MINNEAPOLIS — Parents in the Minneapolis Public Schools heard details about the district's five-model "Comprehensive District Design" plan for the first time on Monday evening, during a listening session with district administration before a packed crowd at Northeast Middle.
The Comprehensive District Design, in the works for almost 18 months now, is a complicated plan that broadly aims to improve racial equity, close the achievement gap, desegregate school buildings, reduce concentrations of poverty and boost enrollments in places like North Minneapolis. The newest generation of the plan, consisting of the five models, will be presented to school board members during committee on Tuesday evening.
Four of the five models would centralize magnet schools in the city and could drastically reshape school boundaries, leading to an emphasis on "community schools" that keep neighborhoods and their schools together. Due to the population structure of the city of Minneapolis, district officials believe the community school model would help further integrate schools along racial and socioeconomic lines.
"This is an urgent conversation, one that's been needed for many, many years," superintendent Ed Graff said. "When two-thirds of your population are students of color, and they're not getting those needs met, it's time to do things differently."
Although the boundaries are just one aspect of a complex plan — one that also looks at school programming, transportation costs, etc. — they are among the most controversial changes under consideration. One study estimates that as many as 63% of K-8 students might change schools under new boundaries.
Khulia Pringle, a family advocate with the Minnesota Parent Union, said there's been a lack of communication between district officials and parents about what the plan would mean. She represents 600 families of color, and many of them are asking them questions such as: 'I don't know what this means. I don't know if I should be excited, if I should support this plan, if I'm not supposed to support this plan.'
Pringle said she respects the plan's attempt to decrease segregation and reduce concentrated poverty, but she remains somewhat skeptical.
"Overall goals, yes, but to market this as an equity plan, I think is a mischaracterization of the plan." Pringle said.
Pringle supports a "priority enrollment" model that would instead allow students in low-performing schools to choose to enroll at high-performing schools across the city.
In recent stories, parents have told KARE 11 they are worried about the plan's impact on magnet schools, as well as the overall boundary changes.
However, some parents applaud the plan as a worthy endeavor. Abdullahi Abdi, a parent of five children in the Minneapolis Public Schools and a member of the Somali Parent Advisory Council, said wholesale changes are imperative.
"The gap between white and non-white students is really wide," Abdi said. "The current model is not serving anybody."
Abdi came to Northeast Middle — where two of his kids attend — on Monday evening to learn more about the district's plan.
"The district has been listening to parents and that, in my view, has been a positive," Abdi said. "We really want to improve everybody's results."
After the board sees the five-model plan in committee on Tuesday, the superintendent anticipates an official proposal to the board in March and a vote as early as April.