Minneapolis Public Schools

[fehler]

This is a topic for the oft-discussed (by us older kid-having folk) topic of the Minneapolis School District Comprehensive District Design.

Here's a Southwest Journal introduction (with focus on Southwest High School changes, of course, mostly in relation to North High School).

https://www.southwestjournal.com/news/s ... ool-paths/

And more recently with fun maps: https://www.southwestjournal.com/news/s ... l-changes/

[fehler]

Me personally, I don't have a big problem. We live two blocks from Roosevelt, so kids are going to go there, and we're not affected by the elementary school program shifts.

Overall, I don't know how MPS expects to get those Kenwood and Uptown(not Uptown) families to North every day, relying on Metro Transit. They expect to send the kids downtown, and then back out on the C-Line? Just proves the point that 394 is a wall, and there needs to be a bridge over the Cedar Lake Trail connecting Penn Avenue and Kenwood Parkway. Or at least better Metro Transit utilization of the Van White.

[SurlyLHT]

This is really interesting. I honestly see the new families for North leaving the district instead of sending their kids to a school that last year was literally hit with bullets. Mauri the acclaimed and now famous Principal of North said she wasn't consulted and her school will improve even if it doesn't come "whiter."

[QuietBlue]

At least at the high school level, it seems like a lot of disruption for not all that much gain, and counterproductive in several cases (making some schools more segregated after the changes, making Washburn even more overcrowded, etc).

The only part of the plan that I think could work is centralizing the magnet schools; it doesn't make sense to have so many on one side of the city. But reducing the number of them, and all of the boundary changes that are proposed for the other schools, don't seem like good ideas.

As is mentioned in the articles, there's only so much the district can do when the city's housing is segregated the way it is. And yeah, a lot of parents bought their homes with the idea that their kids would go to certain schools.

[talindsay]

So basically they're radically changing the boundaries of their two most successful schools - South and Southwest - and sending most of the families formerly in those attendance areas to schools that have struggled more - Roosevelt and North. My neighborhood will shift from South to Roosevelt even though we're much closer to South, and South has a better reputation. Since my daughter is open enrolled in Saint Paul it doesn't directly matter to me, but I'd expect my neighborhood to be grumpy about this. And the kids currently in Southwest being shifted to North sounds like a disastrous idea. North is certainly improving, but the gap between those two schools would have to be narrowed substantially before people put up with that shift.

[SurlyLHT]

It should be noted that this is made in the context that Mauri Friestleben is Principal of North. She formerly was Principal of Lucy Laney Elementary where Kare 11 made a now nationally acclaimed documentary (Love them First) which has made Mauri famous and influential. She doesn't seem to support the plan yet. But with that said it's harder to say you don't want your students to go a high school when the charismatic principal was recently in New York City accepting an award and is getting standing ovations at screenings which leave viewers in tears.

https://www.lovethemfirst.com/

[Blaisdell Greenway]

You've hit the issue on the head, talindsay. We've seen Southwest improve literally at the expense of North, and the district is now saying the burden is on wealthy people in Kenwood to go a mile north for high school instead of 5 miles south. If Minneapolis actually cares about integration, this is what doing the work looks like.

[nordeast homer]

This isn't integration though. We already struggle with diversity in the schools; with this plan we'll have even less. Schools that under-perform get less funding and have higher teacher turnover. With this you're more likely to force kids in areas that are already struggling economically, to go to schools that are struggling economically. The kids really lose in this.
This isn't solving a problem, it's taking a problem and making it worse.

[LakeCharles]

This isn't integration though. We already struggle with diversity in the schools; with this plan we'll have even less.

Where are you getting that info from? That is a genuine question. I'm still trying to figure out what it will all mean. But from what I have seen, each elementary school will be more diverse than they currently are, both economically and racially. Though this is all in flux still, as the final plan hasn't been chosen yet.

My info coming from here: https://mpls.k12.mn.us/uploads/phase_2_ ... nglish.pdf
Slide 17:
• Schools over 80% poverty would be reduced by six (50%)
• Racially identifiable schools (RIS) would be reduced by 10 (50%).
• Schools under 350 students would be reduced from fourteen to seven (50%). Schools under 350 students would be more equitably spread across Zones 1-3. There would be no schools under 350 in North Minneapolis.
• On average, schools’ percent of students proficient are projected to increase by four percentage points in math and reading.
• Significant potential to increase access to after school programming

[nordeast homer]

I have an elementary school one block from my house; Pillsbury. My neighborhood is predominantly white/caucasian. Right now a large number of the kids come from north Minneapolis to go to that school. With the lines redrawn, there will be very few children of color in that school or at Waite Park, the next closest school. How is that integration?

