And for Cooper Elementary School Principal Kate Simpson and her 275 students, there’s no place like Cooper.

After spending the second half of the last school year across town in the former Riverside Elementary School building, the Cooper students and staff were welcomed back into their “new” old building at 2420 14th Ave. N. in August. Cooper, which was built in 1956, underwent an extensive renovation project to update the nearly 70-year-old building.

The $4.4 million renovation project included a new HVAC system, ceilings, lighting and flooring. It also widened the doors in the building to make them handicap accessible.

The project was funded with Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds from the federal government.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The Cooper Elementary School gym and cafeteria recieved an all-new floor and new lighting during the recent renovation.

“We’re just super grateful because it is beautiful and it’s such a different space,” Simpson said. “It still feels like Cooper, but it’s just so much more updated and brighter and it feels new even though it’s the same old building.”

While the renovation work happened, Cooper and its students were uprooted and planted at the former Riverside Elementary School on the west side of town. Although both original buildings were built at the same time and in similar styles, it just wasn’t the same.

“Riverside was perfect for what we needed it to be, but there’s just something about being in here that they all missed,” Simpson said.

Moving an entire school of classrooms and students from one building to another on the other side of town — twice — is a big undertaking and something that they wouldn’t have been able to do without help, Simpson said.

“We’re just grateful for the departments that helped us get transitioned into the buildings several times,” she said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The Cooper Elementary School renovation replaced the flooring across the school and took out some fire doors, opening up the main hallway and making it brighter.

She said members of the community would also reach out to ask what they can do to help during the transition.

“It just shows the heart of being a Dodger is that service to others and coming together as a group to make something happen,” Simpson said.

The Cooper families were also key to the smooth transition, district Communication Director Jen Lane said.

“It was a disruption of what they’re used to,” she said. “A lot of the students that come here walk or are dropped off from close distances, so when you’re taking that across town, their flexibility and patience with us throughout has been incredible.”

There’s one feature of the “new” Cooper that seems to be a favorite of just about everyone.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Cooper Elementary School Principal Kate Simpson stands by a bulliten board highlighting the school's homecoming back to the building.

“The air conditioning is definitely our favorite part,” Simpson said.

Cooper was the last remaining FDCSD building that lacked air conditioning. Before this school year, on days when the temperatures rose in the afternoon, the district would have to call an early dismissal. Although, at the time, Cooper was the only school without air conditioning, because the whole district relies on the school bus transportation system, every building would have to be dismissed early. Now that every school building has air conditioning, those days are in the past.

According to Ryan Utley, director of buildings and grounds for the school district, the last major update for Cooper happened over a decade ago with all of the building’s windows being replaced.

Another major improvement brought in by the renovation was waterproofing the school’s gymnasium.

“Whenever we had a lot of water (rain), it would come in and seep in because that gym is sunk down there,” he said. “We waterproofed the walls and put in new drainage.”

The school’s bathrooms also received an upgrade, he said.

Jensen Builders Ltd., of Fort Dodge, was awarded the $4.4 million project contract in November 2021.