District not sure how it will fund school changes

Minneapolis Board members hope to avoid a levy

by Tesha M. Christensen

The question before Minneapolis Public Schools right now is how to sensibly deal with the growth that is occurring at the elementary-school age, according to school board member Hussein Samatar.

What makes this round of school changes different from those made a few years ago? “I really feel like we’re listening this time around,” said Samatar, who has served on the board since January 2011.

He encourages community members to email himself and other school board members to share concerns and ideas about this round of changes. Contact information is available at http://www.mpls.k12.mn.us/board_members.html. Identify yourself as a parent, point out the school you are writing about, and discuss a specific issue. Another way to contact Samatar is through his Facebook page.

“We could have done better the last time around,” admitted Samatar. The district may have panicked in the past, but he pointed out that projecting enrollment is dependent on many factors outside the school district’s control.

“Enrollment has been really hard to predict,” stated Minneapolis School Board Chair Jill Davis. She is grateful for the detailed data available through the 2010 Census, and thinks that if the board would have had that information a few years ago things would have been different.

The block-by-block data released in July 2011 shows that Minneapolis has more young kids than it did before. While in the past, young families moved out of Minneapolis to the suburbs, now they’re staying, according to David Dudycha, enrollment consultant for Minneapolis. Additionally, Minneapolis Public Schools is losing fewer students to private and charter schools.  

To alleviate the pressure on its elementary and middle schools, the district has proposed a multi-prong solution that includes opening some schools that were closed a few years ago, adding onto to others, and moving some programs.

Proposed changes in south Minneapolis include reopening Howe to create a dual campus with Hiawatha; moving the Ramsey Fine Arts Magnet program into Folwell, and expanding the Wellstone international high school at Roosevelt High to include middle school students. The board was expected to vote on these changes Nov. 28.

It has already approved a $16 million addition onto the Keewaydin campus of Lake Nokomis Community School. On Nov. 1, the architect was chosen. RSP Architects will be paid $907,500.

“It is a good thing to do,” said Samatar. “I think that Keewaydin has shown there is a need and growth potential.”

“It is a good investment to make, “ Davis agreed.

As of press time, Samatar was not yet sure how he was going to vote on the proposed changes regarding Howe, Ramsey Art Magnet and others. As a member of the district’s finance committee, Samatar has been working with others to pinpoint where the money for these changes will come from.

Hussein Samatar

IS A LEVY IN THE FUTURE?

The estimate for changes district-wide is $14,482,086. Funding will come from a variety of sources, such as the food service fund, general fund, and community development fund. The district may spend down its fund balances, noted Davis.

Samatar doesn’t foresee asking voters to approve a levy to fund the changes. “I understand this is a tough economic time. Minneapolis has been taxed enough,” Samatar stated. “We will do what we can not to increase the levy. We will do whatever else we can before we come back to that.”

Davis agreed that the board will try to avoid a levy. However, she pointed out that the district doesn’t know what changes the state may make to funding. Additionally, “integration and special education funding could hamper our efforts,” she said.

WILL CLASS SIZES GO UP?

The district has looked at a variety of solutions to the space issues, including increasing class sizes.

Samatar said that the district’s class sizes have been going up, and he doesn’t think increasing them more is the answer to this latest space crunch. Nor does he want to start busing kids from south to north to fill space in buildings empty in other parts of the city.

The school board wants to keep class sizes as low as possible, noted Davis. The district’s goal for class sizes is 26 students in K-3rd grade and 32 in grades 4-12. Six years ago, the ratio for the younger grades was 19 students to one teacher, according to Davis.

Questions before the school board, said Davis, include: how much space do you need in a building and what does it mean to have a building at capacity? The district is aiming for an 85% capacity rate in order to retain room for growth. The school board is also asking itself what kinds of strategies it needs to improve academic achievement, which impacts how a building is used. “To provide the kind of education experience we want to, we have to look at doing things differently,” Davis said.

Above all, Samatar wants to ensure that there are no winners or losers in these changes, that no one is left behind. “This time around we will not create anyone who feels they lost because of high enrollment,” Samatar pledged.

DETAILS ON HIAWATHA-HOWE DUAL CAMPUS

The recommendation before the school board is to create a dual campus with Hiawatha and Howe. Support staff will be shared and teachers and students looped across campuses. There are several other schools in the district that use the dual campus model, including Lake Nokomis Commuity School, Hale-Field and Lake Harriet. With the change, 258 students would move to Howe in 2013.

This proposal will provide 150 K-5 and 50 Pre-K seats in the Hiawatha attendance area.

Howe will be made up of existing Hiawatha teachers, grades 3-5, in the first year. One or two teachers each year will be added to the staff at the lower grades. Over a period of four years 10 new teachers will be integrated into the existing teams of teachers.

