Donated school supplies are being collected this summer for Stillwater Area Schools students during the annual “Stuff the Bus” campaign sponsored by Community Thread and United Way of Washington County-East.

The drive ends Friday.

Supplies most needed include headphones, calculators, sanitizing wipes and Ziploc bags.

Donors can drop off supplies at Community Thread; Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute — St. Croix; Cub Foods; Eckberg Lammers; First Resource Bank; First State Bank & Trust; Keller Williams Premier Realty; Lake Elmo Bank; Menards in Oakdale and Oak Park Heights; MidWestOne Bank; Sletten and Brettin Orthodontics; Stillwater Motors; The Zephyr Theatre; United Way of Washington County-East and Washington County Public Works.

Cash donations can be made at www.uwwce.org/donate.

If you can’t afford school supplies, contact your child’s school.

An argument at the Metropolitan State University library Tuesday escalated to a fight and possibly a stabbing, police said.

The man who may have been injured left the area and was not found.

Officials at the St. Paul university issued an alert to students and faculty, saying there was a “violent incident” in the building that houses the Metro State library. There was no indication that students or employees were directly involved, the university said in a statement.

At about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, officers were called to Metro State on an aggravated assault that reportedly involved a knife, according to police.

It began when a man said “disrespectful things” to another man in the university’s library on East Seventh Street, near Maria Avenue, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman. That led to a verbal altercation and then a fight.

The man who initially made the remarks was there with his adult son, who punched the other man, according to Ernster. The son was holding a utility tool, similar to a Leatherman, which he dropped.

The man who had been punched then picked up the tool and used it to defend himself, Ernster said. He struck the other man’s son with it “and believed he could have stabbed him,” but it was unknown because the father and son left, Ernster said.

University security staff witnessed the altercation and called 911. The man who was punched was injured, but did not need to go to the hospital, Ernster said. No one was arrested, according to police.

The building that houses the Metro State University library is also home to the St. Paul Public Library’s Dayton’s Bluff branch. The incident happened in a common space in the building near Metro State’s security desk, according to Audrey Bergengren, the university’s public information officer.

“The safety and security of our faculty, staff, and students is our top priority,” Bergengren said. “The University has diligently prepared for many types of incidents, including ones like this.”

A 1979 graduate of Concordia University in St. Paul  will be the school’s next president.

The Rev. Brian Friedrich has been president of Concordia’s affiliate in Seward, Neb.,  since 2011, and he’s worked there in development and administration since 1991.

He’ll start the St. Paul job on Jan. 1.

Concordia, which enrolls some 5,000 students, is affiliated with the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod.

“Throughout his distinguished career in higher education and the church, he has demonstrated thoughtful decision making, effective and collaborative leadership, strong fundraising experience and genuine love for students,” board chair Mark Moksnes said in a news release.

“It is a wonderful homecoming as both Dr. Friedrich and his wife Laurie are CSP graduates.”

Tom Ries retired as president after the 2018-19 school year.

Provost Eric LaMott will be interim president for the first half of the upcoming school year.

William Patrick Cunningham, a University of Minnesota professor who helped lobby Congress to create the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, died last Wednesday in New York at age 82.

Cunningham was a genetics, cell biology and development professor at the U. His focus expanded to include environmental science due to his increasing conservation efforts and his students’ interest. Cunningham co-wrote two textbooks with his daughter, Mary Ann Cunningham. “Environmental Science, A Global Concern” and “Principles of Environmental Science” have been top sellers for years and are used in post-secondary education.

Cunningham received the Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for his contributions to undergraduate education in 1993.

“He was absolutely adventuresome, both intellectually and when he went out on a canoe. That’s an important trait to have in science,” said Beth Starbuck, a graduate student and friend of Cunningham.

He also served as president of the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club in the 1970s, helping persuade Congress to pass the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act in 1978.

Wilderness Watch conservation director Kevin Proescholdt said that Cunningham was a key influence in bringing about the BWCAW. The act gave wilderness status to the vast lake-studded forest region in northeastern Minnesota, added more acreage, banned logging and limited the use of motorized boats and snowmobiles.

“He loved the Boundary Waters,” Proescholdt said. “He was always curious, always thoughtful, always reflective.”

