All posts in the topic Why did Ericsson become Northrup Elementary? (Short link)
Summary
- There are 10 posts — by 7 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Becky Ersfeld at May 02 17:36 UTC
Whenever I walk past Ericsson Elementary, I mean Northrup, I get confused by
the two names on the building.
So why did our neighborhood lose the school of its namesake or what did the
community gain with the new name since I am not clued in here?
Steven Clift
Who lives almost kiddie corner from the awesome playground equipment at the
school.
Funny. I just took a nice walk about two weeks ago (remember those few days
when you could take a nice walk?) with my daughter and walked past that
school wondering the same thing...why the two names. Steven, I also noticed
that amazing playground equipment...made me want to send my daughter to that
school. I just love this neighborhood...so many places to walk and
quietly.
I wish I knew why the school district and the city would not stand up for the
name of the school too! My kids went to our beloved community school and I
later started working there. Four years ago, it was determined that the
population had gotten so small there that it was to be closed (nevermind the
fact that many of us felt that the school boundaries had been slowly changed so
as to sqeeze us to nothing). So, the powers that be decided to move Northrop
(an environmental magnet)into the building. We fought to keep the name as it
only made sense since the school is in the Ericsson neighborhood but the
administration of the school district at the time listened to no one.
If you note some anger in my answer, then you are paying attention. It just
kills me everyday that I see 4 different school buses come into this
neighborhood to take students in all different directions when we had a great
little community school a mile away. Not only is it environmentally insane, it
keeps our neighborhood from being a true community. It is something to pay
attention to in city and school politics. Notice that the only schools that
have closed in the past 10 years have been community schools. The community
schools that are left are horribly segregated with poor students of color.
Everyone on this email lists talks about how this neighborhood feels like a
small town and I would agree with the exception that we lack the center of
community, the school.
Hi everybody,
I think many of us in Standish Ericsson with children under five years of
age have legitimate concerns about the Minneapolis Schools, starting with
"where do we go?" and ending with "how good are they?" The first thing to do
is visit the MPS website at www.mpls.k12.mn.us. There you can sift through a
lot of information and find that Northrup (formerly Ericsson) is a magnet
school rather than a community, or elementary school. In other words, you
have to apply and get in rather than being automatically placed there - yes,
even if you live across the street.
What this means is those of us in the neighborhood with kids approaching
school age don't have a designated school. I find that aggravating. In a
perfect world, our kids would walk to their local school. Unfortunately, the
world doesn't work that way.
Fortunately, we have a lot of choices. The upside is there are some very
good schools in the city, and I understand Northrup is one of them.
It would be a shame if in the next five years all of us who have young kids
decide either to leave the city or send our kids to private schools, but it
is always an option. Therefore, I am willing, on behalf of "School-less"
Standish-Ericsson, to write a letter to the superintendent to express some
of our concerns and try to engage him in a meaningful manner. I would love
to hold a Q and A with a MPS official for neighborhood parents who are
considering sending their children through the school system. Could be a
win/win for all of us.
I appreciate any feedback people have. Contact me directly if that makes
more sense.
Sam Newberg
Joe Urban, Inc.
3913 29th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55406
(612) 251-4662 direct/mobile
(612) 721-1407 fax
<email obscured>
www.joe-urban.com
I don't know why the name change, but I do have a 9 year old at Northrop and
will be sending my 2 year old there when she is ready.
While we don't have an assigned school, we have three options right by us. You
get to choose where your child goes. You do not apply and hope you get in.
You fill out your Minneapolis Public School Choice Card with your first,
second, and third choice. I think there were three. The children in the area
are given precedence but there is no other approval process. They fill the
classes until they cannot hold anymore kids. The MPLS Public Schools tries to
place as many kids as possible in their 1st choice.
We transferred our child from a charter school to Northrop for 3rd grade. We
missed the deadline for the school choice cards. We had no other kids there.
We still had no issues with him going to that school.
The school is a really good one. Dr. Alvig is the principal and she is great.
She is open, speaks her mind, and they put out as many programs as they can for
the kids. The PTA is very active also and does a lot of good work and
fundraising for the school.
The one problem that the school is having is related to the No Child Left
Behind program. The testing that the kids go through is all in English. No
translators are allowed at all. There are no other languages that the tests
are offered in. At Northrop, there is a very large minority population and
lots of ESL students. They have a hard time with the test while they are still
learning English. Also, from what I understand, the special needs children
take the same exact test as typical needs children.
We have friends in the neighborhood with kids in Kindergarten, First Grade, and
Fifth Grade. All of the teachers have been exceptional, take time to get to
know the kids and work with them one on one. If you want to be involved, the
teachers welcome you with open arms.