Why not reopen Howe as a K-5 school? According to district staff, a school that starts from kindergarten would be very small, have new staff and take time to develop a comprehensive program. It would be a challenge to provide a full set of electives.

It will cost between $3.5 and 5.5 million to reopen Howe, which has sat since 2005. The entire infrastructure of the building would be upgraded, including the roof, windows, and plumbing. The school would be upgraded with technology infrastructure and equipment to meet elementary standards. The playground and fields would also be upgraded to meet the program needs of the school and Sanford. The design and use of Howe will dictate the cost and location of equipment and fields.

If enrollment decreases what would happen to Howe? The school could be used to house preschool programs and alternative elementary programs as well as an annex space for Sanford Middle School. There are no plans to add onto Sanford; instead the district intends to make some changes within the existing structure to add a few classrooms. The district does not plan to add onto Hiawatha either, although it is high on the district’s list of buildings in need of capital investment as it relates to the educational programs.

Samatar appreciates that the idea of a reopening Howe and establishing a dual campus came from a community member at a meeting in May. “I feel if the idea comes from the community, it is much more credible,” Samatar remarked.

DETAILS ON THE RAMSEY ARTS MAGNET MOVE

By moving the Ramsey Fine Arts Magnet program from Ramsey to Folwell, the district will reuse a building that has been empty since spring 2010. It will create capacity for about 900 K-8 students in Zones 2 and 3. Ramsey will then be used as a 6-8 middle school to house about 200 students. Sixth and seventh graders who are currently at Burroughs and Lyndale will be able to complete their middle school years at Anthony, if they desire to. Overall, the switch will create middle school capacity and flexible space for Washburn High School in Zone 3.

The move is scheduled to occur by the start of the next school year to alleviate crowding at Anthony middle school. The district expects another 60 to 94 students in the 2012-13 school year; there are currently 880 students at Anthony.

In Zone 3, the zone with the greatest increases in enrollment, there are no closed school buildings (no school has closed in Zone 3 for over 20 years) that can be opened to accommodate the enrollment increases. All three of the shared-zone magnets (Emerson, Windom and Ramsey) are in Zone 3. In order to create capacity in Zone 3, the district intends to move shared-zone magnets out of zone 3 and into zone 2 as space demands continue.

The autism program will move to Folwell. A playground will be constructed, and the district is considering adding a dance studio.

The estimated cost for these changes is $6,839,285, of which the bulk is to reopen Folwell. The district estimates that it will spend $5,174,000 on construction, technology and equipment at Folwell.

The issues circling around moving the Ramsey Fine Art Magnet School from Ramsey into the currently-empty Folwell building are complicated. Parents and teachers met with the board to go over their concerns regarding the move and what issues need to be addressed in early November.

“Moving a program is a bigger thing than opening a building,” noted Davis. “It will be a hard change for people.”

Thus far, the reaction from parents, students and staff has been mixed. “They want to make sure we have the information we need and the people we need in place,” Davis stated.

“Folwell is a good space,” Samatar said. He pointed out that teachers agree that the building would accommodate the program. 

This story appeared in the December 2011 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.

Girls for a Cure

Nokomis woman bikes in LIVESTRONG challenges,
raises over $48,000 and heads up new organization to help those battling cancer

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN

Cancer sucks, something Nokomis resident Kari Kehr, 43, knows firsthand after losing her grandfather and two close friends to it. She has watched countless others, including her mother, battle it.

When Cathy Thyen, her roommate of eight years, and Best Buy co-worker died of a rare form of cancer in February 2009, Kehr pledged to ride her bike in the Austin Ride for the Roses/LIVESTRONG Challenge later that year. For Cathy. The two women had talked about doing it together, but time ran out for Cathy.

It wasn’t the first time Kehr had done something extraordinary to fight cancer. She went out to Boston to walk in the 3-Day for breast cancer research, and then walked three more times when the event came to the Twin Cities. The LIVESTRONG Challenge was her first long distance bike ride. “I’m not a biker,” Kehr said. “I’m doing this to fight cancer.”

That first year, Kehr raised $8,100. She and a friend biked 65 miles through Texas and went 3,300 feet in climbing elevation. She was honored with the LIVESTRONG Challenge Award recognizing her courage, perseverance, hope and “Warrior Spirit” through Cathy’s illness. When she learned of the award, “I was stunned and blown away,” Kehr recalled. “It was the best compliment I’d ever received.”

As she accepted the award, Kehr told those gathered in Austin: “I do believe that one person can make a difference and no effort is too small.”