Cunningham became an Eagle Scout at age 15 and spent several years at Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico. When his family moved to Texas, he attended San Marcos High School, Texas State Teachers College and the University of Texas in Austin, where he earned his graduate degree in cell biology and genetics.

Cunningham was born on July 11, 1937, in Ottumwa, Iowa, one of three siblings. He moved to the Twin Cities after he finished graduate school and received a job offer from the University of Minnesota.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday and 10 to 11 a.m. Friday at St. Francis Cabrini Church in Minneapolis. A funeral Mass will follow the visitation at 11 a.m. Friday. There will be a private burial at a later date.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights says it’s reached a settlement with Ramsey County and is suing a Plymouth private school for failing to protect minors from sexual assault.

The lawsuit against West Lutheran High School is expected to be filed sometime Thursday.

Both cases involve people in positions of authority who failed to protect minors, the human rights department said in a news release.

Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero will discuss with reporters Thursday the two cases and the state’s work to address sexual assault.

Also scheduled to speak are Ramsey County Commissioner Trista MatasCastillo and Hannah Laniado, of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Four nonprofit organizations that work with low-income and vulnerable youth are moving into free office space in downtown St. Paul beneath the rooftop practice facility of the Minnesota Wild.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter will join representatives of the St. Paul Port Authority at 11 a.m. Monday to cut the ribbon for the Securian Financial Equity on Ice Education Center.

Located on the second floor of Treasure Island Center at 400 Wabasha St. North, the center offers rent-free office and storage space, as well as a large multi-purpose room and easy access to the TRIA Rink.

The fifth-floor rink, which debuted in Jan. 2018 on what had once been the rooftop of the Macy’s Department Store, hosts Wild practices, hockey camps, open skates, high school competitions, Hamline Hockey and National Women’s Hockey League’s Minnesota Whitecaps.

The nonprofits are Brownbody, a repertory theater, figure skating and dance company that depicts black history and culture on ice; DinoMights, an urban youth hockey program; Friends of St. Paul Hockey, which provides financial assistance for low-income kids to join hockey leagues; and the St. Paul Police Activities League, which hosts fishing trips, skiing trips, hockey games and other activities with St. Paul kids.

The center was created by the Securian Financial Foundation and Capital City Properties, the nonprofit arm of the St. Paul Port Authority.

Hopes for a seasonal sports dome in Lakeville may deflate if the school district doesn’t see it as an priority.

In a series of work sessions this summer, Lakeville Area School District officials have weighed whether to add one or two sports dome facilities to its list of projects for an upcoming capital levy, or to just construct turf fields without a dome.

Some observers wonder if the dome idea may have quietly died in committee.

Board member Judy Keliher said that’s not the case.

“This board has agreed to continue to have discussions with the group that was interested in investing in these domes for us,” she said. “That’s not off the table.”

The interested group is Dome Partners LLC, headed by investor Josh Kutzler, a Lakeville resident. Kutzler pitched the project to include three covered playing fields per dome during the winter and early spring months.

“They are not moving as quickly as I wish they would move,” he said. “We need time to price everything out. It takes 16 to 20 weeks to order the dome. You just can’t buy it off the shelf.”

The city of Lakeville’s Parks and Recreation department is in a holding pattern as well. Their plans were put on hold when Dome Partners entered the picture and the school district got involved.

“We’re still interested in being a partner and seeing the project get built,” said Justin Miller, Lakeville city administrator.

As of the July 29 meeting, the project was 12th on a priority list of 13, and the board was split with three for and three against putting the $125 million capital levy on the ballot this fall.

Superintendent Michael Baumann said he was more focused on getting a $4.27 operating levy passed, which would provide funds for programs, technology and curriculum rather than facilities.

Both the board and administration say they hope to have a decision at the Aug. 13 board meeting, which is at 8 p.m. at Lakeville City Hall.

A HISTORY

In 2017, prompted by a request from youth athletic associations tired of traveling to neighboring cities for indoor turf needs, the city formed a task force to evaluate the need for an indoor athletic facility.

The task force met for roughly one year and recommended to the city council that a dome be built at either Lakeville North High School, Lakeville South High School or near the Hasse Arena, a city-owned ice rink.

In 2018, the city began planning for a park bond referendum that would, among other things, include a dome.

In December 2018, the city officially requested that the school district donate land next to Hasse Arena toward the project because there was not enough city-owned land to fit the structure.

