Minneapolis Public Schools

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Minneapolis Public Schools
Type Public
Budget $654,453,751
Established 1878[1]
Region Minnesota
Grades K-12
Superintendent William D. Green
Teachers 3,302
Staff 6,255
Students 34,570
Athletic Conference Minneapolis City Conference
Location Minneapolis, Minnesota
USA

Information Minneapolis Public Schools 2007-2008 Fact Sheet
Website http://www.mpls.k12.mn.us

Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) or Special School District Number 1 is a school district that covers all of the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis Public Schools enroll 36,370 students in public primary and secondary schools. The district administers about one hundred public schools including forty-five elementary schools, seven middle schools, seven high schools, eight special education schools, eight alternative schools, nineteen contract alternative schools and five charter schools. With authority granted by the state legislature, the school board makes policy, selects the superintendent, and oversees the district's budget, curriculum, personnel, and facilities. Students speak ninety different languages at home and most school communications are printed in English, Hmong, Spanish, and Somali.[2]

Contents

[edit] Enrollment

In the past decade enrollment in Minneapolis Public Shools has decreased significantly. In the 2001-2001 school year the district's enrollment was 46,256 students.[3] In the 2002-2003 school year Minneapolis Public School's 46,037 students were enough to be the 98th largest school district in the United States in terms of enrollment.[4] In the following school year (2003-2004) alone, the district's enrollment had decreased 5% to just over 43,000 students. At that time the district was predicted to lose 10,000 more students over the next five years if the then current trend continued.[5] Some of the decline has been from the result of a smaller school-age population.[5]

In the 2007-2008 school year, 10,000 eligible school children in Minneapolis choose to attend other schools such as, in suburban school districts, at private schools or at charter schools.[6] The number of students enrolled in Minneapolis Public Schools is expected to drop under 30,000 students from 2007-2011.[7] As a result of "a severe learning gap, continued enrollment decreases and financial shortfalls"[8] the district has at times proposed closing a number of schools, the majority in North Minneapolis. The district has space for 50,000 students.[7]

A large portion of students that would normally attend schools in Minneapolis instead attend schools in the western suburbs. In 2000 Minneapolis branch of the NAACP sued alleging that students were being denied an adequate education. As a result a program called the "The Choice is Yours" was created that gave low-income students support in attending suburban schools.[9] Around 2,000 students, the majority being from north Minneapois, do so, attending other school districts in the West Metro Education Program. Several studies have revealed that students who remain in Minneapolis Public Schools have better test scores than those that are bused to schools in the suburbs. [10]

[edit] Low Graduation Rate

On April 1, 2008 a study by the America's Promise Alliance rated the Minneapolis Public Schools near the bottom among large cities in number of students who graduate.

The study, called "Cities in Crisis," rated MPS graduation rates 45th among the nation's 50 largest cities and calculated Minneapolis' four-year graduation rate at 43.7 percent for the 2003-04 school year, more than 8 points below the 50-city average of 51.8. MPS's graduation rate lagged significantly behind its surrounding suburban communities, where average graduation rates hover above 80 percent.

The Minneapolis school system calculated its own graduation rate for that same time period as being at 52.8 percent. [11]

[edit] Leadership

The Minneapolis Board of Education describes itself as a "a policy-making body responsible for selecting the superintendent and overseeing the district's budget, curriculum, personnel and facilities." See Board of education for further details on the functions of a school board. The Minneapolis Board of Education has been granted the power to carry out such duties by the State of Minnesota and the Minnesota Legislature.[12]

[edit] Current members

  • Chair: Lydia Lee
  • Treasurer: Peggy Flanagan
  • Director: Sharon Henry-Blythe
  • Director: Tom Madden
  • Director: Chris Stewart
  • Director: T. Williams

[edit] Elementary schools (K-5)

  • Andersen Elementary School
  • Armatage Community & Montessori School
  • Bancroft Community School
  • Bethune Community School
  • Bryn Mawr Community School
  • Burroughs Community School
  • Dowling Urban Environmental Learning Center
  • Hale Elementary School
  • Hall International Elementary School
  • Hiawatha Community School
  • Jenny Lind School
  • Kenny Community School
  • Kenwood Community School
  • Longfellow Community School
  • Loring School
  • Lyndale Community School
  • North Star Community School
  • Northrop Urban Environmental Learning Center
  • Park View Montessori School
  • Pillsbury School
  • Pratt Community School
  • Shingle Creek School
  • Waite Park Community School
  • Whittier International Elementary School