What I am more worried about is where I'm going to send my kids to high school.
Roosevelt does not seem like a good option.
Wendy
Overall, it is a great school. I highly recommend it to any parent trying to
figure out where to send their Kindergartner or older children.
Does anyone on the forum know anyone from Northrup, Roosevelt, etc. or the
School District who might join us here? It would also be great to get someone
from St. Helena's and any area charter schools to participate in our exchanges
as well.
It is best that someone who knows the right people in these organizations ask
them to join us directly. The earlier folks from local institutions join us *as
neighbors* the stronger our dialogue will be.
Steven Clift
Forum Co-Host
As someone in the neighborhood who just went through the school choice process, I would contend that it is still very similiar to an "apply and hope you get in" process. Even thouh there are no requirements, often times more people apply for the "better" schools than there are spots for and you go into a lottery with no gurantees you'll get your choice. To make things more difficult, in some schools a lot of the spots are pre-filled by kids who have siblings already at the school. During our school visit at Northrup, Dr. Alvig gave us a very high percent for this upcoming year. As an example, friends of ours did not get any of their choices when results came in and were for a time left in limbo and now are going to wind up at school that will not have busing available for them and is not walking distance. Also, through friends in the school system, we have heard that some community schools, your "gauranteed" school if you are not in an open area, had more people from that community apply than there were spots for. So, for even some of those family it has become an "apply and hope you get in" situation, even though there was supposed to be a "gurantee". For more info on school choice go to: http://schoolchoice.mpls.k12.mn.us/Completing_a_School_Request_Card2.html
I sent an email inviting Dr. Alvig to join the forum. Below is her response.
Glenn -- I'm sorry that you and other are having such a hard time with the
school choice. It was so easy for us last year, even though we'd missed
cut-offs. Hopefully the school district will get that straightened out. I
agree that it certainly would be simpler if we had a school that we were
assigned to. I hope everything works out for you and your children.
"Dear Wendy,
Thank you for your email. It is always a pleasure to visit with you.
About 3-4 years ago, student enrollment at Ericsson Community School had
dropped to about 200+ students. There was a half time principal assigned to
the building. Projections indicated that the downward trend in enrollment would
continue for the Ericsson Community school area.
Northrop Urban Environmental Magnet School at 46th and 16th, was full (about
300 students), and with a waiting list. This was the situation over several
years. The district wanted to respond to those parents waiting to get in to
Northrop Environmental and to support what was/is a great environmentally
focused program. As a magnet school, boundaries were similar to those of
Dowling's and other magnet areas--broader than for local community schools
because magnets were to integrate diverse student learners around a central
learning theme.
And, there were students from the Ericsson Standish Nokomis neighborhoods whose
parents had chosen the Northrop Environmental School program attending Northrop
at the time--and also parents in these neighborhoods waiting to get into
Northrop Urban Environmental School at the time. Thus, Ericsson was closed and
Northrop Urban Environmental was asked to move in. This was a MPLS School Board
decision.
The district moved Northrop Urban Environmental into the John Ericson building
during the summer of 2005. it is now called Northrop Urban Environmental
Magnet School at Ericsson.
I hope this gives you the information you were seeking. I would be happy to
attend a meeting or try to answer any other questions com up, Wendy, if you
would like to email them to me. I get 80-100 emails a day so that might be the
fastest way to connect with me.... :)
Kathy Alvig"
I've been reading along regarding the Standish/Ericsson topic and as a parent of a child who went to Ericsson/Northrup for K-5 I just wanted to give a parents perspective. As an advocate of the community school, it is a shame to see that the community schools are the ones that repeatedly take the hit and end up closing. I truly love the idea of my child attending school in the community where we live and with the other kids he plays with. It helps build a sense of community, safety and a bonding for both the child and the parents. I also LOVED the smaller class sizes and the more family/personal feel when it was Ericsson. With all that being said, I wanted to make you aware of a community school that is right next door. My son now attends the Lake Nokomis Community School. This is a 2-campus school with K-3 at Wenonah school and 4-8 (8th grade being added next school year) at Keewaydin. Even though it is not in the Standish/Ericsson neighborhood, it is only 10 blocks from our home. It is a great school, very family oriented and even though it is growing, they are able to maintain small class sizes. I am on the Leadership team at LNCS and can tell you there is a special bond with the staff, students, parents and community members. If your looking for a community school option, I would highly recommend checking them out. I would also recommend attending one of the Area meetings. LNCS is located in Area C and the next meeting is scheduled for May 8th at Hale School from 6:30 - 8:30. I've included a link to Lake Nokomis Community School for anyone who is interested. http://lakenokomis.mpls.k12.mn.us/ Thanks, Becky Ersfeld