MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - When John Landgaard became superintendent of Worthington Public Schools 15 years ago, students of color made up about 38 percent of the southwestern Minnesota district’s student population. Not anymore. Today, that number is 67 percent. In the 2007-08 school year, Worthington became the first district in Greater Minnesota - aside from a handful of districts located near American Indian reservations - to become majority-minority.
“I think our diverse population will stay between 70 to 80 percent,” Landgaard said. “But you just never know. It depends a bit on how your community grows, what businesses come in, and the employment opportunities for citizens.”
Worthington’s experience is a dramatic example of a district becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, but it is also an increasingly common one: There are now 27 majority-minority school districts in Minnesota - double the number there was just five years ago. Today, nearly a quarter of students in public school districts in Minnesota are in majority-minority districts (MinnPost looked at type 1 school districts, public elementary and secondary districts, which includes most school districts in Minnesota, and type 3 districts, which include Minneapolis and South St. Paul. Charter schools are not included).
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The nonprofit news outlet MinnPost provided this article to The Associated Press through a collaboration with Institute for Nonprofit News.
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Perhaps the most striking thing about the state’s increasingly diverse districts, however, isn’t just the number but how spread out they are. Twenty years ago, the state’s majority-minority districts were exactly where you might expect them to be: In Minneapolis, St. Paul and near American Indian reservations. Now, though, they’re also located in Twin Cities suburbs, and in places like St. Cloud, Willmar and Faribault - cities in corners of the state that have growing populations of immigrants and refugees from Latin America, Africa and Asia.
And while some of the challenges facing these districts are similar, no two majority-minority school systems in Minnesota have the same story: Some suburban districts more closely reflect the population of the cities they serve, while others represent the vanguard of their changing communities. In some districts, classrooms may look like the United Nations, with dozens of languages spoken, while others are primarily white and black, or white and Latino.
In Worthington, a local meatpacking plant has long been a major draw for many immigrant families looking for work. The diversity of the workforce is reflected in its schools, where Latino students now make up 49 percent of the student body....
As the district adapted to serving an increasingly diverse student body, Landgaard said, staffing needed to evolve. With nearly a third of students qualifying for English learner services, the district now employs 30 English language teachers as well as three full-time Spanish interpreters and a number of part-time translators. It also utilizes parent liaisons, who represent various populations in the school community.Right now, Landgaard said, the biggest struggle is trying to encourage