When she sat down, things had changed for Kehr. She told the others at her table that it was the start of something big. Three years later, that desire to do more led to the creation of a non-profit.

“That feeling of helplessness when someone is diagnosed, that’s what drives me,” Kehr explained. She estimates that 60 to 70% of the people she knows have lost a loved one to cancer.

Kehr returned to the Ride for the Roses/LIVESTRONG again in 2010 and 2011, raising $20,000 each year for the cause. Her team, Girls for a Cure, has continued to grow each year and is made up of bikers (of both sexes) from around the United States. She is flabbergasted she was able to raise so much two years running, and credits her amazing donors.

One of the ways she raised money until recently was by selling “Cancer Sucks” t-shirts. The shirts were first made for a benefit for Cathy. Kehr (who is known as the Cancer Sucks girl in LIVESTRONG circles) estimates that over the past few years she has sold 800 to people around the world, mostly via Facebook. It helped when both Lance Armstrong and the CEO of LIVESTRONG wore the shirt. Regrettably, Kehr learned this summer that “Cancer Sucks” is trademarked, and she has discontinued selling the t-shirts.

People tell her all the time that they couldn’t do what she does, they couldn’t ride 65 miles through hilly country in one day. “That’s okay,” Kehr tells them, “because I need your money. I need people to support me.” 

She enjoys how biking gives her time to think without distractions. “There is a healing process when you bike,” Kehr said.

Girls For A Cure

Girls for a Cure (GFAC) received its 501c3 status in August. The organization aims to help people in Minnesota with all types of cancers. While the details are still being smoothed out and it will be about another year before any grants are made, Kehr envisions paying for prescription medicines and medical bills. Kehr knows there are people out there questioning whether to pay their mortgage or their medical bill.

She uses Cathy as her litmus test. Cathy would never have applied for assistance. So Girls for a Cure intends to reach out to others who know about those in need in order to pull them in.

Kehr and the board members of GFAC want to partner with other organizations that provide cancer education and resources by raising awareness and financial support. “I’m not trying to rebuild the wheel,” Kehr noted. “There’s a lot of little things people do and we want to pull all that stuff together.”

They are working to solicit sponsorships from businesses and sports teams, as well as individuals.

Kehr has been amazed how people have rallied around GFAC. “It’s overwhelming some days and it’s humbling. It totally energizes me,” she said.

Find out more about Girls for a Cure at www.girlsforacure.org or on the Facebook page.

This story appeared in the December 2011 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger. Click here.

More kids than classrooms in South Minneapolis

More families staying in city due to economy, housing market

(Photos by Kristin Prideaux, Argente Photographie)

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN

After a decade of declining enrollment, Minneapolis Public Schools is experiencing a boom in elementary age students.

To deal with that, the district has proposed reopening Howe or Cooper in fall 2012 or 2013 and adding a $16 million addition onto Lake Nokomis Community School.

The K-8 students at Ramsey Fine Arts Magnet program may move from Ramsey into Folwell School, which is currently closed. Ramsey would then house sixth to eighth graders. The Wellstone international high school at Roosevelt High, which serves newly arriving international learners, may expand its program to include middle school students. This year, Longfellow School reopened to serve teen parents, and is also an early childhood education site. There are no plans to reopen Cooper at this time.

A final decision will be made by the school board after community meetings are held.

In July, the district received block-by-block census data, explained Courtney Cushing Kiernat, Enrollment Planning Project Manager. The number of young children in Minneapolis is increasing, and that puts pressure on its elementary and middle schools.

For years, the district has counted on having the most students in kindergarten and losing some by high school. The district has lost students to private and charter schools, as well as the suburbs, noted Davic Dudycha, enrollment consultant for Minneapolis.

These days fewer parents are sending their children to private schools and more families are staying in the city, according to Dudycha.

“We are very pleased that we’re growing,” said Area B Parent Liaison Kristin Berg Thompson. “This is a good problem to have.”

Minneapolis expects this trend to continue for at least five years.

Dave Holliday views the school district’s actions and planning for the past six years as “ineffective and short-sighted,” particularly as it relates to Howe School. (See related story for more on Howe.)

“Finally, it looks like someone at MPS is actually being a good steward of the district’s money (actually, the tax-payer’s money) and assets,” Holliday added.

It is valid to ask why Minneapolis is embarking on such a shift a few years after closing schools, Cushing Kiernat said.

She explained that a few years ago, the situation was very different than it is today. Enrollment had been steadily declining from a peak in 1999 when there were 48,000 students. In 2008, enrollment had fallen to 32,000 students. The economy was looking good and the housing market was different than it is today. Families were moving out of the city when their children became old enough to attend school.

