completion of the project.

“It will be completed on schedule,” he added.

The school grounds take up roughly 12 acres of the 15-acre parcel, and the school district is considering its options for the undedicated three acres of open land east of the school.

New avenues to learning

What makes the building unique, one building professional said, is what sets it apart from the old Dundee Elementary building on Highway 99W, as well as a shift in emphasis of the design of the classrooms.

“The site of the building was selected for its proximity and the relief it provided from the traffic at the existing location,” Brett Lundmark of BRIC Architecture said. “As a result, the school has ample outdoor areas, and more students will be able to safely walk or bike to the school than at the current location.”

The 16 classrooms (the old building had 18) are designed to support a variety of learning activities as they are grouped together into “learning neighborhoods,” Lundmark said.

He added that classrooms will also feature indoor and outdoor “extended learning” spaces, ensconced within the learning neighborhoods, “to support break-out groups, project-based learning and co-teaching opportunities, as well as space for individualized instruction.”

“These dynamic extended learning spaces allow students to engage with peers and teachers or work independently while remaining connected to the learning neighborhood community,” Lundmark said.

The building was designed to accommodate 350 students, with consideration for future expansion to accommodate another 200 students in the future.

“Key spaces, such as the cafeteria and gymnasium, were designed with that future capacity in mind so that they can continue to serve a larger student population if a classroom expansion is added,” Lundmark said.

Techniques utilized in constructing the building were pretty standard, Lundmark said, with the exception of a “displacement ventilation” system to deliver heating and cooling to classrooms and other spaces throughout the structure.

“This drastically improves the HVAC system efficiency and ventilation quality of the spaces it serves,” he said. “While traditional ventilation directs fresh air from above with air already in spaces to create a constant mix of air, displacement ventilation uses slow-moving stream of fresh air directed near the floor to displace remaining air which is forced upward to the ceiling and exhausted out of spaces.”

What will students notice first?

Lundmark speculated that students will first notice the school’s drop-off entry courtyard, “with its spacious canopy and lobby that welcomes students and parents into the school.”

He added that children will no doubt enjoy the colorful imagery and graphics that depict wildlife and natural habitats “that serve as wayfinding throughout the school.”

Each learning neighborhood has a unique design and will serve as a “visual representation that builds a sense of identity into the learning areas,” Lundmark said.

Students help design the school

Prior to designing the school, district personnel consulted with students about the design of the building, aiming to learn what they wanted included in the new school.

“Those students will likely appreciate the single-level building that offers accessible connections to the outdoor learning spaces, ample daylight and views of nature,” Lundmark said, adding that, “With their input in mind, the school building was designed to preserve large existing oak trees that shelter the new outdoor spaces and accessible playground area.”

Process to locate school deliberate

Although the school district owns much of the land that makes up Dundee Billick Park and could have constructed the new elementary school upslope from the site of its predecessor, officials didn’t cotton to that idea.

“This would have displaced the two baseball fields in the park and disrupted other parts of the park,” Larry Hampton, district operations and safety coordinator, said in a release. “We heard clearly from Dundee citizens that they did not want the park disturbed. There would have also been extra costs to tear down the old school and to replace ballfields on the site. Additionally, more of the students who go to the school live on the east side of 99W. They will be more likely to walk or bike to the new site.”