Updates

On WCCO: the district has not reported on its last reorganization since 2023

Kenny parent Rob Thesing joined The WCCO Morning News the day after the board heard the three options, and made the case that MPS has not measured its 2020 reorganization before starting the next one.

This morning I joined Vineeta Sawkar on News Talk 830 WCCO to talk about what the school board heard on September 15 and what it means for Kenny.

The point I most wanted listeners to hear is about the district's track record. In 2020 the Comprehensive District Design moved roughly 14,000 students into new schools. It promised transportation savings and better racial balance. By the district's own reporting, transportation savings came in below projections while busing costs rose, the number of elementary schools under 300 students went up by one, and racial isolation got worse rather than better. The last progress report on that plan was presented to the board in January 2023. That is more than three years without an accountability report on a plan that reshaped the whole district.

"A decision like this does not make families ask where their new school will be. It makes them ask whether they are staying in Minneapolis Public Schools at all." Rob Thesing, WCCO Radio, September 16, 2026

Now the board is being asked to decide on 15 to 16 buildings, with public engagement running roughly 30 days and a vote scheduled for November 10.

That quote is the part I keep coming back to as a parent with one child at Kenny and another on the way. It is also the risk nobody in the plan has put a number on.

We are not asking the board to ignore the budget. We are asking for a fourth option that keeps Kenny open, and for the district to measure the last reorganization before starting the next one.

Listen: "Budget woes could force Minneapolis Public Schools to shutter up to 16 buildings!" on The WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar, News Talk 830 WCCO, September 16, 2026.

The board votes November 10. If you have not emailed your board members yet, it takes two minutes.

What the board heard on Sept 15: no savings figure, no size number, and no question about Kenny

We listened to all 3 hours and 18 minutes. The deputy superintendent told the board closures are "not something that's like a huge cost savings." Nobody would say what enrollment makes a school "optimal." Three members said the timeline is too short. No board member asked about Kenny. The vote is planned for Nov 10.

The Board of Education heard the superintendent's three transformation options at a work session on September 15. The presentation ran from 0:13 to 1:45 on the recording; board questions ran from 1:45 to 3:17. No vote was taken and there was no public comment. Every question and answer is on our Sept 15 Meeting page.

KENNY, OUT LOUD

The facilities presenter said it three times: "By home address, Kenny students would join Armatage or Windom," in Option 1 (1:13), Option 2 (1:14) and Option 3 (1:15). Lake Harriet Lower also closes in every option. Nothing a board member said changes that. The only board member to say the word "Kenny" was Director Callahan, reading the list of schools off the maps because the slides never print the names.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING SAID ALL NIGHT

At 3:13, Chair Beachy asked how much of the district's structural financial problem these options solve. Deputy Superintendent Ty Thompson: "what we know about school consolidations and closings across our nation is that it's not something that's like a huge cost savings... that hasn't been the intent." Slide 9 of the deck, which he presented at 0:20, says the opposite: concentrating resources lowers overhead, and expenses grow "in part due to our current structure." The district is now saying the plan is not about saving money. Parents should hold them to one story or the other.

THE NUMBER NOBODY WILL GIVE

Director Norvell asked for "the current numbers of the schools, like in terms of optimal sizing... how close are they, or how far away are they from that number" (2:57). No one answered. The deck never prints the threshold. The board is being asked to close 15 or 16 buildings against a number it has not seen.

DIRECTOR CALLAHAN'S THREE QUESTIONS

She asked for answers by the next business meeting, October 13: (1) the exact dollar amount saved by closing each specific school; (2) the percentage of displaced students projected to stay in MPS, and what that projection is based on; (3) how many new students each listed school would need to be sustainable, and the recruitment plan to get there. None was answered. She called the options "offensive" and said principals were phoned just before the meeting and told to inform their staff the next day. The district's engagement director confirmed staff at listed schools were notified before the meeting; staff meetings at those schools began at 8:15 a.m. on September 16.

WHAT THE DISTRICT SAID THAT IS NOT ON THE SLIDES

Options can be mixed. Asked whether the board must pick one option whole, Thompson said "we actually think that that's okay, and that's exactly the type of feedback that we want to hear" (1:50), and that the district wants to hear about "things that they might want to tell us that maybe we hadn't thought of" (2:27). That is the opening for a fourth option that keeps Kenny.

"Impacted" has a definition, and it is narrow: a merger or a boundary change, counted by home address (0:38). Eight percent of the Southwest pathway is about 287 students, roughly Kenny alone. Lake Harriet Lower's roughly 290 students, who also change buildings, evidently are not counted because the Lake Harriet boundary does not change. The district then said it plans to focus outreach on the 12% to 14% it calls impacted (2:46).

