North High School
Class of 1966

North High School, or simply Minneapolis North, is a public, high school located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school has existed for over 128 years in several buildings all located on the North Side of Minneapolis. North once had a predominately Jewish student body but by 1982, the school and the neighborhood it is located in had become mostly African-American. Desegregation efforts, such as magnet school programs, have attempted to attract students from throughout Minneapolis and nearby suburbs.

There have been four separate buildings in which North has operated. The first housed just three grades when North opened in 1888. Three years later the first class graduated in 1891. The building grew to be too small for the school and a new building was built, opening in 1896 at a new location. On June 18, 1913 a fire burned down most of the building, forcing a new building to be rebuilt. A new building was built over the destroyed one and was completed in 1914. Later additions were added in 1921, 1923 and 1939. In 1963 it was determined that for the building was "to be retained as a secondary educational facility over a long period of time by the Minneapolis Public School system, it needs extensive rehabilitation and modernization to meet present day health, safety and educational adequacy." It is filled with culture and for many alumni the memories that came from attending North High make most feel like it will always be home, and many found their lives transforming to the better due to North. Many loved and many lost. A new building was built on a new site and funded as part of a $18 million bond referendum in 1964, that funded improvements to North and several other Minneapolis public schools. The building was finished and opened in 1973. The building is described as "resembling a giant bunker with few windows, double doors that are often locked from outside during the day to keep out unwanted visitors and painted-over graffiti on outside walls." Another description calls it a "series of brick boxes arranged around a courtyard" that "doesn't allow it to connect well with the community". The building now also houses adult education classes, a school for teenage mothers and a separate charter school, Dunwoody Academy.

When students enroll at North, they choose to join one of three Small Learning Communities (SLC). SLCs offer a variety of classes centered on a particular subject or interest area. Students remain in their SLC until graduation. Three SLCs are offered: Arts and Media, Information Technology, Engineering, Computers, and Construction and Summatech, a college preparatory program.

North offers two languages: French and Spanish. The school has an Advanced Placement program that offers eight different courses. North is working on developing an International Baccalaureate diploma program. North has scored low on state standardized tests in recent years. In the 2006-2007 school year only 29.3% were considered proficient in reading and 8.61% were proficient in mathematics. North's high school graduation rate has been low in comparison to other local schools. Using an Adequate Yearly Progress rate, 78.5% of students graduate high school while other measures, such as the formula approved by the National Governors Association, give graduation rates as low as 39.8%. North as a 48% graduation rate and many of the women that attend to the school have one or more children.

North's low academic results have led to criticism. In February 2007 Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels suggested burning North down. "My children will not darken the door of a Minneapolis public school in this city at this time under these conditions. I've said burn North High School down! I can't be paying as a taxpayer for the education of my neighbors and 72 percent of them are failing—meaning black boys. Something worse than vouchers could come along. If it works, if it sacrifices the entire school system, fine! Get rid of the damn thing! It hasn't worked!" His suggestion caused uproar in the community, and his remarks were heavily criticized. Samuels later apologized for the "extreme language" but stated that he did not regret making the comments.

 

Radio station

North High School is home to KBEM-FM, a radio station controlled by Minneapolis Public Schools. The station was created in the 1960s but moved to North in 1983 as part of Minneapolis Public Schools' desegregation initiative. Students are responsible for the operation of the radio station and 35 hours of airtime a week is devoted to student programming. Approximately 150 students are involved in the radio station's operation, with the majority attending North. Students typically enroll into the program as ninth-graders and are prepared for on-air time by 11th or 12th grade.

The station broadcasts up to the minute traffic reports for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area. The reports are provided by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. From 1989 to 2005 the station was paid around $400,000 by the Minnesota Department of Transportation to do so. MnDOT had planned to cancel the contract, but due to public demand, the state continued the contract.

 

Extracurricular activities

North offers a variety of musical programs. A beginning band, concert band, Jazz ensemble and drum line are offered. Choir, varsity choir, vocal ensembles and a gospel choir are available. Other extracurricular activities include a variety of academic competitions, a chess club, culture-specific clubs including an award winning Asian Club, debate and mock trial teams, a school newspaper and yearbook, science club and student government. North's Math team competes in the Minnesota State High School Mathematics League. The school has a chapter of National Honor Society.

 

Sports

North is a member of the Minnesota State High School League. North offers eleven boys' and twelve girls' varsity sports. These include football (boys), wrestling (boys), tennis (boys and girls), basketball (boys and girls), baseball (boys), softball (girls), golf (boys and girls), soccer (boys and girls), volleyball (girls), swimming (boys and girls), gymnastics (girls), badminton (girls), ice hockey (boys and girls), cross country (boys and girls) and track and field (boys and girls). North has Adapted Bowling. Both boys' and girls' teams are called "Polars". All of the sports teams participate, like all public high schools in Minneapolis, in the Minneapolis City Conference. North has won the state title in Boys' Track and Field in 1943 and 1948.