[twincitizen]

I get the intent and necessity behind a lot of this, but it seems like they didn't even look at Metro Transit bus routes(?) I have no idea how they think kids south of 394 are getting up to North, when they got rid of school buses a few years ago. Isn't it true that Metro Transit is now the only bus option for high schoolers? (correct me if I'm wrong on that). No one is taking 2 buses to high school...

So are they proposing to bring back school bus service to get kids from the lakes area to North High? How else could this possibly work?

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Again, integration is shifting the burden from POC to white folks. Instead of busing kids of color out of their own diverse neighborhoods to white schools, the district will invest in their diverse neighborhood schools instead. Majority white neighborhoods may see their schools get a little whiter. This reflects the reality of our segregated neighborhoods - it is not the job of POC to make white schools less white. The number of racially identifiable schools (including majority white) will still decline.

[Didier]

My neighborhood will shift from South to Roosevelt even though we're much closer to South, and South has a better reputation.

With a lot of this stuff, I feel like you don't really know anything until you know it. Like, I've tried researching schools in the past, but I don't know how you could ever know that South was considered "better" without someone telling you. Everything you find online is just a mess of anecdotal or non-useful data. So, anyway, now I know this!

That said, though, it looks like the proposed changes would basically move the Longfellow kids from South to Roosevelt, which to my eyes looks like they'd be moving a lot of the white kids from South to Roosevelt. The new South boundary looks pretty "inner city" and presumably more minority, whereas Roosevelt looks like it'd be pretty white and almost even suburban with all of the Longfellow and Nokomis families. Am I missing something, though?

[talindsay]

No, that's probably right. It's surprising to me, as it appears to be undercutting a functional school. The big news is obviously the Southwest to North shift, but the South to Roosevelt one is a bit puzzling.

[QuietBlue]

I also find the idea that they would deliberately make Washburn more overcrowded than it already is to be bizarre, but according to the numbers they provided, that's what they're going to do. It doesn't make any sense if they're already changing all of the high school boundaries anyway.

[LakeCharles]

I also find the idea that they would deliberately make Washburn more overcrowded than it already is to be bizarre, but according to the numbers they provided, that's what they're going to do. It doesn't make any sense if they're already changing all of the high school boundaries anyway.

Where are those numbers? In the map posted above, the boundaries for Washburn are getting smaller (losing area to the South and East, and not gaining any extra area anywhere), so how would the population increase?

The numbers from the article are very misleading, because they share 2019-20 numbers, and then a projection for 2022-23. So they aren't apples to apples. Maybe the current boundaries would have led to an even larger population at Washburn than the projections. Unclear.

[QuietBlue]

Where are those numbers? In the map posted above, the boundaries for Washburn are getting smaller (losing area to the South and East, and not gaining any extra area anywhere), so how would the population increase?

Second link fehler posted, if you scroll down through the article.

[LakeCharles]

Where are those numbers? In the map posted above, the boundaries for Washburn are getting smaller (losing area to the South and East, and not gaining any extra area anywhere), so how would the population increase?

Second link fehler posted, if you scroll down through the article.

Oh yeah, those aren't apples to apples comparisons though. That is 2019-20 current numbers, and 2022-23 projections under the new alignment. So we can't really say the alignment itself is the cause of the increase.

[QuietBlue]

Oh yeah, those aren't apples to apples comparisons though. That is 2019-20 current numbers, and 2022-23 projections under the new alignment. So we can't really say the alignment itself is the cause of the increase.

I'm sure part of it would be just increased population as more students reach high school age (especially since that area has seen more families move in over the past decade). But then, why not take that into account when creating the boundaries?

[dingo]

Where are those numbers? In the map posted above, the boundaries for Washburn are getting smaller (losing area to the South and East, and not gaining any extra area anywhere), so how would the population increase?

Second link fehler posted, if you scroll down through the article.

Oh yeah, those aren't apples to apples comparisons though. That is 2019-20 current numbers, and 2022-23 projections under the new alignment. So we can't really say the alignment itself is the cause of the increase.

Yea those numbers are very misleading. They should do a current enrollment comparison, and a future enrollment comparison based on new alignment but cant find that anywhere.