Can you tell me about Washburn High School? (Minneapolis, Lynd: low income, house)

[kristineh]

We are planning to move to Minneapolis and would love to live in the Kingfield neighborhood or that general vicinity. The elementary schools look great but I'm not as confident about Washburn High School.

Do any of you know people who have kids there now, and do they like it? Is it safe or are there many disciplinary problems and fights? I've read that it got a new principal who made teachers re-apply for their jobs and that the school is improving but I'm wondering if it's really "made it" yet.

Thanks so much for any feedback!

[yoyoma02]

I grew up/have a lot of friends who went to Washburn. It's a decent public school. While it has it's problems, most of my friends turned out ok and most went on to higher education and became professionals in their field. That's not to say that it doesn't have some slum, too.

If you're going to do public schools in south Minneapolis, check out South and Southwest. They both have a little bit of a higher reputation.

[MplsTodd]

Although I have one son at Southwest, he has some friends who go to Washburn. The school underwent a major restructuring a few years ago. I do think its been viewed as having improved the atmosphere at the school. The kids I've met who go to Washburn are great kids and they don't seem to complain about it. Southwest and South still have better images and reputations, but I wouldn't doubt that Washburn will continue to improve.

[Minneapolisville]

I go to Southwest, and all the kids there look down at Washburn. There are plenty of rumors about drugs, but I haven't heard much about fights. Definitely look into places like South and Southwest before deciding on Washburn.

[eastside38]

It's in a really nice neighborhood, yet a lot of the kids in the area go to private schools or open enroll to South and Southwest, I believe. The attendance area for Washburn goes to some not-so-nice neighborhoods along 35W, which likely contributed to the school's issues.

Academically, I'll reflect what the other people are posting in that it seems to be getting better. On the athletic side of things, if your kids are older and into football and basketball, then Washburn is a good choice in that regard because the school is the best in Minneapolis in those sports. Their football team lost a conference game last year for the first time in a few seasons.

[lurpy1]

Washburn is in an awesome neighborhood and most of the neighborhoods it servers are very good as well. But as a result of this the district took for granted for years if not decades. When it bottomed out the school was way below capacity, with many students being either troublemakers or underachievers. It is on the upswing. Good example, I have friends (both Ivy-league educated) who live in the Washburn district, who fought tooth and nail to get their son into Southwest and away from Washburn in 2007. In 2009 when their daughter entered HS, they were happy to send her to Washburn.

Be aware if you attend Barton, your logical (pathway) HS is South, and if you attend Lake Harriet, you may wind up at SW (schools for Kingfield kids are tricky, there is no neighborhood school, so many kids wind up at LH, which is a great school).

[audadvnc]

Washburn's OK. If I still lived in South Mpls, Washburn would be my daughter's default school, and from what I heard it was just fine. If your kids are willing to work, they'll learn what they need to know there.

[Mason3000]

When I was in High School (1988) it was the second nicest/most upscale public school in the city behind Mpls SW. It's located in a vey nice neighborhood & most of the surrounding neighborhoods are nice as well, but then open enrollment & restructuring happened and the school was overloaded with low income minorities to the point where the students who lived just a few blocks from the school & were 3rd generation Washburn legacies were routinely sending their kids to Mpls SW. 3-4 years ago they fired every single teacher in the school & started from scratch. A new PTA & neighborhood council tried to reinvigorate pride in Washburn High School & connect to the community again. Since that time demographics of incoming students has changed along with the staff making it much more difficult for Washburn kids to go to Mpls SW, so most are staying home at Washburn again. These various groups & initiatives have helped turn it around (although it's on the upswing, it's not completely fixed yet) & if I lived in the neighborhood today, I would send my kids to Washburn, no second thoughts.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by kristineh

We are planning to move to Minneapolis and would love to live in the Kingfield neighborhood or that general vicinity. The elementary schools look great but I'm not as confident about Washburn High School.

Do any of you know people who have kids there now, and do they like it? Is it safe or are there many disciplinary problems and fights? I've read that it got a new principal who made teachers re-apply for their jobs and that the school is improving but I'm wondering if it's really "made it" yet.

Thanks so much for any feedback!

No personal experience, but many of my neighbors have kids heading towards high school. When I was in school ('90s) very few academically-inclined students in this part of Minneapolis went to Washburn (which was technically my zoned school at the time); they went to South or Southwest. There's been a shift in recent years, and more and more local families are actively CHOOSING Washburn, not just going there by default or because their kids didn't get into IB at Southwest and they didn't want to pay for private. My SIL just bought a house in Washburn's area, and their realtor was actively trying to convince them that Washburn was superior to Southwest. Whether or not that's true (and who is "best" is kind of a pointless argument, anyway), I think it's fair to say that Washburn these days is already a decent school and is only getting better.

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by lurpy1

Be aware if you attend Barton, your logical (pathway) HS is South, and if you attend Lake Harriet, you may wind up at SW (schools for Kingfield kids are tricky, there is no neighborhood school, so many kids wind up at LH, which is a great school).

It was true that Kingfield had no neighborhood school, but that changed with the big MPS reorg last year. Now Lyndale is our community school. Washburn is improving. If we were in the market for a public high school, Washburn would be ok. The choice we made was to send ours to Minnehaha Academy where they are not subject to the whims of MPS administrators and can attend the same school from Pre-K through 12. MA is very convenient for Kingfield residents and a number of us have chosen to go that route. Check us out at
Private Christian School | Minnehaha Academy | Minneapolis, Minnesota