Thirty percent budget increase will benefit all Kenwood Community School students and families next year.
New district and federal funding will help Kenwood Community School support all students in academic, social and emotional growth even more comprehensively next year. While Kenwood’s projected enrollment remains the same at approximately 380 students, the budget for the 2023-24 school year will jump by a million dollars to $4.2 million. This will enable the school to expand staff, reduce class sizes, provide more specialist learning intervention and grow programs for advanced learners.
The additional funds are a combination of compensatory dollars from Minneapolis Public Schools, federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (established in 2020 in response to the pandemic) and Title I eligibility.
Over the past several weeks, all Kenwood staff and families have had opportunities to provide input about priorities for growth next year. In addition, Superintendent Cox has prioritized math and reading intervention teachers, teacher collaborative planning with specialists, and small group instruction for students who’ve been identified as advanced learners.
Principal Heidi Johnson explained, “The finalized plan for next year will expand our team and enable us to elevate student engagement, provide more differentiated instructional opportunities, and ground our students’ learning in an equitable, positive, inclusive and collaborative school culture.”
The school will add a total of 10.5 new positions for the 2023-24 school year.
These include a combination of classroom/academic support, specialists and support staff as follows:
- Two teachers for new classrooms in third and fourth grades. This brings the total number of classrooms to 17, reduces class sizes and enables in-person advanced math for fourth graders.
- Two new interventionist teachers, four new interventionist associate educator positions and one social/emotional learning associate educator position.
- Additional English Language teaching support, a halftime technology and testing associate educator and a halftime family liaison.
Said Johnson, “These positions have been funded to help more of our students feel settled, secure, and ready to take on academic challenges at or above grade level.”
The new roles will bolster the existing team of 35 staff at Kenwood School.
“The staff at Kenwood is committed to helping all students thrive as they grow academically, socially and emotionally. The team has worked hard through the pandemic and district changes to be responsive to our students’ developing needs. Our recent partnership with Groves Learning Organization to provide excellent phonics and phonemic awareness instruction, and the District’s adoption of Bridges and Number Corner, our dynamic new math curriculum, boost rigor and academic engagement. Our staff is dedicated to the children and families we serve and we’re grateful to have more colleagues and resources available to us to support our students’ diverse needs. Kenwood remains a very special place to learn and grow.”