 

Basketball

The boys' basketball team was dominant in the 1980s. Coached by Tony Queen, the team won eight of ten Minneapolis City Conference championships and went to the state tournament eight times, winning in 1980 and placing second in 1984 and 1985. In 1988 Queen was suspended from coaching for one year following attempts to recruit basketball players, which is illegal under Minnesota State High School League rules. He lost a battle to be rehired in U.S. District court. Queen was fired in 1990 for having sex with a student in the early 1980s. In the mid-1990s the boys' team had a dominating resurgence. Led by Khalid El-Amin, North tied a state record with three state championships in a row, from 1995 to 1997. The boys' team won another championship in 2003.

The girls' team went to the state title game every year except for one from 1997 to 2005. They won in 1998, 1999, and had three straight wins in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

 

Notable alumni

• William Gallagher (1894), former U.S. Representative from Minnesota's 3rd congressional district
• Roy Wier (1906), former U.S. Representative from Minnesota's 3rd congressional district
• Floyd B. Olson (1909), 22nd Governor of Minnesota
• Irving S. Shapiro (1924), former chairman and CEO of DuPont
• Sid Gillman (1930), professional football coach
• The Andrews Sisters (1930s), singing group
• Sid Hartman (1939), sports journalist
• W. Harry Davis (1942), civil rights activist, amateur boxing coach, civic leader and businessman
• Robert Vaughn (1950), actor
• Tom Barnard (1969), radio talk show host
• Terry Lewis, Morris Day and other members of Flyte Tyme/The Time, musicians
• Khalid El-Amin (1997), professional basketball player, his jersey, number 42, has been retired

End of an era in north Minneapolis?

North High, with its declining enrollment and prospects, should be closed, Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson says.

An era may be coming to an end in north Minneapolis.

Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson said Saturday that she will recommend to the school board Tuesday that North High School, the city's oldest high school and an important cultural institution on the mostly black North Side, be closed in three years because of declining enrollment.

A dwindling student body has meant rising costs. With only 265 students at North, the district spends $4,000 more per child to educate students there compared to the city's other high schools, school board member Chris Stewart has said.

In what may be Johnson's first controversial decision of her first few months on the job, she said Saturday that she no longer feels the district can offer North's students an equitable education.

School board members will get their first look at Johnson's proposal at their 6 p.m. Tuesday meeting at the district offices, 807 NE. Broadway, but probably won't vote on the matter until November, school board President Tom Madden said.

Phasing out North in 2014 would allow the school's current freshman class of 40 students to graduate, but would also prevent current eighth-graders from enrolling.

As families have deserted North to send their children to charter academies, neighboring high schools and suburban districts, rumors have persisted about its future. Now it appears those rumors may become reality.

The school, at 1500 James Av. N., has no attendance boundaries, which means students must decide to attend North. In recent years, even children in the surrounding blocks have listed Edison or Henry high schools as their default neighborhood school.

Storied past

In its 122 years, North High has educated a Minnesota governor, two former members of Congress and Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman. Former Dupont chairman and CEO Irving Shapiro, actor Robert Vaughn and musicians Terry Lewis and Morris Day are among the thousands of graduates who have walked the halls at North's various addresses.
That long, storied history will come to an end if school board members aren't persuaded there's a way to reverse the current trend: Enrollment has nose-dived almost 80 percent since 2005.

"It is tough," said North Principal Birch Jones. "It is about the numbers."

When Jones came out of retirement this summer to return as North's principal, he'd pictured his return would mark a reunion, not a funeral. He saw an opportunity to reconnect with families, to emphasize academics and to reinvigorate the school as the pride of the North Side.

Instead, he's likely to preside over North's final days as the school's last principal.

"No community wants to close a school, a high school specifically," said Jones, who first led North from 1995 to 2000. "You wait as long as you can. You just hope that it's not too late."

Last winter, Superintendent Johnson gave North's supporters an enrollment target of 500 students to stave off talk of closure, but they came up short by almost half.

There are almost as many ninth-grade students packed in single English and social studies courses at Southwest and South high schools as in the entire freshman class at North, said Lynn Nordgren, president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.

Uncertain future

If the high school does close, it would be the first Minneapolis high school to close since West High shut down in the early 1980s.

Over the past decade, the Minneapolis School District has closed several North Side elementary and middle schools. As the district has closed those schools, families have explored their options, opting for charter schools in their neighborhoods or suburban districts through the Choice Is Yours program.

Closing North High could hasten that exodus, said Jones, a North Side resident.

Johnson has witnessed firsthand the strong emotions and passion that closing a high school can evoke.

When she worked in Memphis city schools in 2005, a man complained to the school board about the shutdown of the old Douglas High School. When Johnson asked co-workers if that school had just closed, they told her no: The decision was made 25 years ago.

North High Supporters Protest Proposed School Closing

BE SUPERMAN... SUPPORT NORTH HIGH

Bernadeia Johnson: North High's closing:
Hard but necessary

Here is why I, as Minneapolis superintendent, came to this conclusion.