Attendees: Dean DeGroot, Carla Steinbach, Ann England, Jenny Arneson, Mandy Larson, Jenn Bennington, Mike Iacarella, John Vandermyde, Mike Minnema, John Washington, Bridget Altmann, Jamison Rusthoven, Kevin Reich, Charlita Williamson, Gretchen Tate, Julia Janousek, Penny Hinderaker, Kris Solz, Larry Umphrey, Tammy Rusnacko, Kurt Nowacki, Lloyd Winfield, Paul Werni, Shaun Wakarek, Liz Wielinski
Community Theater Initiative:
Macy Ashby couldn't make it tonight, but is willing to be a leader in the community theater initiative sub-committee.
Carla Steinbach, Edison Principal, is in the midst of putting together an Arts Council at Edison. She has a contact at Perpich that is working with her, but she would also like names of people that would good for her to contact in that regard. Please email suggestions to Carla at: carla.steinbach@mpls.k12.mn.us
Rod Nelson volunteered at our last meeting to put together a list of theater activities currently existing at NE schools. He has received information from Edison, Northeast Middle, and Waite Park, but not heard from Pillsbury or Sheridan. Representatives from those schools, please email Rod at: lerone01@comcast.net
Julia Janousek, who is a Marcy Open parent, provided the name of Marcy's parent liasian and Jenn Bennington will follow up with him to receive information about Marcy for Rod, and for the PEN blogsite in general.
John Vandermyde mentioned that Dave Larson, at the Guthrie, could bring something to the community theater group. John will provide Dave's contact information to Carla.
Laura McQuiston, a Pillsbury parent who attended our last meeting, is interested in being part of Community Theater Initiative sub-committee as well.
Community Theater Initiative Sub-Committee Leaders:
Macy Ashby - macyashby@hotmail.com
Laura McQuiston - Laura.McQuiston@anoka.k12.mn.
Bridget Altmann - bridget.altmann@mpls.k12.mn.us
Changing School Options (CSO) Update:
The school board asked district to figure out attendance boundaries prior to deciding about school changes, and to focus the CSO recommendations on closing the achievement gap. Dean DeGroot stated that now is the time to advocate for a vision for this region of the city. We have fewer schools in NE than the rest of the city. The only real feeder into Edison is Northeast Middle School (NEMS) and many of those kids choose to go to Henry in order to follow the IB program. Edison has fewer paths leading to it than any other high school in the city. In this regard, the last set of recommendations presented to the board appeared to be setting up Edison to fail. How can we plug more kids into Edison so that it can grow, thrive, & provide a well-rounded education that is attractive to local residents? This is a good time to gather ideas, Sheridan was left a "TBD" magnet school, with the NE community to provide input as to what sort of a school Sheridan will become. Right now, Sheridan has a Global Arts focus which serves primarily residents of North rather than Northeast. Providing greater connections and pathways between Sheridan and Edison are needed.
Jenny Arneson and Tammy Rusnacko pointed out that families in North need to be part of the conversation about Sheridan's future. Sheridan is a K-8 that has not been "pathed" to any specific high school in the city. Northeast residents tend to head to South HS from Sheridan. Tammy mentioned that busing changes could effect kids at Sheridan in that most of them will not end up at Edison because 70% of them live in North Minneapolis. Conversations need to happen with both Sheridan and Marcy Open about pathways to Edison.
Julia Janousek, a Marcy parent, said that the Edison Arts Council is a good idea, and will pair well with the Northeast community, Sheridan & Marcy. The Marcy Arts Partnership would also be a good contact for Edison's Arts Council. With NE Minneapolis having the only designated Arts District in the city, and Edison being the closest high school to it, art avenues would appear to be a great connection.
Kevin Reich commented that parents of younger children are the easier to talk with about their eventual high school destination (Edison vs. South) from Marcy Open. Linking the programs with extra-curricular opportunities will make the decision a simple one.
Tammy said that strengthening attendance boundaries, however, may be the only way to change a school's reputation and culture - once people enter the school and discover the reality of it rather than the rumors, its reputation changes. She pointed to the changing perception of Washburn High as an example. Dean DeGroot brought up the idea of conducting a survey about high school options of Northeast students, specifically focusing on the importance of curricular and extra-curricular offerings in making school choices.
John Washington, Director of Athletics for MPS, stated that a student survey is already done every three years about athletics. The results will be made available to PEN.
Sports in Northeast Discussion:
Jenny Arneson facilitated a discussion about what athletics pathways currently exist in Northeast, and where there might be gaps in these pathways. The challenge that presents itself is that we loose kids to St. Anthony because of what is seen as increased vigor at a young age. There seems to be a conflict between participatory and competitive programs, Minneapolis Park & Recreation focusing more on the former.