[edit] Elementary schools (K-8)

  • Andersen Open School
  • Anishinabe Academy
  • Barton Open School
  • Cityview Performing Arts Magnet
  • Emerson Spanish Immersion Learning Center
  • Field Community School (5-8)
  • Green Central Park School
  • Jefferson Community School
  • Jordan Park Community School
  • Lake Harriet Community School
  • Lake Nokomis Community School (a merger of Wenonah and Keewaydin schools)
  • Lincoln Community School
  • Lucy Craft Laney at Cleveland Park Community School
  • Marcy Open School
  • Nellie Stone Johnson Community School
  • Ramsey International Fine Arts Center
  • Seward Montessori School
  • Sheridan Elementary School
  • Sullivan Communication Center
  • Tuttle Community School
  • W. Harry Davis Academy
  • Webster Open School (now closed)
  • Windom Spanish Dual Immersion and Open School

[edit] Middle schools (6-8)

  • Afrocentric Academy (Franklin Middle School)
  • Anthony Middle School
  • Anwatin Middle School
  • Folwell Middle School
  • Northeast Middle School
  • Olson Middle School
  • Sanford Middle School

[edit] High schools (9-12)

[edit] History of Minneapolis Schools

  • 1834 Rev. J.D. Stevens opens the first school in Minneapolis on the shores of Lake Harriet with four pupils.
  • 1849 The first private school opens in St. Anthony (which merged with Minneapolis in 1872).
  • 1851-1852 Mary Schofield opens a school on the west side of the Mississippi River.
  • 1857 Minneapolis' first high school, Central Union (also known as Union Washington), opens.
  • 1863 Central Union High School burns to the ground.
  • 1867 East Side (East) High School opens.
  • 1873 Central High opens.
  • 1878 The State Legislature merges St. Anthony and Minneapolis School Boards into Minneapolis Board of Education.
  • 1891 North Side High School opens.
  • 1892 South Side High School opens.
  • 1898 Sidney Pratt Elementary School opens.
  • 1908 University High opens on campus of University of Minnesota as a preparatory lab for the School of Education
  • 1909 West Side High School opens.
  • 1916 Miller Vocational High opens.
  • 1922 Thomas Alva Edison High School opens
  • 1922 Theodore Roosevelt High School opens.
  • 1924 East Side High closed.
  • 1924 Marshall High opens.
  • 1925 Washburn High School opens.
  • 1940 Patrick Henry Junior High becomes Patrick Henry High School.
  • 1940 Southwest High opens.
  • 1940 Minneapolis Board of Education drops the word "Side" from the title of the all Minneapolis High Schools.
  • 1967 Marshall & University High Schools merge.
  • 1976 Miller Vocational High closed.
  • 1982 Central High closed.
  • 1982 Marshall-University High closed.
  • 1982 West High School closed.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Date of the merger of Minneapolis and St. Anthony school boards [1]
  2. ^ MPS Facts 2006–2007. Minneapolis Public Schools. and About MPS. and Board of Education. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
  3. ^ Shah, Allie (2003-01-28), “Losing out to charter schools”, Star Tribune: Metro 1B, ISSN 0895-2825 
  4. ^ U.S. Department of Education. Largest Public School Districts in the United States 2002-2003. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  5. ^ a b Pugmire, Tim (2003-11-25). Charter school competition heats up in Minneapolis. Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
  6. ^ Walsh, James (2007-09-18), “A course in marketing”, Star Tribune: B1,B5, ISSN 0895-2825, <http://www.startribune.com/1592/story/1429213.html>. Retrieved on 6 November 2007 
  7. ^ a b Mador, Jessica (2007-04-11). Crowd urges school board to keep schools open. Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
  8. ^ Collins, Terry (2007-11-06). Plan for Minneapolis schools: Test scores up, achievement gap down. Star Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
  9. ^ Minnesota Department of Education THE CHOICE IS YOURS PROGRAM Retrieved on 2008-03-04
  10. ^ Collins, Terry (March 3, 2008), "Busing to suburbs didn't boost test scores", Star Tribune Retrieved on 2008-03-04
  11. ^ Diaz, Kevin (April 1, 2008), "Minneapolis schools get failing grade on dropouts", Star Tribune Retrieved on 2008-04-01
  12. ^ Board of Education. Minneapolis Public Schools. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also