Shortly after this request, a private group, Dome Partners, made a proposal to privately build and operate a dome at one of three locations — Lakeville North High School, Hasse Arena or on McGuire Elementary school property, adjacent to Hasse Arena.

Dome Partners would build the facility at no cost to taxpayers and would manage the dome from November through April. The school district would cover additional costs throughout the rest of the year, and the agreement would last two decades.

When the school board considered the land-transfer request at a January board meeting, they instead showed interest in the Lakeville North location.

In March, the board faced unhappy youth athletic groups who felt the Lakeville North location was unfair to Lakeville South students.

So the board considered building two domes, one at each school, which means costs to the district to construct the fields could come in at just under $10 million, Baumann estimated.

Now, with two possible levies looming, the dome has slipped way down on the district’s priority list.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

The school district and Dome Partners conducted surveys to gauge public support, both finding a strong desire from the public to have more indoor fields.

The school district’s survey was conducted by Chicago-based Baker Tilly. In it, 420 registered voters were interviewed between May 31 and June 6.

Of the six possible subjects the district seeks support for, “expanded indoor and outdoor physical education spaces” scored lowest, with “safety and security improvements” scoring highest. But even as the lowest, the question, which encompasses the domes, while not specifically stating them, garnered 48 percent positive support.

The survey indicates that the time may be right for Lakeville to ask for a levy. Only 14 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t support any tax increases.

But the board and administration are split over what to spend it on. The board will have another work session Aug. 5 to nail down a solution.

Baumann has said he prefers to focus on a $4.27 million operating levy to pay for non-capital needs such as increased mental health support, more electives and STEM programming for middle schools, safety and security improvements, and upgrades to information technology infrastructure.

The levy could potentially raise property taxes $200 on the average family home valued at $370,000 in Lakeville.

The board also wants a new elementary school and several capital improvements, but going to the public for too much at one time could sabotage the positive feedback seen in the survey.

BIGGEST FANS ARE SPORTS, BUSINESS

Kutzler did his own informal survey, polling 650 people in youth athletic groups.

“Eighty five percent of the parents were in full support of a capital levy to get this done,” Kutzler said. “Close to 50 percent would support it no matter what the cost.”

Michelle Enderson, co-president of the Lakeville North High School boys soccer club, is in favor of adding a dome or two to the city’s available fields.

“We have a huge population (of athletes),” she said. “It would allow for more access. I really believe it would be beneficial to have the opportunity to practice when there’s not enough fields because of weather.”

Local businesses are supportive, Kutzler said.

They stand to gain when teams come from around the state for tournaments and need to eat, sleep and shop in Lakeville.

NOT JUST FOR STUDENTS

But Kutzler knows he’ll need support from more than just the sports community.

Taking a cue from Chaska, in its second year with a seasonal dome, he has tried to highlight the benefits of a dome.

“There was a lot of community support because the school district isn’t the only user of the dome,” said Lori Kendall, communications specialist for Eastern Carver County Schools. “It’s busy every day with community groups.”

Kutzler said with proper scheduling, the dome can be used by a variety of residents.

It can be open at times to the public for walking and running, and there could be a field dedicated to inflatables for children’s groups during the day. Starting at 3 p.m., the fields could be reserved for the school district, and by 6 p.m., the dome could be rented to outside groups.

Kutzler said the groups that would benefit most would likely be spring sports teams, such as baseball, lacrosse, golf and track, who often have to cancel outdoor practices due to Minnesota’s cold, rainy spring weather.

Year-round soccer clubs are interested, and football teams whose season is extended when competing in state finals would benefit from a warmer, drier practice area, he said.

WHY A SEASONAL DOME?

Seasonal domes are becoming a popular solution for groups looking for practice fields during bad weather months.

A seasonal dome consists of a small permanent building which houses locker rooms and serves as an entrance to the facility.

From November through April, an inflatable dome is attached to that structure, covering turf fields, keeping them warm and dry. The other six months of the year, the inflatable portion is removed, allowing outdoor use of the fields.

The Blaine City Council will be hearing a pitch Monday for a 117,260-square-foot, multi-sport facility with a 110-foot dome. Seasonal domes have gone up in Plymouth and Savage and can be run by the school district, the city or a private company.

Why not just build a permanent structure?

“Expense,” said Kendall.

