North High School was a scene of celebration, with alumni, politicians and community members gathered in the new light-filled commons space on Oct. 2 to celebrate a $100 million remodel of the school. Two buildings, once connected by a skyway, are now joined by a two-story space that functions as the school’s main entrance, lunchroom and a multi-purpose common area.

The west building is now home to the career and technical education program, open to students enrolled in any of the district’s high schools. The space includes a photography studio, an ambulance, and a two-story classroom for studying drones.

A two-story, interior classroom in the new career and technical education space is for students studying drone technology. Although the room lacks exterior windows, its windows onto the new commons area provide natural light to the space. Photo by Melissa Whitler

Also in the west building is the school’s new library, featuring study rooms, sofas, booth-style seating, and the school’s collection of books. The building is also the home to a daycare for children of students. When construction is completed, the daycare will also have its own outdoor playground, a feature lacking before the remodel.

In the east building, the auxiliary gymnasium has been remodeled, including last minute changes to make the space meet building code requirements for a storm shelter.

Remodeling work in the east building will continue for at least two more years. Work continues on the courtyard, auditorium and math wing. Next year, upgrades will be made to the social studies, science and English language arts classrooms.

Community members and alumni gathered on the “learning steps,” a key feature of the new two-story central addition to North High School on Oct. 2. Photo by Melissa Whitler

Two Dark, Unwelcoming Spaces Transformed by a Central Addition

Construction has transformed the physical buildings from spaces that many people, including North High’s principal Mauri Friestleben, described as prison-like. The school was known for its dark wood paneling and lack of daylight. The school also lacked a main entrance, making it feel unwelcoming to new students and families, andcommunity members coming to the school for events, who were confused about how to enter the building.

“If you ask a Polar in my generation, ‘which was your main entrance?’ And I'll tell you my experience,” Sam Ero-Phillips, a project designer from LSE Architects and North High School alumnus, said of the school before it was remodeled. “You ask somebody who's ten years older or ten years younger, and they'll say they went to a different door. If you asked somebody when the building was opened, they'll probably point to a different door. Design wise, there was no hierarchy.”

The key to the entire project, according to Ero-Phillips, was the City’s cooperation to close James Avenue and move a sewer line that had run between the two buildings.

“The very first thing we did is we said ‘how can we build an addition in the middle?” Ero-Phillips said.. “Once we figured that out, that one move helped bridge those two buildings.”

The light-filled commons area connects to the former buildings while serving as the lunchroom, and also a gathering space for students and staff. Photo by Melissa Whitler

The new addition in between the two existing buildings solved multiple design challenges beyond creating a new entrance to the school. . The classrooms along the east wall of the west building abut the central addition and lack exterior windows of their own. But, the classrooms have windows onto the two-story addition, which brings in natural light to the interior spaces.

“Making sure that everybody had access to daylight was really important. We worked pretty hard to make that happen,” Ero-Phillips said. “That changes the way you feel in the space. Instead of feeling like school is a prison, this place feels like an institution of higher learning.”

For students, Ero-Phillips said he hopes that feeling “elevates” their thinking about what is possible for themselves.

“You shouldn't feel out of place on a college campus after spending four years at North,” Ero-Phillips said.

According to Friestleben, both students and staff are enjoying the new common space.

“The staff come to the commons area a lot. They'll come when it's their prep period. They'll come when they're having a meeting,” Friestleben said. “They enjoy being in the space. They enjoy seeing each other. That’s a noticeable difference.”

Executive Director of Communications for Minneapolis Public Schools, Donnie Blecher, spoke at a celebration of the school’s remodel on Oct. 2. Belcher is a North High School alumna and was editor of the school’s newspaper during her time at North.

North High’s cafeteria, prior to renovations, had a basement-feel with low ceilings and little natural light, according to Friestlben. The light-filled two-story commons area now functions as the lunchroom. The addition of sound-dampening panels helps keep the space quiet despite its openness.

