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.
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