Formerly Willow Creek Sixth Grade Intermediate School, McKinley Elementary was expanded and transformed into a kindergarten through fifth-grade school as a part of a District-wide master plan to align facilities with programming and create capacity at the elementary level.
The school is organized around the continuous learning commons and features a variety of flexible furniture to support collaborative learning. McKinley’s culture is rooted in collaboration and learning through project-based inquiry (STEM). The additions and renovations are designed to celebrate the culture of McKinley through the creation of a continuous learning commons, a flexible learning area shared by all to support personalized learning, team teaching, and collaboration. The project reorganized the building into grade-level pods and created a new main office with a secure vestibule to improve safety. Additionally, the building’s systems and food service spaces were expanded to accommodate the additional student capacity (approx. doubled from 360 to 620).