Rapid City Board of Education: Canyon Lake Elementary to remain open one extra year, but eventually will still be closed
RAPID CITY, S.D. — The Rapid City Area Schools Board of Education on Tuesday, March 7, decided to keep Canyon Lake Elementary School open through the end of the 2023-2024, but to close it permanently after that. The original plan was to close the school at the end of this school year. But after listening to impassioned comments from parents of students at the school, the board amended the plan, adding one more year of instruction there.
The vote was 6-1.
Why did Rapid City Area Schools (RCAS) propose to close Canyon Lake Elementary?
Canyon Lake Elementary has been in use since 1949. In the summer of 2022 high temperatures exposed some of the problems with the school that currently has 400 students enrolled. Most of the building is not up to par with energy efficiency standards. Also, of the seven rooms in the building still in use, only four are usable classrooms.
Canyon Lake Elementary is also lacking adequate safeguards that most schools have. For example, a safe entrance to the school. Canyon Lake Elementary’s entrance isn’t an area you could lock down in case of an emergency.
Coy Sasse, the Director of Business and Support Services has this to say about Canyon Lake Elementary, “…the real highlight is that building was built in 1949. So it’s served this community, this district and all of its students very, very well. But it is no longer an intelligent and responsible use of taxpayer dollars to continue to invest in a facility that we just limp along for years and years and years.”
Check out these two articles for all the information about the fate of Canyon Lake Elementary, its history, and why the board decided to close it permanently.
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