A sojourn through the storm

The roof peeled back like the plastic on a microwave dinner tray, windswept garages littered the playground and shattered windows left trails of broken glass on classroom carpeting.

Sojourner Truth Academy was in a shambles.

The charter school met the full wrath of the tornado that swept through north Minneapolis last month, leaving at least a half million dollars in damage to the building in its wake.

That doesn't include the cost of ruined books, school supplies and technology, such as SmartBoards, which can cost thousands of dollars each.

Sojourner Truth had a year of highs and lows. In the fall, the school celebrated curriculum director Jennifer Mitchell receiving the $25,000 Milken Educator Award.

Now, after the tornado, the staff and students face another threat that could slow its recovery: The state government shutdown.

The building, a former parochial school owned by St. Bridget's Catholic Church, was insured and already is being repaired, but the state's budget battle could hamper the restoration of classrooms if an agreement isn't reached by month's end.

To make ends meet, Principal Julie Guy and her board of directors may be forced to tap a line of credit with their bank and rely on the charity of social service agencies if a shutdown occurs.

The countdown looms as she and her staff seek to reassure hundreds of Minneapolis and northern suburban families that Sojourner Truth will reopen in the fall. Despite the uncertainty, the school is still targeting Aug. 22 as its first day of school.

"A lot of things are still up in the air," Guy said last week. "If the community senses that we're in trouble, that could have a huge impact."

Pillsbury United Communities, the agency that authorizes Sojourner Truth, is confident the school will rebound.

"They see this as an opportunity of 'How do we demonstrate resiliency?'" president and CEO Chanda Smith Baker said.

The school's tornado damage abruptly shortened its school year.

Less than three hours after the tornado touched down, Guy decided to close the school at 38th and Emerson for the year, giving students a five-day early start to their summer vacation.

Not all students were pleased about the extra days off. Scheduled field trips were cancelled, and Guy called off the kindergarten graduation. But the school plans to host it in August or September, possibly during a mid-August open house.

Under state law, the school or staff won't have to make up that final week of classes. Minnesota schools that opened after 1997, including many of the state's charter schools, are not bound by classroom time requirements. Sojourner opened a year later.

State law requires that schools operate for at least the same number of school days that were on their calendars during the 1996-97 school year, but there are no penalties for schools that don't meet those requirements, either.

Last year, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty tried to mandate a minimum number of school hours per year that all schools must reach, but the effort failed. The issue wasn't revived in this legislative session.

Living at the school?

When some of the kindergarten students saw the school's post-tornado condition, they feared for their teachers' lives, Jennifer Mitchell said.

"Some kids think we live here at the school," she said.

In November, Mitchell wept tears of joy in the school gymnasium when she won the Milken award, the "Oscar of teaching."

When Mitchell surveyed the destruction at Sojourner Truth, she cried again.

"It was a shocking ride in to work," she said. "It has been one heckuva year, from the good to the bad."