Hopkins, MN – The City of Hopkins is currently working with the Hopkins School District to lease the Hopkins Activity Center for the 2020-21 school year.
The school district is in need of additional space to serve its students and families as a result of reduced class sizes and social distancing requirements related to COVID-19. Alternately, the Activity Center has been sitting vacant since early March due to guidelines from the CDC surrounding the pandemic, and has been conducting its programming virtually.
The space will allow the school district to accommodate an increased need for temporary childcare for school-aged children.
“On behalf of Hopkins Public Schools, I would like to extend our deepest and sincerest gratitude to the City of Hopkins for allowing us one year of use during this unparalleled time in history,” said Hopkins School District Superintendent Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed. “This partnership means a great deal. We are very thankful for the additional space as we work diligently to identify additional and alternate spaces in which we can teach and work, while remaining in smaller sized, physically distant cohorts. Thank you! Thank you!”
This arrangement is solely for the 2020-21 school year and is not an ongoing commitment. The City will resume in-person senior programming and services as soon as it is safe to do so.
At this time, the City plans to continue to offer virtual Activity Center programming through 2020 and into 2021, as the facility primarily serves the Hopkins’ and surrounding area’s senior population, who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.
Should recommendations change and the City decide that in-person programing for seniors is safe prior to the expiration of the school district’s lease, the City’s other recreational facilities, including the Hopkins Center for the Arts and the Hopkins Pavilion, have the capacity to host these services.
“The school district has a public need, and the City plans to do what it can to help address it,” said City of Hopkins Assistant City Manager Ari Lenz. “The City of Hopkins and the Hopkins School District have maintained a successful partnership for many years and we plan to continue working together to best serve the interests of our communities through this unprecedented time.”