Growth will be happening all over for Fitchburg residents, but we think the two most significant pieces of development are projects that will impact where Fitchburg’s residents attend school.
While only one of these projects is physically within the city’s boundaries, the Verona Area School District’s new high school project and the Oregon School District’s new K-6 school will have hundreds of Fitchburg children walking through new buildings for classes in the fall.
The VASD’s new high school, a $180 million, three-story project, will open with new policies and procedures, including new security features to reduce the likelihood of non-students sneaking into the building during the school day and new rules to keep freshmen and sophomores on campus for lunch.
The opening of the new building will affect younger students, too, as some schools are moving and new attendance boundaries take effect in the fall. As the high school vacates its current building, Badger Ridge Middle School will move in, making room for Sugar Creek students, and two charter school programs will move to the K-Wing.
The new Oregon School District K-6 elementary school, named “Forest Edge” last month by students, is on schedule to open in August and be ready for students to arrive Sept. 1.
Located in the Terravessa Development on 4848 Brassica Road, the 130,000 square foot building will include three inner courtyards and a butterfly garden, and will be the first “Net Zero” school in the state, with solar panels and geothermal features taking in more energy than expending.
Kerri Modjeski will be the principal, with staff and students set to be selected for the school this spring. The district is in the midst of reworking K-6 school attendance boundaries to include the new school.
The building will initially be grades K-6, with plans to switch to a K-5 once a new middle school is in place, likely in the mid-2020s. Land for that middle school was purchased last year off the Hwy. 14/County MM interchange, though the district would need to hold another referendum to fund the building and maintenance costs.