Paul Werni spoke up about wrestling as an excellent example: The Park/Rec programs can be limited because athletes end up competing against the same kids over and over. Maybe a "united" team that could compete against other teams and would raise competition and retain kids in the city? Northeast park/rec programs tend to loose kids at about age 11/12 because St. Anthony Middle School has a wrestling program, and Northeast Middle School does not.
John Washington explained there is no more funding from the sports commission, which is why we have trouble maintaining or starting middle school teams.
It was largely agreed by representatives of athletic programming that the Parks/Rec programs are a great way to get kids started in sports, as participatory programs. However, kids want to compete at a more advanced level in the schools, so we must create a pyramid-style pathway for those opportunities to exist withing the community. It may seem that we loose kids when they begin middle school, but actually 4th/5th grade is when we begin to loose them because they begin to look ahead to sports and school pathways at that age. St. Anthony has a clear pathway for those kids in a variety of sports, and NE Minneapolis does not. This table shows some of the sports currently available in NE and where there appears to be a gap/break in the logical pathway for students:
| Sport | Pre-K (age 3-4) | Early Elementary (age 5-7) | Middle Elementary (age 8-11) | Middle School (age 12-14) | High School (age 15 - 18) |
| Wrestling | Park/Rec | Park/Rec | Edison | ||
| Hockey | Association | Park/Rec Association | Park/Rec (small) Association | Park/Rec | Park/Rec Combined school team |
| Soccer | Park/Rec | Park/Rec NE/SE | Park/Rec NE/SE | Park/Rec NE/SE | Park/Rec Edison |
| Football | Park/Rec (flag) | Park/Rec (?) | Park/Rec (?) NEMS | Park/Rec (?) Edison | |
| Baseball | Park/Rec | Park/Rec NE Boosters | Park/Rec NE Boosters NEMS | Park/Rec NE Boosters Edison | |
| Softball | Park/Rec | Park/Rec NEMS | Park/Rec Edison | ||
| Track/CC | Hosp. House* | Hosp. House* | Hosp. House* Park/Rec | Hosp. House* Park/Rec | Hosp. House* Edison |
| Tennis | Park/Rec | Park/Rec | Park/Rec Edison | Park/Rec Edison | |
| Basketball | Park/Rec | Park/Rec | Park/Rec | Park/Rec NEMS | Park/Rec Edison |
| Volleyball | Park/Rec | NEMS | Edison |
*Hospitality House Youth Directions, Inc. is a non-profit, church-based organization in North Minneapolis that offers competitive athletic opportunities for neighborhood youth.
Lloyd Winfield said that right now they in the process of hiring a new athletic director at NEMS.
Jamison Rusthoven talked about how Edison is adding athletic opportunities and he is working to create the same type of successful program in the NE community as the one he put together at Southwest High School and that neighborhood. The marketing of Edison's athletic offerings will begin next year.
Mandy Larson pointed out that student athletes can create coaching connections through the parks, and that her tennis players at Edison have done so already. Getting older students into elementary schools makes a big impact.
It was decided that middle school age is site of the main gaps, where we need more parent involvement. NEMS and Edison athletic directors need to know where to recruit, so would like a list of what is happening around Area A when it comes to athletics.
ACTION ITEMS:
- Identify who is doing what with athletics. Jenny Areneson will collect names and contact information of coaches/athletic directors from all sports. Please email this information to her at: thearnesons@att.net
- John Washington will get survey data to Dean DeGroot.
- Mike Iacarella and John Vandemyde said that Edison Sports Foundation could produce funding for mailing/marketing purposes regarding NE athletics.
- Jamison Rusthoven will use the information gathered by Jenny to make connections with existing programs so that Northeast student athletes will only see one path: the path to Edison.
- Attend the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board meeting at Bottineau Park on June 3, 5:30 pm. See attached flyer for more details.PEN needs your help! A few people are needed to step up and get involved with the planning process and commit to a role of leader. If you are on this e-mail list, you must have a passion for NE schools. Keep our efforts strong and get involved! Contact Dean about your interest: 612-789-9596 or email: deand@visi.com
“Fun & Events Calendar”: Each school will provide a listing of musical, sport, theatrical, and other fun events on one master calendar for the community. This listing of activities will now be both emailed on the present email list (over 215 names) as well as on Facebook and our blogsite: http://publicedne.blogspot.
Future Considerations/next meeting:
PEN will meet on Monday, June 15 at 6:30 – 8 PM, location TBA. The agenda: Changing School Options: NE Area Academic Needs. We’re hoping to have Bernadeia Johnson and other Chiefs and Area Superintendents available.
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