Riverview Specialty School for Math and Environmental Science held its school closing celebration event on Saturday, May 1, 2010. Listed in this photo album are photos taken at the event. Click here to read more school memories in the A-H Newsroom.
History
Riverview can trace its beginnings to a one-room, wooden frame schoolhouse that was built in 1873 in the northern part of the town of Harrisburg (serving grades one through eight). At that time, the schoolhouse comprised School District #30.
During the annual school board meeting on July 21, 1931, the building of a new schoolhouse was proposed. The board purchased two acres of land on the southeast corner of Mrs. Cooper's for $500 on Sept. 30, 1931. A brick schoolhouse was then built with one classroom, a library, one bathroom and a nurses office. On July 17, 1932, the School Board named the school Riverview (which was now a part of Brooklyn Township).
In 1952, Riverview consolidated with other small school districts or parts of districts in Anoka and Hennepin counties to become what is now the Anoka-Hennepin School District. In 1954, the Anoka-Hennepin School Board decided to increase classroom space at Riverview and built six new classrooms and a gymnasium-auditorium at a cost of $241,000. The new Riverview school was first occupied by students in March of 1954 and was the first school to be built in the Hennepin County portion of the Anoka-Hennepin School District after the reorganization in 1952. Additions to the current building were built in 1957, 1961 and 1974.
In 1957, students from the adjoining Benson School District merged with Anoka-Hennepin. Benson students were then moved to Riverview Elementary School.
In 2003, Riverview became the Riverview Specialty School for Math and Environmental Science. A specialty school is a school with specific curricular emphasis or theme designed to provide parent choice and encourage racial integration, also know as magnet schools in other districts.
Moving Forward
The math and environmental science specialty program will move to the current Park View building (located next to Jackson Middle School) and some in a portion of Jackson. The program will become the Champlin-Brooklyn Park Academy for Math and Environmental Science beginning with the 2010-11 school year. The new specialty school will combine the attendance areas of Riverview and Champlin Elementary School.
The Riverview facility will reopen in fall 2010 for some students in Early Childhood Special Education, Early Childhood Family Education and School Readiness programs. These programs are currently located in leased spaces around the district because space has not been available in district facilities. The school will serve approximately 350 students, half in the morning and half in the afternoon. The district expects to save approximately $300,000 each year by moving these programs into the Riverview building.
