Foss Rd
Minneapolis, MN 55421

This school along with the middle school have completely cratered in the past few years and have driven us to move to Shoreview so our kids can get a good education. Academics have gone down the drain - honors classes have been eliminated in the name of "equity", test scores have plummeted and have been slower to recover than neighboring districts. Behavior issues are off the charts and there have been numerous cover ups involving staff misconduct, yet the only thing that administration and the school board seems to be worried about is "equity". It's hard to believe that not too long ago this was a top-5 district in the state, on the same level as Edina HS or Mounds View HS. It's probably now in the same tier of schools as Columbia Heights or Fridley but with much more expensive housing prices and higher property taxes to pay for it. A real shame.

Wilshire Park Elementary and the St. Anthony–New Brighton School District have been a huge disappointment. The principal is rarely present, and most kids don’t even know who she is. Communication is poor, with concerns ignored, and issues are often blamed on teachers rather than addressed by administration. The district’s “Effective Instruction” program has been a failure, creating confusion and stifling teachers. It’s a good idea in theory but the implementation has been a disaster. Behavioral issues go unchecked, with disruptive students receiving no consequences, leaving well-behaved students to suffer in chaotic classrooms. The entire district is in decline, with dropping academic performance, high teacher turnover, and families leaving for better options. We are seriously considering pulling our child from the school. Wilshire Park no longer provides a safe, supportive, or effective learning environment—I strongly recommend looking elsewhere for both students and educators.

I had a really positive experience at this school, I completely understood the curriculum and the work came easy for me. I did not experience any bullying or discrimination, and there was amazing clubs like the GSA and library club. But a lot of people I know and are close to had a negative experience with the school. Discipline was not that well enforced at the school and a lot of the people got away with harassing other students about their identity and way of life. And while I was attending this school they restricted our bathroom passes to two passes a day, and would take away all passes for weeks leading up to breaks or events. Or in the standardized testing month all passes were revoked for the whole month. A lot of students struggled with understanding the material we were provided with as well, and so many people were failing multiple classes. And the grading system is complex and hard to understand, it was hard to tell when you were failing and led parents to be confused. Getting a assignment back with a bad grade did feel better than when we got number and letter grades, but it was also confusing when we’re were supposed to be checking in about why we got a bad grade on a important assignment.