Elementary schools in the United States have been the terrain of a highly politicized push for improved reading and mathematics attainment, as well as calls for increased importance to be given to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). With priorities placed on basic skills, however, instructional time in subjects such as science in the elementary years has been greatly diminished. We recount in this article the efforts of a school district to create an elementary STEM school through the designation of a magnet school and elaborate on the inherent tensions and conflicts in such an effort.