St. Paul schools hold off on changing Homecroft

By James Walsh, Star Tribune

Last update: December 19, 2007 - 4:23 PM

A proposal to remake St. Paul's Homecroft Elementary School into an alternative education and special education center for older students was pulled off the table Tuesday night in order to give school officials and the community time to come up with a viable elementary program.

St. Paul schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen made the change in her recommendation, offering parents, the community and school officials the next several months to come up with something that will keep the tiny school as a place to send elementary students. Homecroft has long struggled to attract children from its immediate neighborhood. And chronically low test scores prompted Carstarphen to recommend discontinuing Homecroft as an elementary school next fall.

But Carstarphen's earlier recommendation to put programs for junior high and high school alternative and special education students into the building instead drew strong neighborhood opposition. Parents and neighbors also criticized the process, saying they'd had little notice and no input into the idea.

So, Tuesday night, she suggested that the community and the school district get together to come up with a better plan by spring. Any interested community members are invited to attend a meeting on Monday, Jan. 7, to begin setting up the process.

"For what it's worth, I would love to see Homecroft a community school," Carstarphen said.

Several community members praised the second chance Tuesday night.

"I want to thank you folks for giving us a lifeline for Homecroft School," said Andrew Fabio, a longtime neighbor and parent at the school. "Hopefully, it's long enough to make a difference."

Still, the school board did vote to eliminate the Homecroft attendance area and end the current program. The students who go to Homecroft now -- including those in two language programs -- will be sent to other schools next year. That is, unless they choose to attend whatever program Homecroft can come up with in the next few months. The job now is to find a new program to fill the space in time for parents to choose the school in the spring. If not, it could still become a special education school in time for fall 2008.

In addition, the school board approved the following school changes:

Farnsworth Aerospace Elementary and Cleveland Middle School will become a dual campus pre-K through 8 aerospace program, starting next fall. Younger kids will be at Farnsworth, older students at Cleveland.