Event Helps Parents Understand Upcoming Changes at Nine St. Paul Schools: Nine District Schools Are in Flux for 2008-09

By Doug Belden, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Jan. 31–In a typical year, picking a school from the multitude of options can be overwhelming enough for St. Paul parents.

But heading into Saturday’s Parent Information Fair, several schools in the St. Paul district have programs in flux, adding a layer of uncertainty.

The changes are being driven largely by the federal No Child Left Behind law, which likely seemed a faraway concept to many parents and students until the last month or so, when it became clear that failure to meet testing targets at Homecroft Elementary, Humboldt Junior High, Cleveland Junior High and Monroe Community School was going to lead to significant changes at those schools and at least three others.

Some have wondered why St. Paul couldn’t exempt itself from the federal requirements and continue to operate schools as it wishes, but district officials have said opting out of No Child Left Behind would mean potentially sacrificing an estimated $25 million in federal funds per year.

Here’s an update on the plans affecting nine St. Paul schools for next year:

Homecroft Elementary / Changes at this neighborhood elementary school are expected to be the most dramatic.

It will either be filled with secondary students in alternative learning and special-education programs or, depending on the result of a community brainstorming process, by a new elementary-level program. Even if a new grade-school program is adopted, the current principal, staff and students would not necessarily remain.

Neighbors

have expressed concern that the loss of a community grade school will depress property values, and several have said they’re worried about the influx of special-ed and alternative students.

At the same time, families in Homecroft’s attendance area have not been sending their children to the school, preferring magnets or private options.

The advisory group has met several times in the past few weeks and has considered language immersion, classical instruction, music, environmental studies and other programs as possible new directions for Homecroft. District officials will decide in early spring whether the group’s proposal is viable.

Humboldt Junior And Senior High / A couple of years ago, it was the senior high driving talk of change at the Humboldt junior-senior complex on the city’s West Side. Enrollment was declining, and there was concern about the viability of the city’s smallest high school.

Now it’s the junior high, spurred by several years of missing federal accountability targets, pushing the conversation about a grades seven to 12 redesign.

A proposal that Humboldt become a “green” school focused on environmental science was seen as too narrow, and an idea to emphasize career and technical education was seen as off-putting to college-bound students, so Humboldt’s new direction wound up being a combination of the two.

The details are still being developed, but it appears there would be increased opportunities for students to perform real-world environmental projects, and the schools would likely beef up their technology offerings and trade-skill classes such as auto mechanics.

Cleveland Junior High And Farnsworth Elementary / The two schools about a mile apart on the East Side will run a joint K-8 aerospace-focused program, with the current principals sharing leadership as co-principals. Cleveland has an environmental focus now, said Principal Jill Gebeke, but it hasn’t drawn enough students, and reorienting around Farnsworth Elementary’s successful aerospace curriculum is a positive move.

“We’ve needed a focus, so we’re pleased,” she said.

Cleveland has the space that Farnsworth lacks. One dream is to fill an old wood shop at Cleveland with 10 flight simulators. Current plans call for fifth- and sixth-graders to be mostly on the second floor at Cleveland, and junior high students largely on the third floor.

District officials have said Cleveland and Farnsworth would be on the same bus route so that siblings in different grades could ride to school together.

Monroe Community School And Linwood Elementary / This is also a merger of a successful grade school with a nearby program having enrollment and academic struggles. The schools would jointly offer a K-8 arts-focused program. Again, the schools would be on the same bus routes.

Several Linwood Elementary parents have expressed concern the move could disrupt the success of their school. For Monroe, the district’s only K-8 school, the change is an opportunity to infuse Linwood’s arts focus into the existing curriculum and to be able to offer citywide busing, according to Principal Jim Eaton.

Monroe has two gyms and amenities such as a large auditorium and a newly opened atrium area in the center of the school that could be used for artistic performances and exhibitions.

It’s unclear what kind of leadership structure the two buildings would have, but Eaton has said he plans to take a job with the district office next year.

North End Elementary / This neighborhood school isn’t having trouble with test scores as much as enrollment. Up around 600 kids in 2001, it now has about 340 — a decline of more than 40 percent.

It’s also in a neighborhood with lots of black families with school-age children the district would like to be enrolling.

That made it the ideal candidate for the district to try an experiment: separating students by gender and providing a curricular focus meant to support black males, the lowest-performing subgroup of students in St. Paul and other urban districts.

“This is an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of something new,” said first-year Principal Hamilton Bell. He plans to take some teachers on a trip to New York City next month to observe single-sex academies there, including the one Superintendent Meria Carstarphen toured that inspired the North End experiment.

Phalen Lake Elementary / The neighborhood school becomes the district’s first Hmong magnet, but it won’t be a huge culture shock at a school that’s 63 percent Asian and has been a pioneer in offering Hmong culture classes.

“I see it as an enhancement of what we already do,” said Ann Rasmussen, a fifth-grade teacher and mother of a first-grader at Phalen Lake.

The school plans to continue offering Hmong culture and language classes, but the next step for this fall is to find ways to integrate the study of Hmong into the school’s existing Core Knowledge curriculum, which Principal Catherine Rich describes as “a liberal arts education that begins at kindergarten.”

If You Go

What: St. Paul Parent Information Fair, featuring more than 120 exhibits from schools and programs. All the St. Paul Public Schools will be represented, as will many charter, private and parochial schools.

When: Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Roy Wilkins Auditorium at St. Paul RiverCentre, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd.

Why go: The annual event is a one-stop-shopping opportunity for parents to get information about school options for 2008-09. Parents can pick up the school selection guide, which has descriptions of each St. Paul public school and information about how to apply.

What else: Information about services for children will be available, including early childhood education, English Language Learner programs, gifted services, special-education programs and more. Also, families can get one-on-one help from school district staff regarding the school-selection process and how to complete an application.

Cost: Free. Preregistration is not required.

Parking: Free at Sears, 425 Rice St., and the district’s Administration Building, 360 Colborne St., with free shuttle buses to RiverCentre during fair hours.

Interpreters: Hmong, Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Khmer, Karen, Oromo, Amharic and American Sign Language.

For more information: Call the school district at 651-767-8101.

District application deadlines: Feb. 29 for secondary schools; March 7 for elementary magnet schools. For neighborhood elementaries, call the school.

Doug Belden can be reached at dbelden@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5136.

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