A permanent structure requires air conditioning for summer months, a fire-suppression system and other permits not required for a temporary structure. For Lakeville, it means getting one or two extra gyms for a fraction of the price.

And domes are getting smarter. The newer versions have sensors that detect snow accumulation, which tell the system to turn up the heat and inflate the dome to avoid a collapse, like the Vadnais Heights dome that collapsed in 2018 under the weight of heavy snow. One of Kutzler’s partners, Mark Bigelbach, ended up in a legal battle over damages.

Reflective surfaces and UV protectants on newer materials also help extend the life of the dome, Kutzler said.

As for cost, Kutzler said his partnership would take out a $4 million-plus loan to pay off, like a mortgage, over several years, but would start to see a profit through cash flow in the first year because of high demand.

Opponents of the planned demolition of St. Andrews Church held a vigil Sunday night for the building.

The former church, which is owned by the Twin Cities German Immersion School, is scheduled to be razed Monday to make way for the school’s planned expansion.

Many of the 50 people attending the vigil shared former St. Andrew’s parishioner Ann Forliti’s sentiment.

“I pray that a miracle comes tonight,” she said.

Metropolitan State University hasn’t had a functioning representative student government since October, when the Student Senate’s last meeting fell into argument, intimidation and accusations of racism.

The university temporarily shut down the senate over safety concerns soon after the Oct. 5 meeting.

“It was very heated. We were concerned for our well-being,” said Tina Martinez, who was senate president at the time.

Subsequent efforts to resume their work failed when more than half the elected members, including Martinez, refused to show up.

The standoff fizzled out in May, when the student leaders’ one-year terms expired. Because they never organized an election for new members, the senate as they knew it was dead.

MINORITY SERVICES

The dispute began last August, when Martinez, vice president Leonel Mejia and another senator, Juan Gomez, complained to administrators about vacancies in several positions that serve minority students.

Gomez, a graduate student, said the university touts itself as a welcoming place for students of color.

“The reality is, you find empty offices,” he said in an interview.

The three Latino senators wanted to discuss the matter again at the October meeting but were put off by the presence of the school president and other administrators, who had attended the meeting specifically to hear their concerns.

The senate briefly went into executive session, removing the audience from the room. When they reopened the meeting, the three senators, hoping for a longer students-only discussion, refused to talk about their concerns.

An argument ensued and one student had a panic attack.

Jessica Maistrovich, another student senator, said the three Latino students were verbally attacking the administration.

“It was disgraceful, to be honest. I was embarrassed by the behaviors of members of the senate that I was on,” she said.

Maistrovich said most of the elected students were satisfied that school leaders were working to fill the open positions in student services.

“We did not agree that this was a serious concern,” she said.

President Ginny Arthur acknowledged in an interview that several cultural coordinator jobs were open last year because of resignations and a retirement. But she said there were and are many other faculty and staff on campus whose jobs involve working specifically with students of color.

NO MEETINGS

Within days of the October meeting, the university “paused” the senate. Students no longer were allowed to hold meetings or represent the student body on hiring committees.

Arthur called in Paul Shepherd, Minnesota State system director for student development and success, to resolve the conflict.

He issued a report a month later, recommending the students be trained on their roles as senators and that any continuing “behavioral concerns” be addressed through the university’s student discipline procedures.

Martinez took that as a threat that the Latino students would be punished if they continued to advocate for minority students.

Students and administrators tried to meet again in February but tensions remained high. The Latino students brought an attorney. The administrators had one, too. Maistrovich said the other senators did not bring an attorney but wished they had.

The meeting was canceled.

An April meeting, too, was canceled as Martinez cited “ongoing concerns around safety for Student Senators.”

“They held student senate hostage for months,” Maistrovich said.

Without a senate, Metro State’s almost 8,000 students had no representation on the system’s statewide advocate group for university students and no voice on campus issues.

When the Minnesota State Board of Trustees approved 3 percent tuition hikes in June, Metro State was the only institution out of 37 that failed to submit a required student consultation letter.

“Despite the administration’s attempts to get (the senate) to engage, their leadership team has opted not to fulfill their duties to the students of Metropolitan State University,” President Ginny Arthur wrote of the senate in an April letter to the system chancellor.

FEES APPROVED

However, some senators did continue working in an official capacity.

The Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee, a senate task force chaired by Maistrovich, started meeting in January to determine which clubs would share in $688,000 in fees paid by students. Their recommendations, typically sent along to the full senate, were approved by Arthur.

The Latino senators called those meetings inappropriate because the full senate was inactive. Arthur says the senate was free to start meeting in mid-December but chose not to meet.

In protest, Mejia and Gomez, who headed the soccer and Urban Education Department student clubs, declined to seek student fee revenue.

NEW STUDENT GROUP

Meanwhile, Maistrovich and others set about forming a new student organization with guidance from university administrators and from Students United, a non-profit that is supported by student fees and advocates for university students across the Minnesota State system.

The new group, the Metropolitan State University Student Association, won Arthur’s approval and is now seeking applicants for its inaugural election.

Maistrovich is seeking election.

“I believe we’re moving toward a more positive environment where everybody can voice their concerns,” she said.

Martinez, Mejia and Gomez are not.

“For me, it wouldn’t be healthy,” Martinez said.

A judge is allowing a transgender student’s lawsuit against the Anoka-Hennepin school district to move forward on discrimination claims related to locker room access.

The student, identified in court records as N.H., sued the district in February after he was told to use a single-occupancy changing room instead of the boys locker room during gym classes and swim team practices at Coon Rapids High School.

The school district sought to have the case dismissed, citing a 2001 discrimination case in which a Minnesota employer ordered a transgender woman to use a single-occupancy restroom. The Supreme Court in that case sided with the employer, finding that assigning restrooms “based on biological gender is not sexual orientation discrimination.”

But Anoka County District Judge Jenny Walker Jasper said Monday that ruling doesn’t apply because the Anoka-Hennepin case involves a school and a different section of state law.

The district also argued the case is moot because the student enrolled in a different district, but the judge said the controversy is too important to set aside.

“There can be no doubt that this case raises an important public issue of statewide significance that should be decided immediately,” Walker Jasper wrote.

The judge noted that Anoka-Hennepin’s decision to handle transgender facilities assignments on a case-by-case basis conflicts with guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education.

In 2017, the department recommended schools allow transgender and gender non-conforming students to use the facilities that match their gender identity; any student who objects can use a single-occupancy facility, they said.

Walker Jasper on Monday also granted the Department of Human Rights’ March request to intervene in the case on the student’s behalf.

“Separate never has been, and never will be, equal,” deputy human rights commissioner Irina Vaynerman said in a statement Tuesday.

St. Paul school board members are poised to raise their own pay.

Board members get $10,800 per year, which is less than what comparably sized metro districts pay. However, members are eligible for district health insurance; those who sign up get a premium subsidy that’s worth $9,643 this year.

Jon Schumacher and Mary Vanderwert, who are leaving the board next year after serving one four-year term, gave the strongest endorsements for a raise at a meeting Wednesday evening.

“I feel very strongly that there really does need to be an increase so we can make sure that we have people who have passion, who have expertise and who aren’t going to feel that serving on this board is going to make it impossible for them to meet their financial needs,” Schumacher said.

Vanderwert suggested a salary increase of $5,000 or more.

“I definitely think it’s time for us to do this,” she said. “It’s the most important work a community does, and the board positions need to be attractive to high-quality people.”

The board did not settle on a specific dollar amount. A formal proposal is expected at a future meeting.

No one spoke against a salary increase Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear when school board members last saw a pay raise.

The salary increase proposal is likely to include language directing future boards to review their own pay every few years or so.

PEERS PAY MORE

St. Paul is the state’s second-largest school district by enrollment.

The largest, Anoka-Hennepin, pays between $14,400 and $15,600, depending on the board member’s role, human resources director Laurin Cathey said.

Minneapolis, the third-largest district, pays $22,000.

Most board members make $9,000 in Osseo, $7,236 in St. Cloud, $7,200 in Bloomington and $5,000 in Brooklyn Center, Cathey said.

Cathey also looked at St. Paul’s national peers and found school board members receive no pay in either Des Moines, Iowa, or Portland, Ore.

OPEN POSITION

Chief Financial Officer Marie Schrul said that after last school year there was about $90,000 left over in the sliver of the budget dedicated to the school board’s operations; that fund would cover any salary increases.

The board’s fund balance is growing because they’ve yet to hire a new administrator to the board. The last to hold that job was Cedrick Baker, who became Superintendent Joe Gothard’s chief of staff in June 2018.

