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MPR News Staff

Minnehaha Academy students relocate to Mendota Heights, while explosion-damaged campus is rebuilt

A memorial rests on the fence that blocks the rumble of Minnehaha Academy.
A memorial rests on the fence that blocks the rubble of Minnehaha Academy.
Maria Alejandra Cardona | MPR News file

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Just a few weeks after Minnehaha Academy's Upper Campus was damaged by an explosion, the school has a place for classes.

In a special meeting Wednesday, the Mendota Heights City Council unanimously approved allowing temporary high school use at 1340 Mendota Heights Road, a Sanford-Brown College campus until last June.

The temporary use permit allows Minnehaha Academy to occupy the former college beginning Thursday through June 2019. The council voted to allow Minnehaha to file for an extension, should it need to do that.

A city report says the site includes a library, lab rooms and a student lounge.

Classes for Minnehaha Academy's high school students were delayed until Sept. 5 following a gas explosion at the upper campus earlier this month that killed two and leveled part of the building.

Mendota Heights City Council member Liz Petschel acknowledged the work "over a very short period of time involving a lot of people to make this happen. I just am so happy that you're going to be here and that we're able to be part of that."

Minnehaha Academy president Donna Harris thanked the council.

"Our students are bright, articulate, inquisitive and collaborative students that give back to the community in many, many ways. And I foresee our students giving back to this community as well," Harris said.

There were other options that involved separating 11th and 12th grade students from the 9th and 10th graders, Harris told a special planning committee that met just before the city council. But students and parents wanted to keep the four grades together.

The explosion happened the morning of Aug. 2, and federal investigators say it could take months for them to complete a probe on the exact cause.