Educational Upheaval: The new Tomahawk Elementary building will provide dynamic learning spaces and improved conditions for a larger student body

After construction started in April, the new $25 million Tomahawk Elementary building is set to open next school year, increasing the number of classes per grade level from two to three and modernizing one of the district’s oldest elementary school buildings. 

A school described by alumni as “leaky” and “rundown” will now feature outdoor learning spaces, joinable classrooms and flexible furniture for dynamic learning. Tomahawk will also absorb 100 students from Briarwood and six staff members from around the district.

“I would say that the biggest challenge with the old building is that we were running out of space,” Tomahawk principal Erin Aldrich said. “We did not have enough room for our current population of students. Every room that we had was being used for a classroom, and the challenge was that at times, grade level [classrooms] couldn’t always be together.”

The renovation makes Tomahawk the last of five elementary school rebuilds in the district funded by the $264 million bond passed in 2021. Each school was remodeled by a different designer, with Tomahawk being designed by architecture firm DLR group in a design process that incorporated feedback from the Tomahawk community.

“Kids had a voice,” Aldrich said. “They got to identify qualities and characteristics of a learning space that spoke to them, and that input was taken and utilized in the design of the new building. And so I think everybody’s really excited to see our ideas come to life.”

The building will be on the same property but significantly larger than the old building at 78,545 square feet. Classrooms will be separated by sliding glass walls to enable grade levels to collaborate in large groups, and dynamic furniture like adjustable desks, tables and chairs will be able to be manipulated to adjust student grouping throughout the school day. 

“I like the idea of having the collaborative space between classrooms,” first grade Tomahawk teacher Bekah Shurtc said. “If we want to do a whole grade level thing, we could do that, and we can move students out into the hallway to give them extra space to work or think to themselves.”

The district deemed it necessary to transfer Briarwood students to Tomahawk due Briarwood’s population reaching nearly 700 students, compared to the ideal 450, according to Aldrich. The Tomahawk zoning lines were revised by the 2022 Boundary Work Group composed of teachers and students from both schools, factoring in diversity and proximity to the school. 

Shannon Redeske, a parent of a first and third grader who will both transfer from Briarwood to Tomahawk next year, was initially annoyed by the rezoning but is now excited at the prospect of new facilities and glad to relieve some of the student burden at Briarwood.

“At first it was upsetting,” Redeske said. “We were sad to think about having to leave friends to go to a different school when it wasn’t really our decision to transfer. But over time, we’ve come to accept that it’s necessary. I mean, it needs to happen. Briarwood is over capacity.”

The new building addresses many concerns with the flaws of the old building — including small classrooms, constant flooding and rusty playground equipment and classroom furniture. Tomahawk alumni and sophomore Kaylee Williams recalls frequent weather damage and outdated infrastructure. 

“It was probably one of the oldest buildings I’ve ever been in, and I remember when it would rain, the whole entire roof would rain too,” Williams said. “So it was always leaking water. We always had to go into separate basement rooms because we couldn’t work for two weeks while everything was drenched.”

Although the 68-year-old former building was cramped, outdated and deteriorating, Williams looks back on the old school with fondness for the building shaped like a T-for-Tomahawk and its tight-knit community of 300.

“It was such a small school, and we had such a small amount of kids in each classroom that it was more like a family,” Williams said. “I spent a lot of time with all my teachers outside of school. All the people who went to Tomahawk are basically my siblings and cousins, and so it was so tiny, but that kind of pushed us to be closer together.”