Clara Barton Open School

MPS Strategic Plan Recommendations

On Tuesday, November 6, Minneapolis Public School released this news communication summarizing the recommendations to the Board and announcing community meetings (the Area C meeting is on Monday, November 26, 6-8 pm at Jefferson (26th & Hennepin)).  For more information, including the school board presentation and audio, see the Minneapolis Public Schools site. 

Contact Peggy Clark (clarkpeggy@comcast.net), our District Parent Advisory Council representative, with your comments about the points identified.

Nov. 8 Area C Forum

Please plan to attend the next Area C Parent Forum Thursday, November 8th from 6:30 - 8:30 at Anwatin Middle School.  The agenda includes Anwatin IB Program, Safe Routes to School, Strategic Planning Update, and High School Q & A.  For more information or for a printable flyer, click here. 

Parent Book Group

Join other Barton parents on Thursday, November 1st in the media center from 5:30 to 7:30 PM to talk about how to deal with grief and loss.  When our families and communities experience loss, we respond generously but often don't know what to do to be helpful or how to deal with our own fears and those of our children.  The book we will discuss is What Children Need When they Grieve by Julia Wilcox Rathkey, a mother of three whose husband died on 9/11 in New York.

Often not in stock, it can be ordered from local bookstores.  Used copies are $6 or less from Amazon.com.  Two loaner copies are available. 

This will be a potluck so bring something to share.  Childcare provided for ages 5 and older.  Tentative topics for future groups:  January or February, Mean Girls, Raising Ophelia, or similar book on understanding gossip and cliques.  April:  how to keep kids safe but still allow them to learn independence.

To RSVP, arrange childcare, share your ideas or get more information, email LisaKugler@aol.com or call 827-2189.

Math Adoption Open House

Families, students, teachers and community members are invited to a Math Adoption Open House.  This is an opportunity to review and provide feedback on the elementary and middle school math programs currently being piloted in Minneapolis public schools.  There are three sessions on different dates in October and early November.  Click here for more information and a printable flyer.

Area C Parent Forum, Thursday, October 11th

Please plan to attend the Area C Parent Forum this Thursday, October 11th from 6:30 - 8:30 at Lake Harriet Upper Campus.  The agenda includes DPAC Elections and High School Q & A.  For more information or for a printable flyer, click here.

Visiting Barton

To Prospective Parents:

You are welcome to visit Barton Open School at any time.  Our school day starts at 7:30 AM.  Students are dismissed at 1:45 PM.  Morning kindergarten is scheduled from 7:30 to 10:15 AM.  The afternoon kindergarten session runs from 11:00 AM to 1:45 PM. 

There are parent-led tours arranged for you starting in November.  If the school tour times don’t fit your schedule, please come when you can.  If you visit outside the tour times, you are asked to check-in through the main office.  We will give you a name tag and a map of the school.  You are welcome to visit as many classrooms and grade levels as you want.  The advantage of the tour is that you will have time to ask questions.  If you visit on your own, you are always welcome to call the principal after your visit if you have unanswered questions about the open school program.

The Barton School tour schedule is as follows:

Thursday, November 8 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, November 13 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, November 29 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, December 6 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, December 11 (8:30 AM)

Saturday, January 12 (9 AM to 2 PM)           MPS K-8 School Information Fair

Tuesday, January 15 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, January 17 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, January 29 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, January 31 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, February 5 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, February 7 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, February 12 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, February 21 (8:30 AM)

You are encouraged to contact the school at 612-668-3580 to let us know what day you would like to visit and/or what day you would like to join a school tour. If there are any schedule changes that could influence your visitation, we would let you know at that time.

The District Wide K-8 School Information Fair is scheduled for Saturday, January 12, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency downtown Minneapolis.  The school fair runs from 9 AM to 2 PM.

School Request Cards for the 2008-2009 school year are due on February 29, 2008.  The cards will be available at any Minneapolis School following the School Information Fair and should be mailed directly to the district’s Student Placement Center.

