📚 After parent pressure, Hiawatha will no longer have the two largest first-grade classrooms in the district

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Parents of first graders at Hiawatha-Howe Community School, home to the two largest first-grade classrooms in the entire Minneapolis Public School system, got encouraging news last week when they learned that the district plans to soon add a third classroom teacher. The news came after mounting pressure from parents and teachers concerned about safety and education quality in the crowded rooms. 

It's an issue likely to become more frequent throughout the city as the school board wrestles with a daunting budget deficit. While much of the concern with the district’s financial woes has centered on possible closures of under-used schools, budget cuts have also meant losing classrooms at schools with steady enrollment, and rounding down the number of teachers when student levels fall in the awkward in-between zones. 

Despite having steady enrollment from last year, Hiawatha-Howe lost three classroom teachers. That meant reducing kindergarten, first grade, and fifth grade down to two classrooms each, despite a similar-sized group of students being split among three classes the year prior. The school also lost some support staff hours. 

That loss puts 35 first graders in one class and 34 in the other. And though the latest teacher’s contract caps first-grade classes at 28 students, those caps aren’t rigid. If a class size exceeds that number, the district isn’t required to add another class; its options include adding additional support staff or simply “other methods created collaboratively.”

In a statement, MPS said it’s "excited to see higher than projected enrollment at some sites, including Hiawatha” and that it evaluates its enrollment estimates in the fall and adjusts as needed. Last month, parents learned that the district did not plan to add a teacher, and would instead add one “Assistant Educator” to be shared between the two classrooms.

In response, a group of parents turned up the pressure on school administrators to add a third teacher. They coordinated an email writing campaign, attended two school board meetings, and spoke with the media. At the October 8 school board meeting, Abby Armstrong, one of 15 parents and teachers in attendance from Hiawatha-Howe, told board members, “I love our principal, I love our teachers, and it is painful to watch them on the road to burnout."  

The group had scheduled a meeting for the end of the month to discuss their next moves, which included a plan to bring 35 first graders to the November school board meeting to visually demonstrate a class of that size. They also considered withholding support for the $20 million technology levy MPS is requesting on the ballot next month.

But on Thursday, the district reversed course and announced that they’d be granting the request for the third teacher, which they say could be placed soon from a standing pool of teachers. Students will now be distributed into classes of about 23. Parents hope the new teacher will be in place in time for the start of the second quarter on November 6. 

With that win, school supporters have now turned their attention to the fifth-grade classes, which have 36 students apiece. Since 36 is the size cap for fifth grade, that likely won't mean another teacher, but they're lobbying the district to take the Assistant Educator position that had been earmarked for first grade and apply it to fifth grade instead.

To learn more, you can contact the Hiawatha-Howe PTO.