There, the district is hosting Freedom School, a six-week summer literacy program rooted in the civil rights movement and where mornings begin with dance and chants — even some “Hallelujahs!” On Thursday, Jasmine Epps-Flowers, a former Freedom School teacher, read a poem reminding students of the power of words in fighting hate and suffering. It ended with the simple phrase: “Poetry is what I use to say I love you.”

St. Paul, Minnesota’s second-largest district, has long recognized its diversity — dual-language programs are among its most popular. But the district has picked up the pace of new offerings in recent years with moves designed in part to reclaim market share lost to charter schools that often cater to families of specific backgrounds and offer culturally specific environments.

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“It’s always in the back of my mind — oh, man, is this going to happen in the last week of school?” Khadilkar said.

The fear isn’t unrealistic, and it’s shared by students across the country. After all, in 2023 there were at least 348 school shootings, a record high, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. Last year’s shootings caused 241 casualties on school property, and more than half that many casualties have already been recorded this year.

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At Maple Grove Middle School, with cell phones gone, kids are happy and talking, eyes ahead in hallways and in the lunchroom, and no longer locked in power struggles with teachers, Principal Patrick Smith said.

The Minnesota House is hoping to build on such successes through legislation calling upon districts and charter schools to adopt cellphone use policies by March 15, 2025.

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That’s why new Superintendent Brenda Lewis turned last fall to international recruiting. It’s a strategy that worked to staff schools at her previous district of Grand Forks in North Dakota, a state where the crippling teaching shortages have made headlines over the past few years.

Since last summer, Fridley Public Schools has hired about 20 educators from the Philippines and is bringing several more to the north metro suburb.

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Gothard was one of four finalists for the award, announced at the association’s National Conference on Education in San Diego. He became eligible for the honor after being named Minnesota’s 2024 Superintendent of the Year in October by the Minnesota Association of School 91¿´Æ¬istrators.

Gothard, who came to St. Paul in 2017 after four years at the helm of the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District, is among the nation’s longest-serving urban school leaders and a veteran of public appearances with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

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She began in the role on Feb. 5, kicking off her 100-day plan, which she said is focused on understanding what people want to see continue and change in the district. That information will then inform an evaluation phase, she said. She’ll present the 100-day plan to the school board on Tuesday.

“I’m not coming in midyear to make a whole bunch of changes,” she said, “but it is a benefit to start now.”

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Two adults were arrested and some students and school staff members sustained minor injuries during the skirmishes that broke out at the end of the school day Thursday, a statement on the school district’s website says.

The first fight was between two groups of students. Teachers and staff intervened. But the situation escalated when adults who do not work at the high school and knew of the earlier incident got involved in a physical altercation with the students, the school district said.

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But there’s a caveat.

Chief Judge Jenny Starr co-signed the decision by 91¿´Æ¬istrative Law Judge Eric Lipman, who ruled Tuesday that MDE may adopt the new ethnic studies standard but must also rewrite what he called an “impermissibly vague” rule.

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The break room and its leader, known to students as Ms. Erin, are part of a solution that has dramatically reduced the number of behavior issues at the north Minneapolis elementary.

By this time last school year, Principal Kelly Wright had tracked more than 200 calls and referrals to the behavior support team. This school year, that number is down to 50.

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Those are a few assignments that Minneapolis students have embraced at the new Career and Technical Education Center at North High School, which opened this fall as a hub for engineering, media arts, computer science and emergency medicine programming.

Similar centers are planned for Edison and Roosevelt high schools to centralize programming in construction and welding, business and finance, agriculture, law and public safety, and automotive repair. Juniors and seniors from across the city can take a school bus to the sites — the culmination of a district plan that began in 2019 to elevate such courses and make them more accessible.

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