Readers: as always, my apologies for length...
(Also posted to MPS Parent's Forum Yahoo Group)
Fifteen years ago, in 1995, my stepson visited North as an option for HS, along
with Washburn and Southwest (our attendance area school), and a number of
privates. We lived in Uptown, and he had attended Catholic elementary school,
Jefferson Community for a brief time, Anwatin, and Sanford. He was excited by
North, and KBEM in particular. Although I didn't know much about north
Minneapolis myself at the time, I had heard positive comments about North as a
school, and less favorable comments about the neighborhood around it.
We toured the school as parents during the school day, and were satisfied with
the security arrangements. The school felt safe and orderly, but not
restrictive, although I recall seeing a police officer inside the building.
The only thing that bothered me was the lack of windows, as it does a bit at
South as well (though the kids really seem unphased by it). I was fine with
our student attending North, and encouraged him to keep it in the mix. In the
end, all the adults involved in the decision had differing opinions about the
choice options, and the attendance area school, Southwest, was ultimately
requested, even though the student's choice was North. The adults who had
always lived in the Twin Cities perceived that North wasn't as safe as
Southwest. Having grown up in Kansas City, and having attended an inner city
elementary school myself, I had no reservations about the safety at North.
Anecdotally, Southwest was not a good fit for this student, and we are
fortunate that he graduated using various alternatives to attending class in
the Southwest building.
Ours was not the only middle class family, nor the only white family, looking
seriously at North for the class of 2000. It was a notably better choice than
Washburn at the time for our student. Southwest was beginning its serious
dedication to IB, but students not on that track weren't particularly
well-served.
Looking back, I see several factors that contributed to the downward spiral of
attendance at North since I looked at it in 1995:
* Murderapolis. Many middle class potential customers began to be
seriously intimated by violence on the northside, and were less willing to put
their kids on buses to the high-tech programs at North.
* Target left the Broadway location, further damaging the economic vitality
of Near North.
* Several brand spanking new behemoth schools were built to replace aging
and deteriorating community oriented school buildings. Someone forgot to ask
the community whether they wanted K8 schools with 1200 kids in them, or options
to update their smaller schools where kids could walk and parents could easily
drop in.
* IB was added at Henry to increase and stabilize its enrollment.
* Crack, meth, pot and alcohol were readily available too close to the
school premises, causing even Near North residents to fear the walk to school
for their teenagers.
* The second NAACP lawsuit established Choice Is Yours, and offered
children a way out of chronically underperforming schools.
* Increased offerings for PUBLIC charter schools, providing a small school
setting for families concerned with safety, and often with doorstep to school
door busing.
* Increased outreach by private schools to entice high performing students
of color to diversify their own institutions, with attractive scholarship
packages.
* MPS' long-held belief that they hold the "keys to kingdom" of educational
excellence and choice, while refusing to acknowledge what is going on in the
world around them until it is too late.
* A revolving door for principals at North and Associate Superintendents in
Area A.
* Chaos from school closings that led families with HS age children to seek
stability at a safe school with good academics that will be there at the end of
4 years when we hope our children will graduate.
* Failure to act on the demographic realities predicted at least 5 years
ago that MPS would not have enough HS age students to support 7 comprehensive
HS.
* W aka Bush2, NCLB and its punitive mandates, educational funding
nightmare
We can reflect on North's glory days and remember the great education many of
our citizens received there. Today, however, we have an educational emergency
with our poor students, who are often students of color or recent immigrants.
Nostalgia and tinkering with the programs and attendance zones isn't likely to
reverse the downward slide. This year's freshman class is 1/3 the size of last
year's class. Students and families have voted with their feet. Clearly, MPS'
bungling of the open houses last fall, the random and varied communication
about the CSO choice outcomes, and the negligence of oversight at the school is
part of the problem. However, my personal view is that the long term damage
was done over a period of years or decades, even. Without a proactive group to
rebuild and strengthen North all along, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Washburn managed to right itself in the nick of time, and appears to be on an
upward trajectory.
I lived in Jordan for a time recently, and I know several dozen familes who
live in Jordan, Willard Hay, and Near North. Not a single one sends their HS
kids to North today, and none were interested in going there with their younger
kids. When I asked what would it take for them to choose North, they couldn't
think of a thing. You can have all the great programs, all the great sports
teams, a radio station, great teachers and quality marketing expertise, but
that's no guarantee that students will choose to enroll.
For the record, the North High building is also home to the Dunwoody Academy
Charter School, and the TAPPS program (formerly located at the Broadway
School), which is a Minneapolis alternative program serving pregnant and
parenting teens in grades 7-12. The building will still be there and occupied,
and presumably the radio station could still function. And maybe the Noble
Minneapolis Prep Charter will open there, too. If you've seen what the Noble
Schools have done in Chicago, you might be able to get really enthusiastic
about such a choice in the North building. That sounds like a hopeful and
postive outcome for children that have not gotten the best our district has to
offer for a really long time.
Although I've asked about the Noble School relationship with MPS (i.e., will it
be its own district and have its results reported separately from MPS, and get
all its legislative money from the state and feds directly? Or, will it flow
through MPS with "administrative and operational overhead" deducted? Or, will
these new schools benefit from the $3.7mm that was awarded to Noble Schools in
Illinois from another RTTT for charter expansion? to name a few), I haven't
gotten clear answers because I'm not sure all the details are understood by MPS
or the sponsoring organization just yet.
Bottom line, though: the students at North need AND deserve a quality
education. Today. Not in 3 or 4 years after the next cycle of MPS reform has
run its course. Students in these communities have been waiting since Brown vs
the Board of Ed affirmed their rights to an education the majority population
has taken for granted in our society. Most middle and upper class families in
Minneapolis have pretty good FREE PUBLIC school choices. Increasingly,
families close to St Paul are "crossing the border" to SPPS and charters as
their smaller, more intimate community schools have closed. St Anthony school
district has 25% of their enrollment from the northeast quadrant of
Minneapolis, where schools were shuttered as well.
We've got systemic issues in MPS that need to be addressed, and we need to be
sure that not a SINGLE one of the students at North today falls between the
cracks before 2014 when they are supposed to graduate. I'm all for creating
mentorship opportunities for North staff to help this group of kids get a world
class education, and who will ensure that none of them require remediation in
their college coursework. Although I'm sure many staff take on this role
voluntarily already, perhaps it should be formalized as part of honoring the
legacy of North High when it was high on the list of family and student school
choice.
P Clark, South & 2000 MPS graduate