Bill Kahn wrote: > The closing of Pratt School was as devastating to > Prospect Park in 1982 as it is likely to be should it > happen again.
I was not here in 1982, but I have trouble imaging how the closing of the Pratt Elementary School would currently "devastate" my neighborhood. Perhaps Mr. Kahn could explain his fears. > The building was saved then by a group of neighbors > with the help of MPS by keeping it open as > a Community Education Center managed by MPS Community > Education who presently budget $200,000 per year for this > purpose. Well saving the building was a laudable goal and I certainly hope that the building will continue to serve some function. One thing that other residents of Minneapolis should keep in mind is that Prospect Park has two community centers not more than an 1000 ft from each other. Pratt is one and Luxton is the other. As more than one person as stated to me, "I've always thought of Luxton as theirs and Pratt as our ours." "Theirs" meaning the minority residents of the Glendale Housing Project and "ours" as the more affluent and overwhelmingly White (Hill) residents of Prospect Park. It is true that the "Glendale residents" use Pratt for community education classes, but it is rare to see them integrating in proportional numbers into the community events so prized by The Hill residents at Pratt. That is not to say that one doesn't occasionally see a few Black faces in a sea of White. > While 80 students is small for a school but at the > end of the next school year enrollment should be well over > 100 when the final grade of the K-5 school component of the > Pratt Building programs that occupy every room of the building > year round--it is disingenuous for anyone to suggest > at this point that a program in an MPS building that is fully > utilized is being subsidized without any evidence (none surfaced > so far). I'll take that risk and in fact I'll put money on it. At a minimum it's just as disingenuous for the Supporters of Pratt to claim that the elementary school is not subsidized. I think that my opinion will be borne out by the facts and if not I will gladly apologize. > I am unaware of any potential buyers of the Pratt building > at this time and wish that Mr. Atherton would share this > information with the list as well as folks interested in > saving both the building and the school component. In the > over ten years that I have lived in Prospect Park, I am > unaware of anyone expressing an interest in this building > for anything but a school use; MPS policy is to raze school > buildings that are closed, and it is my understanding that, > until the neighborhood objected, this was the plan for Pratt. As far I understand it from the Tribune articles, it was never intended that Pratt be torn down, the District planned to sell the building. The property lot size is very small and I don't believe that it's worth much on it's own. If Mr. Kahn actually came to all of the Save Pratt sub-task force meetings he might be more knowledgeable. The co-chair of our neighborhood association's Zoning & Planning committee stated that there were two potential buyers: one a non-profit organization and the other a school. Of course, not having a tape recording of that meeting, I suppose that she can claim that she never said it. That's reality in Prospect Park, it's Truth here that's illus ional. > For those of you who are unfamiliar with our little > Prospect Park school tempest, I must apologize for these > exchanges and offer the explanation that emotions are a > bit frazzled here. Certainly a true statement. There are many people here on the Hill who are appalled that someone would actually challenge the misrepresentations being promoted by community members. It's very un-Minnesotan to blatantly tell the truth as opposed to going along with community mythology and power structure. > Michael Atherton has been involved in efforts to save > Pratt in his own unique way as an advocate for charter > schools. I think most school parents and neighbors accept > that a charter school on the Pratt site might well be an > acceptable outcome, but prefer a neighborhood school > operated by MPS within their system rather than as a charter, > an option that none of us are anxious to experiment with except > as a last resort, I believe. Do you want to know one of the primary concerns expressed in opposition to a charter school? Open Enrollment! Currently, children in Prospect Park are guaranteed a spot in Pratt, but if we were to change to a Charter then everyone in the city who applied would have an equal chance of being admitted. > In fact many of us believe that the charter school movement has > created much of the enrollment declines forcing the planned > closures of many MPS school buildings and programs, along with > the despicable under funding of urban schools. Do you know where most of the enrollment drops from come from? Predominately African American schools. And do you know why? Because Black parents don't believe that the MPS are doing a good job of educating their children. You want to hear some serious wining? Just suggest that White children be bused to schools in North to fill the seats vacated by African American children. Then (and probably only then) would White Parents begin to see the subtle racism that their inaction perpetuates. > I feel I must apologize to those of you on this list > having no interest in this rather miniscule Minneapolis issue; > even though it is an obscure part of the larger issue of > underfunding urban schools, it is very big indeed to > most Prospect Park residents. This is not a time small issue in Minneapolis. The school closings were big news, we are just detailing some of the issues and conflicts in one of the neighborhoods affected by the closings. It was Craig Cox, not me, who made the Historic Designation of Pratt a citywide issue. > I trust that you will give Mr. Atherton's posts your usual > regard on this topic as with others he posts on the list. > The emotions in our neighborhood could easily generate nearly > the volume of posts as the proposed tobacco bans, but I hope > they will not and end soon. I find these comments to be particularly discourteous and insulting, but also in keeping with the values of many of my neighbors. I've always wondered whether other neighborhoods of Minneapolis are as...well...unconcerned with truth, justice, and individual rights as the residents of Prospect Park. In a previous post Mr. Kahn criticized as superficial my comments about the Minneapolis Public Schools. I suppose that this may be simply the result of his lack of experience on the List. My values and opinions about education go far beyond the convenience of my own family and have been expressed here in detail for more than three years. Michael Atherton Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