Projecting enrollment isn’t an exact science. Cushing Kiernat pointed out, “There are so many factors beyond our control.” She added, “We’re really lucky to have the census data now.”

St. Paul Public Schools has also been losing students for the past decade. Its enrollment has decreased about 7,200 students since then, according to Julie Schultz Brown, Director of Communications Marketing & Development. “This year, for the first time in 10 years, we’ve had an increase,” she noted. It is a small increase — 72 students — but the district expects to continue growing gradually in the future.

HIAWATHA AND HOWE

The proposed enrollment strategy for Hiawatha came directly from the community meeting that took place May 31, 2011 at Hiawatha, according to Cushing Kiernat.

Among the suggestions given that evening were: reopen either Howe or Cooper to create a dual K-5 campus with Hiawatha, build onto Lake Nokomis and/or Hiawatha, build a new building on an old site or change the boundaries to relieve pressure at Hiawatha.

Until a community member suggested creating a dual campus with Hiawatha and Howe, the district hadn’t even considered it. “It was an ah-ha moment for us when we heard a community member talking about it,” said Cushing Kiernat.

The district estimates that 134 third, fourth and fifth graders will be affected by this change.

Hiawatha is over capacity so this will provide more space to students there, pointed out Berg Thompson, and will keep students

in the neighborhood. There are four blocks between Hiawatha and Howe.

“Opening an existing building is quicker and less expensive than adding on,” Cushing Kiernat stated. The district does not yet know how much it will cost to reopen Howe.

Howe Elementary School opened in 1927 and has been closed since 2005. “The reuse of the Howe building has been a long and challenging process for the community. The community has expressed concerns around the desire and need for Sanford Athletic fields and the preservation and expansion of the Howe field, as well as the preservation of the Howe building as a community asset,” said Cushing Kiernat.

Howe has 15 classrooms that will be used for third, fourth and fifth graders. Hiawatha will house only the younger grades, PreK to second grade.

Angie McCracken questions why the district didn’t respond to the increase in students sooner. Last year, “there were 31 students in my daughter’s kindergarten class,” she pointed out. McCracken is looking forward to her daughter attending Howe, a school just two blocks from their home.

Charisse Courteau, who has one child in fourth grade at Hiawatha, attended the community meeting on Oct. 13 at Hiawatha because she wanted to know how teachers felt about this proposal. “I was pleased to hear that they are willing to work and are a resilient staff and are willing to go the extra mile for students,” Courteau said.

LAKE NOKOMIS COMMUNITY SCHOOL

The district’s strategic facilities assessment revealed what people at Keewaydin already knew. The school doesn’t match up other middle schools. In terms of need, it was at the top of the list. According to principal Jane Ellis, the $16 million addition at the Keewaydin campus of Lake Nokomis Community School (LNCS) will bring the school up to par with other middle schools in the district. 

“We don’t want anything more or anything less,” stated Ellis.

The gymnasium at Keewaydin, built in 1928, is 48 feet long and only 18 feet high. “It is one-fifth the size of a full-size gym,” Ellis pointed out. Right now, if the school holds an all-school assembly it must use a local church because neither Wenonah nor Keewaydin have a large enough space for the 650 students enrolled at LNCS.

The school classrooms are smaller than other middle-school classrooms in the district. Several teachers don’t have set classrooms, but instead move from place to place, keeping their stuff on rolling carts. “It’s hard on teachers and students,” Ellis said.

“We’re limited by our building.”

A $16 million addition won’t solve all the issues at LCNS, but it’s a start, said Ellis. It will provide another 180 seats in the school for the 2013-14 school year.

Ellis pointed out that the Lake Nokomis Facilities Committee asked the school board for $24 million, which included money for classroom space, technology improvements and a larger multi-use space at Wenonah.

LNCS is a dual campus that was created seven years ago. Wenonah serves kindergarten to third grade and Keewaydin fourth to eighth grade. When the district considered closing Keewaydin and Wenonah and sending students to other schools that had vacancies, the community rallied around these schools and the grassroots effort resulted in a dual campus model, according to Ellis.

She pointed out that because of the lightrail, moving kids back and forth across Hiawatha is a “huge obstacle.”

The Nokomis area has also seen a boom in population that Ellis attributes to having the most affordable houses in the city.

In 2008, there were 913 students in the area served by Lake Nokomis School, according to census data. That number is projected to increase to between 1,100 and 1,200 by 2015. Of those possible students, MPS expects 700 to attend Lake Nokomis, which has a capacity of 600.

Work on an addition would be complete by the summer of 2013, if approved by the school board next month.

Why not move Keewaydin students to another school building that is closed? “The goal of the district is to keep students close to home,” remarked Cushing Kiernat.

Story printed in the November Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger. Click here to view.