“I had lunch anxiety my whole freshman year of high school,” Friestleben said. “But the new lunch room is spaced out. Kids can pull up a chair against one of the wall tables, plug their phones or Chromebooks because there's outlets right there. It looks like a little coffee shop. So that pressure of needing to find a table, find a group just isn't there.”

A North High Alumnus Comes Back To His School

Working on the project was “a full circle moment” for Ero-Phillips who grew up in the Willard-Hay neighborhood just west of North High School. He attended Willard Elementary School and Franklin Middle School before attending the Summatech program at North High. Summatech was a selective enrollment program focused on math and science. He was also a lifeguard at North Commons Park, and taught neighborhood kids to swim while he was in high school.

As a child, Ero-Phillips had loved to draw, and thought he might make comics or animation. He said he decided to become an architect while he was a student at North High School after taking a field trip to an architecture firm.

“I saw all the paper and markers and people walking around, bringing pieces of paper to their desks and drawing,” Ero-Phillips recalled of the tour. “I know a lot of people have meandering careers where they have to find out their passion and figure out what they want to do. But for me, it was pretty straightforward.”

Sam Ero-Phillips, a North High alumnus, a project designer for LSE Architects, worked on the designs for the remodeling project. He spoke about his experience returning to North High School at a community celebration on Oct. 2. Photo by Melissa Whitler

Architecture allowed him to combine his love of drawing with his math abilities. After graduating from North, he earned his degree in studio art and architecture at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He continued his education at the University of Illinois, and earned a Fulbright Scholarship that took him to Nigeria to build a school.

Ero-Phillips returned to Minneapolis in 2014. He is now the father of two Minneapolis Public Schools elementary students, who he hopes will someday be able to take classes in the career and technical education spaces he helped design.

Growing Enrollment at North High School

While the district has been investing in remodeling the physical space for North High School, Friestleben and her staff have given the school a transformation of their own. Enrollment at the school dropped to a low of 223 students in the 2011-12 school year. When Friestleben took over as principal in August of 2019, enrollment was back up to 395 students, but still well below what is sustainable for the high school. The school has also struggled with perception issues former City Council member and Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education representative Don Samuels infamously said in 2007 that North High School should be burned down (Samuels was in attendance at the ribbon cutting on Oct. 2).

According to Friestleben, when she started as principal, the district had already begun making plans to remodel North High School and bring a career and technical education center to the school. The funding for the remodel was eventually approved in 2020, as part of a capital plan to support the district’s Comprehensive District Design.

North High School Principal Mauri Friestleben spoke to the community on Oct. 2 about the school’s growing enrollment, despite the difficulty of learning in a space under construction. Photo by Melissa Whitler

Under the CDD, the boundaries for North High School were changed, sending parts of the schools attendance zone to Henry, now Camden, High School at the north end of the city’s Northside. The school was supposed to gain students to its south, from neighborhoods that were predominantly white and from higher-income families. The school’s enrollment was projected to increase, along with the share of white students.

The proposal to integrate the school, which Friestleben described as having a Black identity, upset many community members. It also created suspicions about the remodel. That it was meant to gentrify the school and neighborhood. That the district was only investing in the school as a way to attract white students.

Many of those fears haven’t come to be because very few of the white students zoned to North High School have shown up. The school has a larger proportion of Black students than any of the district’s schools, and only 5% of its students identified as white last school year.

Despite the disruptions of construction and changes to its attendance zone, Friestleben says her staff have been working hard to improve the academic outcomes of the students who attend North High School. Her staff meet twice each week to focus on student data, working with both grade level and subject teams to set quarterly goals for their students.

Friestleben said she wants teachers focused on student outcomes. Rather than driving staff away, Friestleben says the school has retained nearly all of its staff in recent years. At the start of the school year, North High School has had few staff openings relative to other Northside schools for the past three years.

And enrollment is growing, even though enrollment in the district is declining. The district has not released enrollment data for this school year yet, but according to Friestleben, North High School has surpassed the 2007-08 enrollment of 634 students, the highest enrollment at the school since then.