Mark Loesch Memorial Fund

A memorial fund has been set up by Mark's employer for the Loesch family.  Donations can be sent to:

Mark Loesch Memorial Fund
Associated Bank
C/O Mary Cisewski
5353 Wayzata Blvd
St. Louis Park, MN   55416

High School Transformation Plan

At the September 10th District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) meeting, Superintendent Green and Board Chair Pam Costain acknowledged that high school transformation was front and center on the list of pressing issues, along with strategic planning and facilities reuse.  They will be seeking parent advice on the High School Transformation Plan at our DPAC meeting on October 22, and the administration will be presenting several options for Board consideration on October 23.  There may be substantive changes for 08-09 beyond the elimination of entrance requirements and clarified placement processes for oversubscribed small learning communities (SLC's), with the primary goal a reduction in inequities in high school offerings.  Ideas generated at the September and October Area C Parent Forums could be included in the discussion DPAC has with the Superintendent on October 22nd. Although the Board presentation occurs on October 23, it may be several weeks after that before a decision is rendered.

The two high school s in Area C, Southwest and Washburn, have both citywide and attendance area SLC's.  In addition, many Barton students attend South Liberal Arts or Open, which is in Area B.  For more information on SLC's available to your child, see the this site for SLC's available and a map (SEE MAP), or this site that identifies high school attendance area by street address.  We currently have three oversubscribed high school programs popular with Area C students: Southwest IB, South Open, and South Liberal Arts.  Craig Vana is scheduled to address placement policies in these programs at the upcoming Area C Parent Forums. So, please take the opportunity to attend an area council parent forum this year:

Weds, Sept 19 -- Anthony Middle School
Thurs, Oct 11 -- Lake Harriet Upper
Thurs, Nov 8 -- Anwatin Middle School
Thurs, Dec 6 -- Ramsey Fine Arts

All meetings are 6:30-8:30, child care is provided, and translation is available upon request.

Click to view the Plan for High School Transformation - Phase 2.  This document was developed after the June 28, 2007 Supreme Court decision that race cannot be used by public school districts in making student placements to balance school demographics.  DPAC members received this handout at the August meeting.  The time line is somewhat outdated.  School choice materials will be developed after the Board's decision on high school programming in late October or early November.  We expect to hear specific dates of open houses and choice material due dates presented at the September 19 meeting.

Leadership Council Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the first Leadership Council meeting of the year have been posted to this site.  Look for them throughout the year on the right hand side of this page under Council Minutes.

The longest discussion concerned the council budget for the 07-08 school year.  The 07-08 council budget will allocate the proceeds from last year's fund-raising events and donations.  A few high priority, immediate needs were approved, however the bulk of the budget will be decided at the next meeting on Thursday, September 27th. 

Letter on High School Transformation and Strategic Plan

The following letter was distributed to the District Board Advisory Council in April:

Board of Directors:

We have been having many conversations across this district around High Schools and their future in the Minneapolis Public Schools.  These conversations began in early 2006.  Since then, there have been a number of leadership changes; most notably at the School Board level.  Along with those changes has come the belief that major change in this district should, whenever possible, be the result of implementing a Strategic Plan.

On Tuesday, May 1st, the Minneapolis Board of Education will discuss the strategic planning process.  As the board moves forward with strategic planning, the administration will await further direction on High School Reform and will refrain from further inter-district High School Transformation efforts (i.e., programmatic planning efforts like IB at Washburn).

We will continue moving toward the removal of Small Learning Community entrance requirements for the 2008-2009 SY as is federally mandated.  Recent conversations with the federal grant providers around any requests to postpone the removal of SLC entrance requirements were met with the consequence of that being a $2.8 million loss for the 2007-2008 SY High School Budget.

We look forward to the Strategic Plan providing the framework for how the high schools in Minneapolis will look without entrance requirements.  Please know that we are committed to the academic success of every high school student and future high school student in this city.  And we believe the Strategic Plan will provide a framework for the administration to move forward on this in a much more transparent and systemic way.

Thank you,

William D. Green, Superintendent

Bernadeia Johnson, Chief Academic Officer

Minneapolis Public Schools