How are things going at Edison?
New principal and Northeast resident Eryn Warne is quick with an answer.
“There are a lot of strengths you can focus on,” she said, “but the thing that makes Edison great is that we are so grounded in the community.”
Before her promotion, Warne worked for three years as an assistant principal at the high school, 700 22nd Ave. NE. Edison’s former principal, Carla Steinbach, is now the program director for the district’s Aspiring Transformational Principal Academy.
Warne has a theater and performing arts background. She said that when she was a student, the arts helped her to be successful and engaged, and she is hoping to pass that on to her students. “I’m a believer in offering things kids are passionate about.” Before Edison, she was the fine arts coordinator at Folwell School, a performing arts magnet in South Minneapolis. She taught language arts and theater at The Main Street School of Performing Arts in Hopkins. At Woodbury High School, she taught English and was the theater director.
Edison programs
Edison has 959 students. The school’s enrollment zone covers Northeast and North Minneapolis. Its southern boundary extends to the northern part of downtown. Warne said that the student body is “about 50/50,” of students living in Northeast and North Minneapolis.
Edison provides the Minneapolis Public School district’s business program on the north side, which includes photography and graphic design. Students learn about entrepreneurship, small business plans, financing, marketing, and technology that supports businesses. The Edison Entrepreneurship Academy, available to juniors and seniors, includes information on non-profits and “businesses that live in and support the community,” according to Warne.
The school was recently recognized as the “greenest campus” in the state. It has an urban agriculture focus, with a greenhouse, a community garden, and an aquaponics lab. Its stormwater reuse system can store 110,000 gallons of captured rainwater that is used to irrigate the new athletic field.
“We are working on how we can bring sustainability to our community. This is a direction that Carla started,” Warne said. “It’s a way to take our assets and push them to give kids hands-on learning and relevant learning. They are learning about life after high school and being a part of a community where they feel valued and valuable.”
She said that hands-on tasks such as working in the aquaponics lab give students a sense of responsibility and an incentive to come to school every day. “They feed the fish, test the water quality, and adjust the pumps. They think, ‘I need to be there,’ to keep everything going.” The lab is located in the school’s former auto shop.
Entrepreneurship Academy students set up a recycling and composting program. They teach other students how to sort recyclables and make sure there is no cross-contamination of material. The school got a grant to buy supplies for the program, Warne said.
School overview
MPS high school students need a year of credit in fine arts, which they can get through music, theater or visual arts classes. Edison has a band and offers a beginning band class, drum line, and piano classes. There are three choirs; (choir is a for-credit class), and two sections of theater courses. Edison is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school; there is an IB music theory class.
Warne said the school has only one Advanced Placement (AP) class: geography. All MPS students, she added, are required to take one semester of geography.
The school is home to four special education programs and five English Language Learner classrooms.
Edison’s student ethnic makeup is 38 percent African American, 19 percent Hispanic, 15 percent African, 14 percent white, seven percent Asian Pacific Islander and four percent Native American.
Sixty-eight percent of the students qualify for the district’s free and reduced lunch program. However, as of last year and thanks to funding from the district’s nutrition department, all students can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the school for free every day. Dinner is served at 3:30 p.m. Warne said that many students who play sports stay after school for tutoring, and eat dinner together before they go to practice. “It gets the kids together and helps build the spirit of the teams.”
Two weeks ago, the school hosted Native American Family Involvement Day. Warne said they invited families to come for lunch and take part in activity making dream catchers. The district’s Indian Education counselor Jody Burke leads a student group that meets regularly at the school.
Other ethnic clubs at the school include the Asian Culture Club for Everyone, a Latino history culture club, and an African American Leadership group. Special interest clubs include Outdoor Club, Rock Band, Anime Club and Magic: The Gathering.
Recent changes
Asked what changes she has observed in her time at the school, Warne responded, “When I started, it felt like the staff changed a lot and there was a lot of student turnover. It feels more stable now. There is more consistency.”
In 2007, at a time of low test scores and declining enrollment, MPS identified Edison as an underperforming school and “fresh started” it under No Child Left Behind federal guidelines. District leaders retained Steinbach but fired all the teachers and required them to re-apply for their jobs. About half the staff remained.
“It takes a while to recover from that,” Warne said. “When I started [as assistant principal], the school was in its final year of the change. The whole process had promoted a culture of fear. Now, there are enough new people who weren’t here during that time. When teachers are stabilized, the students get stabilized.
“Education is always changing, and we are always working on improving our structures,” Warne said. “We have had a significant reduction in suspensions and referrals out of the classroom.”
The school’s four academic deans deal with discipline problems, she added. “MPS’ message is that principals and assistant principals are instructional leaders first. We don’t deal as much with behavior. Where I want to be is in the classroom or with the teachers. The success of a school comes down to the teacher and instruction, and the relationship the teacher has with the kids. I love to be creative, think big, and design courses and pathways.”
Warne said she appreciates the Northeast community’s continued interest in Edison. “There is just something about this school. People put their support behind it no matter what. They’ve seen the demographics change and they remain steadfast. Whenever I see people here from the community, they ask, ‘How can I help?’ They ask me to call them if we need something. That is important to me. It can be lonely for a principal. I feel supported here.”
Photo by Gail Olson.