New Timeline from MPS for Changing School Options decision-making

Below you will find the letter from Dr. Green and Tom Madden about the new timeline for making Changing School Options (CSO) recommendations & decisions. At the Area A meeting last night (May 21), reactions to the new timeline were voiced to Willie Fort, our Area A Assistant Superintendent. The majority of parents attending the meeting seemed to feel that waiting until September to resume community-input was not going to give the district and the board time enough to react to community feedback before the high school recruiting season begins in October. What do you think? (click the "comments" link at the bottom of this post to respond)


May 21, 2009

Extending the Timeline for Changing School Options: Building a plan that will bring the hope and promise of a better school system for all of our students

The Board of Education and the leaders of the Minneapolis Public Schools’ administration are working collaboratively to revise the recommendations for “Changing School Options,” originally submitted by the administration to the Board on April 28, 2009. Board members and the administration are on common ground and are working together to further develop the best recommendation possible to right-size the district, given current financial realities and the shared desire to create a major urban school district that offers academic excellence for all students in all schools and is also financially sustainable over the long haul. The Board of Education has raised a number of questions related to the administration’s original recommendation, and the administration is now revising the plan and evaluating the impact of each of these changes with the Board. The administration is taking the next six weeks to analyze the impacts of the affected school communities and to draw the proposed attendance boundaries for the District. This preparation will provide time for the board and administration to fully collaborate in refining changes for the final plan recommendation. To complete the cycle of community engagement on the plan, we will reconvene with the community after school starts in the fall. We anticipate a Board vote on the plan at the end of September. Revised recommendations will include: variations as needed; actual boundaries for all schools; race, cultural and economic impact statements for plan elements; decisions on types of magnets in each zone; recommendations for transportation parameters and cost savings expected throughout the district with the revised plan. And of course, woven throughout the final recommendation will be the academic underpinning of the Strategic Plan and strategies to continue our progress on graduating every student from the Minneapolis Public Schools “College Ready” by 2012. We believe we can still make a final decision that will allow us to implement changes in fall 2010, involve staff and families in transition planning and capitalize on the cost savings for the 2010-2011 school year. We know this extended timeline means living with some uncertainty a little while longer, but we also believe the community wants us to get this right. Board, administration, families and community working together can do it. Please bear with us while we build the foundation for a brighter future for our students. This challenging work process has shown us we all share the same goal: a plan that will bring the hope and promise of a better school system and higher academic achievement for all of our students. Thank you.

Thomas Madden Chairman of the Board

Dr. William Green Superintendent of Schools