North High group seeks assurance

Supporters of North High School have issued a set of requests to the Minneapolis school district in hopes of propping up the 122-year-old institution while district leaders make plans for its replacement.

The North High Community Coalition e-mailed letters to school board members urging them, during Tuesday night's meeting, to restate their intent to keep North open and also to abolish the 125-student requirement to retain a freshman class next fall at the school, 1500 James Av. N.

Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson thus far has refused to budge on the freshman enrollment mandate.

Although the board will not vote on the matter Tuesday, the North High group has valid concerns, Board President Jill Davis said.

"We are committed to that high school," Davis said. "We can do better in showing it."

With more than 80 seniors set to graduate from North this year, the lack of a freshman class could speed the school's decline in enrollment, which plummeted to fewer than 280 students last fall.

Fewer students mean fewer class options and possibly fewer parents willing to commit to North in the long term, said Kale Severson, president of the North High Alumni Association.

Despite the struggles to recruit students to the current North, the district is moving forward with plans for a new North, set to open as a 500-student magnet school in fall 2012.

The district has not determined whether the school will be relocated; those discussions, with comments from residents and students, are to begin in several weeks, Superintendent Johnson has said.

A public meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at North High to hear presentations from three firms bidding to lead the design process.

The group also wants the district to create an attendance zone for North, making it the default high school for neighborhood students. Under current policy, students who live nearby, even across the street from North, attend Edison or Henry high schools unless they specifically choose to enroll at North.

With Principal Birch Jones returning to retirement before the end of the school year, North's supporters also want the search for his replacement to start immediately, with the goal of hiring a new school leader before the end of March.