The board created the administrator position in 2016 to help the part-time board members do their jobs.

CANDIDATE FILING

Voters will elect four school board members in November. Tuesday is the deadline for candidates to file for office.

So far, eight have filed: Chauntyll Allen, Omar Syed, Jessica Kopp, Charlie Castro, Jennifer McPherson, Elijah Norris-Holliday and incumbents Zuki Ellis and Steve Marchese.

Young girls got the chance to climb into the cockpits of Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters Wednesday at Holman Field in St. Paul as part of a new program at Macalester College.

Project Scientist is a summer STEM academy for girls ages 4-12 “with a mission to change their perception of who a scientist is and what a scientist does.”

The girls tried on flight suits, vests and talked to pilots. Other projects for the week included building soap-powered boats, magnet-powered cars and chemistry rockets.

The program started July 22 and will wrap up on Friday.

Women hold less than 25 percent of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs, organizers say. Project Scientist, founded by Anoka native Sandy Marshall, provides summer academies and expeditions in hopes of closing the gap. Collins Aerospace and Ingersoll Rand are major funders.

An Osseo Senior High baseball player is suing the Minnesota State High School League after he was refused an extra year of eligibility despite an anxiety disorder.

The rising senior, who is not named in court records, has played baseball for his school each year since the seventh grade. But because he repeated the ninth grade, he has used up all six years of eligibility under league rules.

In March, the student asked the league to make an exception because of his disability. He’s been diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and a learning disorder, according to court records.

“His success in baseball has been critical to his self-confidence, mental health and sense of belonging,” the lawsuit reads.

The league’s eligibility committee and board of directors denied the request in May and June, saying the student never “lost the opportunity to participate” in sports for 12 consecutive semesters.

The league grants eligibility exceptions in some cases, such as students who are forced to withdraw from school. Officials determined the Osseo student did not qualify.

The student says in the lawsuit that a seventh year of eligibility would represent a “reasonable accommodation of his disability” under the state’s Human Rights Act.

He’s seeking attorney’s fees and a judge’s ruling to allow him to keep playing baseball for the school.

The lawsuit against both the league and the Osseo school district first was filed last month in Hennepin County District Court. Lawyers agreed to move it to federal court this week.

Hundreds of students who attended Globe University and the Minnesota School of Business may now be eligible to have their student loans forgiven.

Attorney General Keith Ellison said Thursday the U.S. Department of Education has approved Minnesota’s request to allow all students who withdrew from the schools following their September 2016 fraud finding to apply for federal loan forgiveness.

“No one who had to withdraw from a school because of the school’s wrongdoing should be saddled with federal-loan debt that keeps them from affording their lives,” Ellison said in a statement announcing the decision.

A Hennepin County District Court judge ruled in 2016 the for-profit institutions defrauded students by leading them to believe the schools’ criminal justice programs would help them get careers as police and probation officers. But degrees from the schools would not help students meet the requirements for those jobs.

After the fraud finding, the state Office of Higher Education pulled the schools’ ability to operate in Minnesota. The U.S. Department of Education cut off the institutions’ access to federal loans soon after.

Those repercussions eventually led to the chain of schools closing several campuses.

At the time of the fraud ruling, there were roughly 1,000 students enrolled at the two schools.

Some of those students were able to find other schools to finish their degrees. Others weren’t so lucky and were left with debt and nothing to show for it.

Typically, students are eligible for loan forgiveness if they attended a school that closed and withdrew within 120 days of its closure. Ellison asked to expand that window for Globe and the Minnesota School of Business to the court’s fraud ruling.

The U.S. Department of Education agreed and students can now apply to have their loans forgiven. Students who withdrew from the schools and did not enroll in another institution that participates in the federal financial aid program will have their loans automatically discharged.

Typically, students who were able to finish their degrees — either through a teach-out plan or at another school — are not eligible for federal loan forgiveness.

Then-Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit against Globe University and the Minnesota School of Business in 2014 after students came forward saying they were misled about the criminal justice program. Swanson’s lawsuit also accused the schools of making illegal loans with high-interest rates and acting as an unlicensed lender.

Globe and the Minnesota School of Business operated for more than a century before shutting down most of the schools’ campuses after the fraud ruling. At least one former location is now operated by Broadview University, which is part of the Globe Education Network.

