The second-graders in Mee Kong’s classroom had not finished their breakfast yet, but they were ready to get to work.
Their assignment: to create a book about their mom’s side of the family. One child sketched her siblings on virtual pages on her tablet. Another pulled up an old photo of her family celebrating Christmas.
“How many of your brothers and sisters go to school here?” the principal, May Lee Xiong, asked her.
“Four,” the girl said, pointing to herself as a baby and three older children. Several others graduated from the elementary school, now called Txuj Ci HMong Language and Culture Lower Campus; they now attend the middle-school program at the upper campus.
Xiong explained that the assignment served an important linguistic purpose for the Hmong dual-immersion class. In the Hmong language, relational words for the mother’s side of the family are different from words for the father’s side of the family. For example, grandmother is two different words depending on which parent’s mother she is.
“They have to learn that,” Xiong said. “We learned it naturally, because we grew up in that, but now, they don’t really have that.” When the school began its language-immersion program in 2011, she recalled, most students spoke Hmong at home. Now, almost none do—and parents seek out the school to provide language instruction, Xiong said.
Txuj Ci adopted its new name—which means “cultural knowledge” and was voted on by parents, students, and staff—at the beginning of this school year. But it started its Hmong programs 20 years ago. Txuj Ci is now the largest elementary school in St. Paul Public Schools, with nearly 700 K-5 students. Though many charter schools catering to the Hmong community provide instruction on Hmong culture, Xiong says her school’s language immersion aspect is unique. And as word of the program has spread throughout the community, the school has grown.
This year, enrollment in Txuj Ci’s kindergarten through fifth-grade classes is up by more than a third from two years ago. The prekindergarten classes had to move to a different location because the building was full. To supplement its elementary programming, in September 2022 the district opened a Hmong middle school, which is now the Txuj Ci HMong Language and Culture Upper Campus. And St. Paul Public Schools has convened a workgroup to figure out long-term facilities solutions to Txuj Ci’s enrollment growth.
In recent years, St. Paul Public Schools, like many urban school districts, has struggled with enrollment decline. One key reason: competition with charter schools. A 2022 Sahan Journal data analysis found that of the 20,000 St. Paul kids who opted out of the district in the 2020-2021 school year, 60% had enrolled in charter schools—particularly those that cater to immigrant communities.
But this year, for the first time in six years, St. Paul Public Schools’ enrollment decline was barely noticeable. Instead of enrollment declining by more than 1,000 students, as it had each of the past four years, the district lost just 48 kids between fall 2022 and 2023—a drop of 0.1%.
The district credits its enrollment stabilization, in part, with an investment in language and cultural programs like Txuj Ci. The four schools that have added the most students in the past two years are the Txuj Ci Lower Campus and the new Upper Campus; the new East African Elementary Magnet School; and Adams Spanish Immersion School.
Another major factor in stabilizing enrollment, according to the district, is investment in prekindergarten programs. Those programs help families “start early” in the district—and many of those families are interested in the language and culture programs, too, said Jackie Turner, the district’s executive chief of administration and operations.
This academic year, St. Paul Public Schools opened East African Elementary Magnet School. More than 70 percent of students transferring into the school came from other districts, charter schools, or private schools. The district also rolled out Karen language classes in four high schools and online. Enrollment rose at Adams Spanish Immersion School, the district’s second-largest elementary. And LEAP High School, which serves new immigrant students, has become a success story. In 2021, the administration proposed closing LEAP, citing falling enrollment, but ultimately the school board opted to keep it open. Now, after moving to a new location, enrollment is up there, too.
Txuj Ci’s success has helped pave the way for the district’s other language and cultural programs, Turner said. She attributes the programs’ success to intentional choices to involve parents and community members in decision-making.
“When you jointly create, people feel invested in that work,” Turner said.
A 20-year process
May Lee Xiong started working at Txuj Ci, then called Phalen Lake Elementary School, in 2004. That year, as a refugee camp in Thailand closed, St. Paul Public Schools prepared to welcome a new wave of Hmong refugees to the district. The district selected several schools to serve as Transitional Language Centers for the new refugees. One of those schools was Phalen Lake.
Xiong was then a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher for the new arrivals.
“Every week, it was new families coming in,” she recalled.
St. Paul Public Schools data show that before the new refugees arrived, a little less than half the students at the school were Asian; the rest were a mix of white, Black, and Hispanic. By 2008, state data show that more than 70 percent of students were Asian. That year, Phalen Lake began a Hmong studies magnet program with a focus on teaching students about culture and heritage. In 2011, the school added a dual-language immersion program so that students could develop fluency in both Hmong and English. It was the district’s second Hmong dual-language immersion program, after Jackson Elementary School began one in 2006; that school has since closed and merged its Hmong programs with Txuj Ci.
In its first year, the Phalen Lake program focused just on kindergarten; it has added a grade each year since. Middle- and high-school pathways developed since then allow students to continue their language learning throughout their school career. The kindergarteners who first enrolled in Phalen Lake’s Hmong dual-language immersion program are now high school seniors, and will graduate this spring.
Two of Xiong’s nieces participated in the early days of the language-immersion program; of 26 cousins, they are the only two who speak Hmong, Xiong said.
“They’re translating for their older siblings to Grandma,” Xiong said. “My mom’s always like, ‘I wish you guys would have started this earlier, so I can talk to more of them.’ ”
Envision plan proves a turning point
Turner identified the district’s Envision SPPS plan, rolled out in fall 2021, as a turning point in the district’s strategy for investment in language and cultural programs. That plan aimed to close and consolidate some schools to provide all students with a well-rounded education.
