Questions and Answers

We will automatically assign all currently enrolled High Five students to their community school based on the address we have for the student. Parents interested in requesting a school for their kindergartener at a school other than their community school should submit a request between November 20, 2021, and February 7, 2022

Current High Five students at some of our magnets will be automatically enrolled in that school’s kindergarten. If your child is not enrolled in a magnet listed on the left side of the chart below and you wish for your child to continue at that school in kindergarten, you will need to submit a request for that school.

Students will roll over from High Five to Kindergarten at:

• Hall STEM
• Jefferson Global Studies and Humanities
• Sheridan English Spanish Dual Language
• Sullivan Steam

• Bethune Arts
• Emerson English Spanish Dual Language
• Green Central English Spanish Dual Language
• Marcy Arts
• Seward Montessori

Bethune, Emerson, Green Central most magnets would need to have a Current High Five students at Jefferson, Hall, Sheridan and Sullivan will all be automatically assigned to kindergarten at that school.

For more information about high school options and services, visit these MPS webpages:

• Counseling and Guidance
• Graduation Requirements
• Career and Technical Education
• Dual Credit Options (PSEO)

We encourage all students completing 8th grade at a 6-8 middle school or K-8 magnet to submit a high school request, but if they do not, they will be assigned automatically to their community high school based on their home address. If they do not live in the attendance area of the community middle school they are currently attending, they will not pathway to that school’s pathway high school but to their community high school.

The exception to address-based pathways is for students at the English/Spanish Dual Language program at Anwatin who will automatically pathway to the Dual Language program at Roosevelt.

The following are citywide schools and programs:

• Contract Alternative Schools
• FAIR High School for the Arts • Heritage Academy
• Minneapolis Academy and Career Center (MAAC)
• MPS Online School
• Spanish Dual Language
• South All Nations program at South High School

The Minneapolis Public Schools district is divided into small attendance areas, and each area has its own community school (elementary, middle and high school), which is an option for everyone who lives inside the school’s attendance area boundaries. Everyone who lives in that area but outside the school’s unique walk zone is eligible for bus transportation or a Go To Pass for high school. While community schools may have a theme or academic focus area, they are designed to have general appeal and provide excellent quality instruction across all content areas.

Magnet schools are ‘citywide’ because they are a request option for students throughout the city of Minneapolis, and any resident student placed there who lives outside the school’s walk zone is eligible for bus transportation. Magnets are also different in that they offer a specific theme such as Arts, STEM/STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), English-Spanish Dual Language instruction, Global Studies and Humanities, or Montessori. This additional focus on a specific subject or style of teaching (as with Montessori) are infused across all content areas to provide excellent quality instruction using the magnet focus as a teaching and curriculum theme.

Placement in magnets is based on the new magnet placement priorities approved as part of the Comprehensive District Design approved by the MPS School Board in June 2019. Priorities include (in order of weight):

A. Students who live within a half-mile radius of the school; A. Students with siblings already attending the school who will continue to be enrolled at the same school;

B. Students who do or do not qualify for Educational Benefits, depending on the school’s projected balance of students who qualify for Educational Benefits; and

C. Students who are experiencing homelessness.

To learn more, click here.

When you complete your school request form (online or paper request), you will have the option to include up to three schools. We strongly recommend that you list your community school as one of your choices. The following guidance may be helpful:

• If you are only interested in your community school and you are requesting before the February due date, you do not need to list any other schools. (Please be sure to confirm that the school you are requesting is the correct community school for your child’s home address).
• If you decide that one of the magnet options is your most desired school for your child, you should indicate that as your first choice. If you second choice is your community school, you should indicate that as your #2 choice and you do not need to list a third choice.
• If there are two magnet schools you are interested in more than your community school, you should list them as your #1 and #2 choices and you should list your community school as your third choice.

Your child will be placed if the following three situations apply:

1. You are requesting kindergarten for a child who will be age appropriate for kindergarten,
2. Your request is submitted by the lottery due date of February 7, 2022, and
3. There is sufficient classroom capacity at your community school based on your home address (MPS Policy 5262).

Families seeking placement for children in grades 1-8 will be assigned based on available space. We promise a school that your child can bus or walk to.

Every magnet school request we receive is entered into our School Enrollment System, which assigns each request a ‘priority weight’ that is the accumulated total of all the priorities that apply to the request. When we run the placement lottery, we place as many students as possible to fill the open seats at that school. Students who remain on the list after the lottery make up the waiting list. Students stay on the list in priority order. Priorities include:

• Whether the student lives in the city (resident or non-resident)
• Whether the student lives inside the school’s attendance area (in-area or out-of-area)
• Whether the student has a sibling already attending the school who will still be there during the school year for which placement is being requested
• Whether the student lives within a ¼ mile of the school (for magnets only)
• Whether or not the student qualifies for Educational Benefits (Free or Reduced Price Lunch)

Families are welcome to submit a request at any time, but magnet requests received by the February 7 and April 4 due dates are included in the initial and second placement lotteries, when we do many placements all at one time and send placement notifications to families.

If you submit a request for your community school between November 20 and late June, we will most likely be able to place your child at your community school (in some cases, you will be required to provide proof of address).

If you request a magnet school after both due dates have passed, placements will be made based on priorities and openings. If we are not able to honor your magnet request at the time of submission, your child’s name will remain on a waiting list for that school through the end of September of the school year for which you have requested placement, and we will work with you to identify a placement option for your child.