Fort Snelling school plans move forward

The Department of Natural Resources is moving ahead with a proposal for an environmental learning charter school at Fort Snelling.

The Upper Mississippi Academy would serve students from prekindergarten through 12th grade. It would use about 200,000 square feet in nine historic buildings on the Upper Post overlooking Fort Snelling State Park.

The plan was one of five ideas submitted to the DNR in response to a request for proposals for restoring and reusing 28 historic buildings that were part of a military facility near the Minneapolis airport that has sat mostly vacant for the past 40 years.

While the school is the only project moving ahead at this time, the DNR says it may continue discussions with other proposers regarding potential reuse of other parts of the Upper Post.

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