As MPS weighs school closures, can a new plan boost enrollment?

As MPS weighs school closures, can a new plan boost enrollment? Pilar Pedraza KSTP As MPS weighs school closures, can a new plan boost enrollment? Ever since Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) announced plans to close 15 to 16 school buildings and consolidate students into fewer schools in the face of declining enrollment, the teachers’ union and a lot of parents have said they would prefer the district come up with a brand-new transformation plan designed to bring more kids into the schools.But is it possible for a school to grow enrollment right now, as birth rates decline and school choice expands?“The bucket of students (is) getting smaller and smaller. So can we increase enrollment? Yes, but if you’re going to increase enrollment, you’re just taking it from somewhere else,” said Dr. Renee Sbrocco Corneille, executive director of the Educational Leadership, Practice and Policy department at the University of Minnesota.Increasing enrollment, though, would involve a word Dr. Corneille says school leaders don’t like to use. “We don’t like to call it competition. We don’t like that predatory marketing. We’re never going to do that,” she said.Instead, the former superintendent said, schools concentrate on getting the word out about what they do well in order to attract students.“What we end up doing in schools is really being good at what you’re good at,” she explained. “And being able to be a place for families and students to find a place where they can belong.”Over the last couple of decades, that’s meant an emphasis on magnet programs, especially STEM and dual language immersion, and the neighborhood school.“Those have been really ticket items for a long time,” she said.She added that there is no easy solution when enrollment can no longer fill all the school buildings in a district.“There’s no right answer to it. It’s going to make people feel uncomfortable no matter the answer you choose,” Dr. Corneille said.Research shows that closing schools can have negative consequences for students, such as increased bullying and poorer performance, especially for already low-performing students and students of color. Closures can also have negative impacts on entire communities, from community cohesion to property values.Dr. Corneille said that, as cold as it might seem, the answer often comes down to dollars and cents for the district.“If I put on my superintendent hat, I have to say I have to be a fiscal steward of what happens with our community and our dollars that come, and to run a district that doesn’t have the numbers to allow for the funding to come in, and I’m running on a deficit? That’s not appropriate. You know? It’s irresponsible.”