Renovations lift hopes at Minneapolis North High 

It’s a sunny October day in north Minneapolis where the newly reopened North High School is gleaming with a glass-covered atrium and new wing devoted to career and technical education.

A crowd of students, school and city leaders gathers at the front entrance to cut a ribbon on the $88 million renovation and officially reopen the school. 

For Principal Mauri Friestleben, this day has been a long time coming. 

“The beauty of North High School is that not only do we have this beautiful space, but we have more students here than North has seen since the 2007, 2008 school year. So to me, the magic has been that [that happened] even in the midst of the construction, because all of the students that are sitting here, all the teachers that are sitting here, can tell you that this has not been a rippin’ good time, OK? Zero stars. Do not recommend going to school during a major renovation.” 

Attending school in a construction zone and taking tests with the sound of power drills in the background has not been easy, but officials say it needed to happen. The old North building was dark and unwelcoming, with a history of lead in the water and occasional pest problems. A road divided the buildings.

“In Minneapolis, there was all this push for Black lives mattering,” Friestleben said. “And I was like, ‘Look, if Black lives really mattered, then the conditions and the facility of which all of these Black children attend high school would look different.’ And I can’t believe that it actually does [look different] now.”

Just off the redesigned lunchroom there’s a two-story classroom filled with students learning how to fly and repair drones. Ubah Abdullahi, a junior, says getting to study technology hands on has captured her attention.

“It’s fun to actually get to fly them and move them around and stuff, instead of just having to sit and learn about them. You get to actually fly them. And then it gives you good careers in the future,” Abdullahi said.

Abbdullahi’s teacher, Gabriel Pass, said the new facility and the fact that North is able to offer courses in aviation robotics, is a big deal.

“We live in one of the regional headquarters of Delta Air Lines and their maintenance facility is one of the largest in the world, and so being in that location is tremendously important for our students in Minneapolis to have access to those really high paying jobs,” Pass said. “For Minneapolis students to not have access to that until now is actually a tragedy, and so this is a real game-changer. ”

It’s not just robotics. North now has photography and sound studios, a brand new library, a renovated child care center, cyber security classes and a simulated ambulance and medical terminology classes.

Friestleben said the new facility finally matches the needs and commitment of her students.

“Look at all this natural light. Look at all this woodwork. Look at the greenery when you came in, the landscaping, the trees. It feels really good, and it sends a whole different message to these kids that go here,” Friestleben said.

The Minneapolis district has struggled with falling enrollment for decades. At North, enrollment topped 1,000 two decades ago. By the time Friestleben started working there, she said student counts had fallen to fewer than 400. In 2022, as the pandemic was waning, 80 percent of students were chronically absent. 

But the numbers have been improving steadily. This year, enrollment is at over 600. Attendance, graduation rates and test scores are better. 

For Friestleben, the work she and her staff have been putting into validating and welcoming students has been key to attendance and achievement. And now, she hopes, a brand new space created with the input of those same students will help continue that work.

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