Workers from Bauer Brothers Salvage have begun removing busts, doors and other valuables from the former St. Andrew’s Catholic Church as preparations for demolition continue.

The Twin Cities German Immersion School has owned the building on Como Avenue since 2013 and, after fending off challenges from neighbors and preservationists, is planning to demolish the church and expand its adjacent school facilities.

The former St. Andrew’s congregation merged with the Maternity of Mary parish in 2011.

Michelle Favela looked over the room full of long-term investments, disguised as adorable 4-year-olds.

“I like this. I feel like I am making a difference,” said Favela, an aide at the New Horizons Academy in Eagan. “They are going to have a good future.”

Every one of the 17 children in her classroom last month represented a fast-rising cost for families. Tuition at Minnesota day care centers has reached an average of $16,000 for infants — the fourth-highest in the nation. That’s the average per year for an infant. It’s less as the child gets older.

HIGH COST, HIGH QUALITY

Child advocates say the high cost is a sign that the quality, too, is exceptional.

“We have the nation’s children in our hands. Somehow, the value of a child has to be recognized,” said Ann Edgerton, director of the University of Minnesota Child Development Center.

Minnesota should be proud of its day care system, said New Horizons CEO Chad Dunkley. He links superb day care to Minnesota’s best-in-the-nation test scores of high-schoolers.

Yet he admitted that the cost can be crushing for parents. It’s more than tuition at the University of Minnesota, more than average rent, more than the entire income of poverty-level parents.

“This is a hot topic, and a real dilemma for us,” said Judy Ohm, director of early childhood development at the Wilder Child Development Center in St. Paul.

REGULATIONS

A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute examined day care centers — not home-based day care. The average annual cost for a Minnesota infant was $16,087, and $12,252 for a 4-year-old.

Only California, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., charge more. Minnesota’s costs are 28 percent higher than Wisconsin’s, and 55 percent higher than Iowa’s.

The blame for the costs — and the credit for the quality — lies with regulations.

Labor accounts for 70 percent of day care costs, and regulations control labor.

Minnesota requires the equivalent of two years in college to be a day care teacher. “Other states require that you are 18, you are breathing and you pass a background check,” said CEO Dunkley.

Aides, who have less education than teachers, also work in Minnesota day care centers.

Centers take pride in their workers. “We hire people who model the best practices. That skews up the prices quite a bit,” said the U’s Edgerton.

Teachers are paid more, and there are more of them — the ratio in Minnesota is one teacher to four infants.

In Mississippi, said Dunkley, it’s nine.

OTHER FACTORS BOOST COST

CEO Dunkley operates New Horizons in Minnesota, Iowa, Idaho and Colorado, and studies regulations of other states. He warned against easing regulations to save money.

“We do not want to lower the quality. Mississippi kids are not doing very well,” he said.

In addition, other factors boost the cost of day care.

“We want small classroom sizes, low teacher-to-child ratios, and want it open 10 or 12 hours a day,” said Ann McCully, director of the nonprofit Child Care Aware, which helps parents and day care providers.

“It adds up fast.”

Construction costs, too, are high in Minnesota. Dunkley said building a New Horizons facility in Iowa costs 25 percent less than in Minnesota. Wages are about 25 percent lower in Iowa, he said.

Advocates are pushing for even higher standards — which would bring higher costs and higher quality.

“This field is trying to become more professional,” said Edgerton. “The public is demanding more high quality care. That requires more teachers with master’s degrees, and more licensed teachers. The public wants more.”

‘I FEEL BADLY FOR SINGLE MOMS’

But is the public also asking for child care it can afford?

A single poverty-level mom with a single child couldn’t cover the costs of day care with her entire income. Middle-class parents are often stunned when their infant’s day care costs more than their 18-year-old’s college tuition.

“I feel badly for single moms. I know it’s very hard,” said Edgerton.

That’s why day care advocates lobby for subsidies for parents.

“We should not do this on the backs of parents or the pockets of providers,” said Child Care Aware’s McCully. “We need to invest in the system.”

Good day care is in the national interest, said Edgerton. “The nation needs to make a decision, the way Europe has,” she said.

And so is affordable day care.

IMPACT ON BIRTH RATES

Dunkley pointed out a New York Times story in which expensive day care was cited as the No. 1 reason why young adults did not have children. It’s one reason why the birth rate in the U.S. has fallen for four consecutive years.

