📚 Mid-October rundown: School closures won't happen next year

Proposed closures to Hiawatha, Howe, and Longfellow Alternative schools are no longer in the works, at least for next school year.

The Minneapolis Public Schools board voted last night to scrap its controversial "transformation" plan, which identified as many as 16 schools to close across the city next school year.

The proposals drew intense backlash when unveiled last month, especially after the district clarified that the plans would provide little cost savings amid its high-profile budget issues. (Officials say the purpose of consolidating was to provide more consistent services and programming across its schools, more than half of which have enrollment under 70 percent of their capacity.) In the neighborhood, more than 150 people showed up to Longfellow Park on September 24 to discuss the plan, and other groups protested outside of district information sessions at South High and Roosevelt High. Last week the Longfellow Community Council board issued a letter urging the district to delay the vote.

At the risk of too much procedural detail: The school board had been scheduled to vote on the proposals on November 10. Opponents of the closures had been pushing to delay that vote, in part because a new crop of union-aligned school board members is expected to win seats on the board next month. A group of board members were expected to introduce a motion to delay the vote at last night's regular board meeting. But before that could happen, Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams opened the discussion by suggesting the board scrap the closure plans based on public feedback, apparently to the surprise of board members. The board eventually voted unanimously not to proceed with any closures or consolidations. Sayles-Adams warned the board that near-term changes would still be necessary in the next budget cycle.

That should leave school boundaries the same in the neighborhood for next school year, with elementary students assigned to either Dowling or Hiawatha-Howe as their community school. Dowling students proceed to Andersen Middle and South High, while Hiawatha-Howe feeds to Sanford Middle and Roosevelt High.

The future home of Anishinabe Academy remains an open question. Earlier this year the school board approved a plan to build a new facility for the Native American magnet school on the site of the shuttered Cooper School. But two weeks ago, district planners announced they were considering an alternative site, the Wilder Complex near Powderhorn Park, where a 75-student magnet high school was set to close under all three transformation proposals. The Anishinabe project's steering committee is scheduled to present a recommendation to the school board next week, though it is now unclear whether the Wilder Complex remains a viable option. A district planner said the team will reconvene this week to determine the next steps.

🍁 Fall street sweeping starts next week. The neighborhood's east-west streets south of Lake Street will be swept next Wednesday and Thursday, with most north-south avenues the following week. Most streets north of Lake Street are scheduled for the week of November 2. Street parkers should keep an eye on this map to avoid getting towed. And if most of the leaves on your street fall after the sweepers have come by — which appears to be in the cards for many blocks this year — you can request a second pass via 311.

🔥 The Park Board will conduct a handful of prescribed burns throughout Minnehaha Park in the coming weeks, though the exact dates will be determined by weather. Those involve workers corralling a controlled fire through a natural area, in an effort to clear out invasive species and refresh wildlife habitat. The Park Board conducted a series of the burns along West River Parkway and the 36th Street Oak Savannah last year.

🚧 Another lane closure at 46th and Hiawatha went into effect this week: Through mid-November, drivers can no longer turn right from Hiawatha onto eastbound 46th Street. The closures also prevent crossing Hiawatha in either direction. It's still possible to turn either direction onto Hiawatha from westbound 46th Street, though the left-turn lane will close on November 2. It's still possible to cross the intersection on bike or foot. Work is expected to wrap up sometime in December.

• Read more: 46th and Hiawatha intersection will be reworked next year (April 2025)

🚿 The Valiance, a homeless shelter and affordable housing complex at 28th Street and 27th Avenue, has begun offering weekly drop-in hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-12:30. Visitors can access showers, laundry, hygiene supplies, a medical care truck, and a meal. The nonprofit Agate Housing and Services opened the facility on the site of the old China Wok and three neighboring lots last year. It contains 54 shelter beds and 50 apartment units. The group is also looking for volunteers at the shelter.

• Read more: Agate breaks ground on emergency shelter, affordable housing project on 27th Ave (June 2024)

🗳️ A group calling themselves the "South Cooper Democracy Defense" is hosting an early voting party on October 20 from 5-7 at Longfellow Park Community Center, featuring an election judge and kid-friendly activities.