A public hearing is legally required before any school closes (1:43). It is not on the district's timeline and has no date.

Enrollment opens in mid-November, which is why the vote is November 10 (2:42).

There is no staffing plan. HR said staffing changes go through contractual transfer and reassignment, staff generally follow their students, and nothing is final until the June budget (2:11).

WHERE THE BOARD STOOD

Three members said the timeline is too short: Callahan, Abdi ("is one month really enough?") and El-Amin ("we do owe it to our families to give them more than two months"). Norvell said the process is not rushed. Four members said the presentation delivered what the board asked for: Emerick ("you followed direction exquisitely"), Norvell, El-Amin and Ellison. Callahan rejected the options outright. Skjefte did not speak. In 92 minutes of questions, no member asked about Southwest, Kenny, Lake Harriet, Armatage or Windom.

WHAT TO DO

Take the district's survey (open through October 16) and say Kenny by name. Ask for a fourth option. Go to the Southwest community meeting (one per pathway, September 30 to October 10; date to be posted). Speak at the October 13 business meeting, where Callahan's three questions are due. Write the board. The Take Action page has all of it.

A NOTE ON SOURCES

Quotes are verbatim from a recording of the public meeting. Times are how far into the district's video archive each statement appears. Board members were identified from the chair's introductions; two staff presenters could not be identified by name. Check the video before quoting a speaker by name.

Kenny closes in all three options

The superintendent's presentation is public. Kenny is closed in Option 1, Option 2 and Option 3. There is no option that keeps Kenny open. Posted during the work session; our post-meeting update follows.

The superintendent presented three transformation options to the Board of Education at a work session beginning at 5:00 PM on September 15, 2026. This was posted while the meeting was in progress. Our full account of what the board asked and what the district said is in the next update and on the Sept 15 Meeting page.

WHAT THE PRESENTATION SHOWS

Kenny is closed in all three options.

On the Southwest Pathway diagrams (slides 71, 72 and 73), each option lists the schools that exist today on the left and the schools that remain on the right. Kenny appears on the left side, with an asterisk, in every option. Kenny appears on the right side in none of them.

Slide 82, titled "Building Opportunities for the Future," maps the buildings that would no longer house a school. Kenny is labeled by name on that map in Option 1, Option 2 and Option 3. The deck counts 16 unprogrammed buildings in Option 1, 15 in Option 2 and 16 in Option 3, up from 2 today.

District-wide, the deck moves MPS from 59 school buildings to 44 under Option 1, 45 under Option 2 and 44 under Option 3 (slide 111).

WHY THIS MATTERS MORE THAN WHICH OPTION WINS

There is no option to support. Advocacy organized around preferring one of the three does not save Kenny, because Kenny closes in all three. The only paths left are an exception to an option, or a change to the standard being used.

KENNY IS NOT CLASSIFIED AS TOO SMALL

On slide 6 of the same presentation, MPS color-codes every building. Kenny is orange: "large enough for MPS student experience, approaching optimal enrollment." Nine buildings district-wide are coded red for being too small. Kenny is not one of them.

The presentation uses the phrases "too small for MPS student experience," "below sustainable size" and "optimally sized" throughout, and never states a minimum enrollment number anywhere in its 118 slides.

WHAT WE THINK IS ACTUALLY DRIVING IT

This is our reading, not the district's statement. Kenny's building was designed for about 389 students. In a consolidation that makes it too small to absorb another school, so Kenny is always the school that moves and never the school that receives. Armatage and Windom are also coded orange and survive in Option 1, so the color coding is not what separates them from Kenny.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

September 16 to October 16: digital engagement and survey, targeted stakeholder roundtables, and staff meetings at significantly impacted schools. Kenny qualifies as significantly impacted.

September 30 to October 9 or 10: community meetings, one per high school pathway.

October 20: board work session where initial community feedback is reported.

November 10: planned vote on the final recommendation.

THE QUESTION WE ARE ASKING MPS

Publish the minimum enrollment number for a standalone K-5 community school, and explain how Kenny can be classified as large enough on slide 6 and unprogrammed on slide 82 of the same presentation.

A note on sourcing: this update is based on the presentation document itself. Slide numbers are given so anyone can check us.

Why this site exists

The transformation process has been public for nearly three years, but it lives in slide decks, board packets and jargon most families never see. This site puts the record in one place and makes the case for Kenny.

Every number on this site links to where it came from. Where the record is unclear or sources disagree, we say so. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it and note the correction.