St. Paul neighborhood fights to save Galtier school

With $484 million in capital projects awaiting approval, the St. Paul school board on Tuesday heard from an impassioned group of parents and students with a different vision.

They're out to save Galtier Community School.

Two years ago, the elementary building in the Hamline-Midway area received a flashy renovation that the district and partners Target Corp. and the Heart of America Foundation celebrated in grand fashion. But enrollment is lagging, and Galtier is at risk of closure at the end of the 2016-17 school year.

The school has suffered in some ways as result of a Strong Schools, Strong Communities plan that was supposed to strengthen neighborhood schools. But local parents were given the option to send children by bus to St. Anthony Park Elementary, too, and many are doing so.

On Tuesday, the Galtier faithful — students in handmade "superhero" capes and parents arriving by bus and by car — took the fight to save the school to the board. Parents are concerned about a proposed $14 million renovation of St. Anthony Park Elementary, which they fear could draw even more students from the area.

They have enlisted the support of the St. Paul chapter of the NAACP. President Jeff Martin praised the school's supporters for going door to door to recruit families, and said the NAACP backs their efforts to diversify Galtier and create a better learning environment for all students. "But this takes time and requires support from the board and administration," he said.

The school faces a challenge in attracting one key demographic. Clayton Howatt, a parent who is helping lead the "Save Galtier" campaign, put it bluntly: "St. Anthony Park drains many white families from our neighborhood."

But choice is a hallmark of the state's K-12 system, district leaders often say.

Last week, during a meeting at Galtier, Jackie Turner, the district's chief engagement officer, said that 17 families with children in preschool at Galtier have decided to go elsewhere for kindergarten. The district projects that Galtier will have a total of 144 students in 2016-17, down from the 156 reported last fall.

"That is a small school," Turner said. "That is a very difficult-sized school to economically manage."

Howatt and others counter that it is difficult to recruit to a school that the district has signaled it could close.

Worried about numbers, parents at both Galtier and nearby Hamline Elementary took to door-knocking to try to attract enough students to survive. At Galtier, that could mean having to find 100 additional students, "if not more," Principal Shawn Stibbins told parents last week.

Students are taught in multi-grade "learning studios" that provide enough space for them to be grouped by skill level — a move well-tailored to the district's emphasis on personalized learning. Closing the school would be a missed opportunity, supporters say.

"Teachers are emotional about this, too," said Monica Johnson, a fifth-grade teacher. When they see the school's kindergartners, she said, they think: "I can't wait until they're in my class."

Last year, Galtier parents began working with Hamline parents to try to drum up interest in their schools, but they have drifted apart of late. Howatt reacted cooly when Assistant Superintendent Sharon Freeman invited Galtier parents to work with the district on a new vision for the school that could be presented to the school board and Superintendent Valeria Silva.

The parents who spoke at Tuesday night's meeting did not present a rescue plan at that time. They plan to do so directly to board members, said Howatt, who later shared the proposal by e-mail with the Star Tribune.

The plan asks the board to put off the expansion elements of the St. Anthony Park project. As for the fates of Galtier and Hamline Elementary, he said the preference would be to turn Hamline into a magnet school and an early childhood center.

Anthony Lonetree • 612-673-4109