Parents Frustrated with school closure plan

A resolution to wait a year to close Minneapolis Public Schools is on the table after the community shared overwhelming feedback against the district’s school transformation plan.

The school board is expected to vote on the resolution at an upcoming school board meeting, as of deadline.

MPS staff and caregivers filled community meetings over two weeks, hosted by MPS leadership, sharing their questions and feedback. When Southwest Voices was present at the meetings, no comments were in support of the plan.

Parents primarily expressed concern about the closing of over a dozen schools. The district’s Comprehensive District Design in 2020 was also not popular with parents and led to a decrease in enrollment.

“A plan that closes schools that families would choose and moves kids to their third school in five years works against the one thing that would actually grow enrollment,” Robert Thesing, a Kenny Elementary parent and creator of stopthetransformation.com said. Thesing spoke at a crowded community meeting at the Southwest High School auditorium on Oct. 8.

Southwest and Washburn High School pathway plans, if voted through, include possible elementary school mergers. Parents expressed concern about how students would fit if the mergers were approved.

MPS Senior Operations Officer Tom Parent has directed people to the additional facility data posted on the school transformation webpage available at bit.ly/mpstransformation.

Southwest High School pathway
Option 1: Kenny Elementary would close and students would move to either Armatage or Windom based on home address; Lake Harriet Lower would close and students would move to Lake Harriet Upper

Option 2: Kenny would close and students would be split up between Armatage and Windom based on home address; Lake Harriet Lower would close and students would be split up between Lake Harriet Upper and Kenwood based on home address; Lake Harriet Upper Elementary students would be split up between Lake Harriet Upper and Kenwood based on home address

Option 3: Kenny would close and students would move to Armatage; Lake Harriet Upper Elementary students would be split up between Lake Harriet Upper and Kenwood based on home address; Lake Harriet Lower would close and students would be split up between Lake Harriet Upper and Kenwood based on home address.

Washburn High School pathway
Option 1: Field Elementary would close; attendance boundaries would shift for Barton, Burroughs, and Hale

Option 2: Field and Hale would merge at Hale Elementary (Field would close); no attendance boundaries changes

Option 3: Field would close and students would be split up between Barton and Hale based on home address; Hale students would be split up between Barton and Hale based on home address; Lyndale students would move to the South High School pathway and attend Andersen Middle School; most schools in the Washburn pathway would see an attendance boundary change.

If a school is not mentioned, no major changes are being proposed. Attendance boundaries will shift with many of these options.

Minneapolis Public Schools community members filled the John B. Davis Center meeting room on Sept. 15 as the school board listened to an opaque presentation from district administration on suggested school closures across the district.

The presentation came after three years of discussion and analysis of district buildings. A physical space study conducted in 2024 showed that half of the districts’ buildings were underutilized. The district estimated it could save about $45 million per year in operating costs by “right-sizing” its physical footprint in its 2023 pro forma.

The plan presented by MPS leadership was not designed to save money, as the resolution written by the school board did not direct the leadership to do so. At most the resolution states: “the transformation process must include analysis and planning of physical spaces, finances, programming, and community engagement.”

School board Directors Greta Callahan (District 6) and Sharon El-Amin (District 2) planned to introduce a resolution at the Oct. 13 school board meeting that will pause the school transformation plan for a year.