Osseo Area Schools serve all or parts of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Corcoran, Dayton, Hassan Township, Maple Grove, Osseo, and Plymouth. District 279 has 17 elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools and an area learning center. A comprehensive preK-12 school district, Osseo prepares students for college, post-secondary vocational training and the job market. Elementary schools focus on reading and math achievement. Students also receive instruction in writing, research, science, social studies, physical education and the arts. Literacy in technology, media and information retrieval is taught within subject areas. Many schools offer a variety of programs such as preschool programs, Kidstop, all-day kindergarten, multi-age classrooms and team teaching. Title 1 programs provide academic support to improve reading and math skills through an individualized plan for improvement. The district's magnet school program offers value-added curriculum at three elementary schools: Birch Grove Elementary School for the Arts, Weaver Lake Elementary, a Science, Math, and Technology School, and Zanewood Community school, a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math school. North View Middle school and Park Center Senior High offer students the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. Brooklyn Middle School has a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math program for their students. The middle schools offer middle-level programming designed to let students sample elective courses and advance according to aptitude. Senior highs offer more than 250 basic, advanced, online, and elective courses including calculus, advanced math and science classes. Each school provides three years of French and Spanish; some offer German. The district has made an effort to increase technology integration in the classroom. Over 85% of the classrooms have mounted projectors as this was determined to be important classroom equipment. Many classrooms have document cameras and classroom amplification systems to enhance learning. In additional, there is wireless internet access at all sites, providing a public network for students who bring their own technology devices for educational use. To support integration of technology into instruction, staff development is provided through the C4 Model of Learning, which has received the ISTE Seal of Alignment. In the 2016-2017 school year, all 4th-12th grade students received iPads to integrate technology into the classroom. Each school provides a wide variety of talented and gifted program services, from enrichment at elementary level to secondary-level advanced classes in English, math, science and social studies. District 279's highly ranked special education program provides services from birth to high school graduation or age 22. Whenever possible, services are provided in regular classroom settings with children of the same age.
Schools
Here is a complete list of schools in the Osseo Area School District 279 (from primary level to Secondary level, including magnet schools to educational learning and early childhood centers:
Robert Gerhart, chairman of the school board, resigned after numerous citizens took screen shots of his public posts and comments on social media featuring racist and bigoted themes, and demanded his removal. The majority of posts and comments by Gerhart had been made months and years prior. They were discovered after Gerhart proposed, in a school board meeting, that the district could engage armed volunteers to patrol district schools. He'd had the idea, Gerhart said, for "years," but hadn't proposed it until then after, the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, another of many mass school shootings across the country. Gerhart resigned a week and a half later after numerous parents, residents and groups contacted the district with evidence and complaints.