Parent feedback had already shaped many parts of the district’s proposal, Turner said. The plan included some significant changes to the Hmong program. Jackson Elementary School, where the Hmong immersion program had become smaller over time, would close and merge its Hmong program with Phalen Lake. The plan also laid out the opening of a new Hmong language and culture middle school, which became the Txuj Ci Upper Campus.
But parents pushed back against other changes that they thought would be disruptive to immigrant families. Three of the schools slated to close served many immigrant families: Wellstone Elementary School, home to a dual-language Spanish immersion program; LEAP High School, which serves immigrant students new to the country; and Highwood Hills Elementary School, a small school with many Somali families.
After protest from parents, teachers, students, and alumni, the St. Paul school board ultimately opted to keep these three schools open.
At this point, a new phase of work began, Turner said. Some community workgroups, already meeting before the introduction of Envision SPPS, had needed more time to create recommendations. And the debate about closing Highwood Hills sparked new conversations about supporting East African language and culture in schools.
A workgroup of primarily Somali community members began meeting twice a month to talk about not only supporting Highwood Hills, but also investing in a districtwide program for East African language and culture, Turner said. Those efforts manifested this fall when the district opened its East African Elementary Magnet School.
“That work literally started the month after the Envision vote,” she said.
As the East African Elementary Magnet School prepared to open, the district took steps to boost enrollment at Highwood Hills so the schools would not be competing with each other. The school adopted a polytechnic focus to expose children to technical career fields. With the new focus, Highwood Hills’ enrollment rose nearly 20 percent this fall compared to last year.
For the past several years, enrollment has remained relatively steady at Wellstone, the district’s fifth-largest elementary school. And enrollment at Adams Spanish Immersion School has grown by more than a quarter in the last two years. The school had a long waiting list, which allowed it to add another kindergarten class this year, a district spokesperson said.
And at LEAP High School, which had just 121 students two years ago, enrollment has jumped to 174.
RELATED STORIES
The district attributes this growth to the return of yellow school buses for high school students, a relocation to a new East Side location closer to many LEAP families, and strengthened relationships with cultural organizations that recommend LEAP to families, a spokesperson said.
Matt Olson, a music teacher at LEAP who helped lead the pushback against the school’s proposed closure, said he was not surprised by the school’s enrollment growth.
“I think all of the teachers at LEAP were always confident that we could increase numbers, increase enrollment, and support larger classes at LEAP just as we had in the past,” he said.
Next steps for cultural and language programming include rolling out Somali language classes in some high schools next fall and a second year of Karen language, Turner said. At the request of several school board members, the district will also convene an African American parent workgroup to explore cultural programming for that community. School Board Member Chauntyll Allen told Sahan Journal last fall that she hoped the district could create a year-round Freedom School with a focus on African American students.
‘One thing at a time’
Last fall, Abdisalam Adam put the district’s strategy to the test. Superintendent Joe Gothard announced in May that the district would open its East African Elementary Magnet School that fall—just three months later. Gothard tapped Abdisalam, a longtime district educator and assistant principal, to lead the effort.
Throughout the summer, Abdisalam spread the word throughout the community, holding several enrollment events. In an open house days before school started, the school was crowded with parents, students, and teachers eager to get to know each other. Abdisalam told staff that the school had blown past its enrollment goal, with 253 students.
But on October 1, when schools conduct their annual count, enrollment had fallen to 188.
Many of those challenges can be chalked up to logistics, Abdisalam said. Some parents had reported difficulties with transportation: Their bus stops were too far away. Other families wanted all their children to be together in one school, and the pre-K through fifth-grade school only serves elementary kids. The school’s 7:30 a.m. start time was another factor, he said: It’s challenging for parents to navigate vastly different start times when sending kids to multiple schools.
Next year, East African Elementary Magnet School will add a sixth grade. Abdisalam said he plans to discuss the start time issues with the district. The school is already in discussions about moving to a new building that can better accommodate a K-8 school. And since October, enrollment has ticked back up; in January, the school listed 203 students.
Generally, Abdisalam said, parents feel optimistic and welcome at the school. They’re attracted by the school’s academics, language and cultural offerings, and diverse staff: a mix of East African, white, African American, Latino and Asian teachers. In the hallways at dismissal time, kids often sing a popular Somali song they have learned, “Soomaaliyeey toosoo,” which Abdisalam translated as “Arise, all Somalis.” He described kids “coming down the stairwell just singing this song all together.” Teachers have learned the song, too.
Parents have been moved to see their children coming home singing Somali songs, Abdisalam said. One parent reacted with disbelief, Abdisalam said. “‘I didn’t know they would speak Somali,’” he recalled the parent saying.
Next year Abdisalam hopes that the school’s language lessons will go a little deeper in Somali and Arabic; right now, the school focuses primarily on East African culture.
May Lee Xiong has offered her support to Abdisalam, and he has visited Txuj Ci.
Xiong’s advice to Abdisalam: “One thing at a time,” she said. “He doesn’t have to build everything up at once. It’s going to take 20 years.”
That process involves a lot of one-on-one discussions with families, Xiong said.
“Like I tell him all the time,” she said, “it was one conversation at a time.”
Cynthia Tu contributed reporting and data analysis.
