Dateline Minneapolis: Pratt faces threat of closure -- again

When Minneapolis public schools announced a series of community meetings in February to discuss changes in its "school options," most of us knew what was ahead: painful school closings and boundary changes around the city.

Last week the proposed changes were officially unveiled at a packed school board meeting filled mostly with parents from two of the four schools slated to close in time for the 2010-11 school year -- Pratt Community School, a K-5 elementary in southeast, and Northrop Urban Environmental School, a K-5 magnet in south Minneapolis.

Northrop would become a community school and move into the space vacated by Folwell Middle School in south Minneapolis after it closes. Longfellow Community School, a K-5 elementary in south Minneapolis, would also close.

The recommendation submitted last week would close Pratt outright after the 2009-10 school year. It is the district's smallest school with about 180 students. According to the restructuring plan, Minneapolis public schools seeks to ensure adequate-size programs to increase efficiency.

For elementary schools, the district's goal is to operate at least 24 to 25 classrooms and three sections of kindergarten in each building. School board members will vote on the plan May 26.

The current plan represents the third attempt to close Pratt. District leaders recommended that the board close Pratt in 2004 and again in 2007 along with Tuttle Elementary in southeast and five north Minneapolis schools. Each time Pratt supporters flooded the district with shows of support and the closure was averted.

Last week, Pratt parents and community members said they've had enough of the threats. Kristyn Anderson, a parent representative on Pratt's staff-parent site council, said the latest attempt to close the school emerged in late March and sent shock waves through the community.

Pratt is situated in the Prospect Park neighborhood in the southeastern corridor of Minneapolis, near the University of Minnesota campus. Anderson said Pratt has an almost endless supply of qualified volunteers from the U and nonprofit agencies, and its enrollment could grow with more time and support. She is the mother of a Pratt first-grader and kindergartner and said she wants to send her youngest child to the school in a few years as well.

"I can't imagine sending my kids somewhere else." Her oldest daughter is "learning in an environment that reflects the world she lives in," Anderson said. "Because it's a small school, everyone can get the individualized attention they need, and that's so important for at risk-students."

Board Member Chris Stewart also has questioned closing smaller schools like Pratt that have made progress with low-income students and enjoy broad community support.

By most measures, it's also one of the city's most racially and socioeconomically diverse elementary schools. Anne Wade, Pratt's site administrator, said the school's demographics are as follows: 30 percent African-American, 30 percent African immigrant, 24 percent white, 8 percent Asian, 7 percent American Indian and 1 percent Latino students.

Pratt absorbed some Tuttle Elementary students after it closed two years ago, and its percentage of students who live in poverty jumped by about 30 percent to more than 68 percent. According to the state Department of Education, Pratt didn't meet state testing benchmarks for all of its students in reading in 2008, but it did meet those goals for math.

Said Anderson: "In terms of how we're going to go forward, we're an organized group. The fact that we were able to get so many people to [the board meeting] on short notice is testament to that. We're going to get the word out that Pratt is worth keeping and it works."