Saint Paul Public Schools begins dialogue with West Side community about the future of Humboldt Junior High School
Saint Paul, Minn.- Saint Paul Public Schools last week held the first in a series ofthree meetings this month regarding the future of Humboldt Jr. HighSchool. In a staff meeting and at a West Side community leadersmeeting, Superintendent Meria Carstarphen and Humboldt Junior HighPrincipal Tim Williams outlined the status of the school and optionsbeing considered for making changes to revitalize it.
A publicmeeting on Wednesday, October 15, at 5:30 p.m. at Humboldt Junior Highwill be held with school families, West Side residents and Humboldtsupporters to share the same information and broaden the dialogue.
Thechanges being discussed for Humboldt Junior High are tied to two keyissues affecting school districts across the state of Minnesota: Theschool's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status according to the federalNo Child Left Behind Law and the structural changes needed in theschool district as a whole due to the decline of the city's school-agepopulation. Humboldt Junior's AYP status was recently changed to"Pre-Restructuring," which requires the school and district to makeintensive and far-reaching interventions to revamp the operation andgovernance of the school.
The options below are being consideredfor Humboldt Junior High. They are part of a year-long conversation andstudy into large-scale system changes throughout the district:
· significant changes in current staff and governance;
· further development of the Environmental Studies Program;
· continue seeking a strategy/partner to stabilize and increase enrollment, as well as provide long-term stable funding;
· possible expansion of grades served to include grade six.
Thelarge-scale changes are needed district-wide to ensure the futuresuccess of the school district and the students it serves. West Sideschools are among the first schools being studied as the schooldistrict begins its comprehensive assessment of schools district-wide.
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