At the New Horizon in Eagan, Selvini Rajanayagam took a break from teaching her class of 4-year-olds.

The comparison with college tuition isn’t hypothetical to her — her son is a sophomore at the U. Tuition for the 2018-19 school year was $14,760 — so she pays less for his tuition than parents pay for the children in her class.

And it’s worth every penny, she said.

She admitted that her extensive training — a bachelor’s degree and 21 years of experience — contributes to the cost of day care. But during the next hour, as she worked with the kids, the quality was obvious.

She and aide Favela read books to the kids, practiced their numbers, played games, sang and danced, all in a classroom with no screens for TV, computers or phones.

She said the children — and everyone else — benefit when kids are carefully nurtured.

“I don’t think we will ever regret it,” said Rajanayagam. “It’s a good investment.”

Crews will begin razing the former St. Andrew’s Church in St. Paul on Monday or Tuesday to make way for the planned expansion of the Twin Cities German Immersion School.

The demolition, which has been delayed several months as preservationists sought to halt the project in St. Paul’s Como neighborhood, will likely start with the disassembly of the bell tower, according to a news release issued late Sunday night by TCGIS officials. Demolition originally was expected to begin Monday morning, but the contractor is doing additional preparation work first.

The K-8 charter school bought the deconsecrated Roman Catholic church in 2013 and used it as activity and classroom space for the past six years.

TCGIS drew the ire of some of its neighbors and historic preservationists late last year when it announced plans to raze the 1927 building to make way for new classrooms, cafeteria and gym space.

“Our decision to replace this building was a difficult one, and was based on the needs of our students and teachers and the limited budget of a public charter school,” TCGIS Executive Director Ted Anderson said in the news release. “It is hard for all of us to see a beautiful building torn down.”

Over the past week, workers salvaged several pieces of the building for later use, including organ pipes, doors, marble molding, busts and friezes, the news release said.

Drone video and 3D laser scans of the structure at 1031 Como Ave. were also made to document its Romanesque Revival architecture.

Weeks into her tenure, University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel urged a nearly all-female audience Monday to decide for themselves what it means to succeed.

“It is very, very tempting when you are not in the majority … to then overachieve in order to represent the ability to do so,” she said at a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Women in Business lunch on the U’s Minneapolis campus.

Women shouldn’t feel burdened to reach a certain point in their careers, she said, and they should support and reward each other wherever they are.

“We should all be sailing over the bar, but there’s more than one bar. And that’s a good thing and one to be rewarded and congratulated,” she said.

At the same time, Gabel said women should feel they can achieve something even if no woman has done it before.

Gabel has done just that, breaking a string of 16 male presidents at the U. She said she’s “very honored” to have done so but she’s been the “first” before — first female provost at the University of South Carolina and first female business dean at the University of Missouri.

She’s been first often enough that she has a go-to refrain for the “what’s it like” question:

“I don’t know how to answer that question … because I’ve never not been a woman,” she said, to laughs.

Monday’s event was the first public speaking invitation Gabel accepted after taking the job. She gave an 18-minute speech and answered questions for 20 minutes with regent David McMillan moderating.

MENTORS

Gabel’s first degree was a bachelor’s in philosophy, but she got a job anyway because “someone took me under their wing,” she said.

She’s happy to see colleges today have built mentorship and hands-on work experience into their curricula.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Gabel said that among her early observations about the U, she appreciates its balance between access and excellence.

“It can be really, really top-notch without leaving people behind,” she said.

LEGISLATURE

Contrasting Minnesota with Alaska, whose legislature cut state university funding by 41 percent this year, Gabel said she’s grateful to work in a state that values higher education.

Still, she said she senses that lawmakers, students and parents have come to expect more from their universities. She said the greatest challenge facing higher education is skepticism over its “value.”

THE OTHER COLLEGE SYSTEM

Gabel spent breakfast Monday with Devinder Malhotra, chancellor of the Minnesota State system of seven universities and 30 two-year colleges.

The two higher education systems historically have had little to do with each other — to lawmakers’ chagrin — but Gabel is open to changing that. She hinted at a desire to forge new relationships between the U and the state’s public two-year colleges.

“We have a lot of alignment around that,” she said of Malhotra. “I’m very optimistic.”

Two incumbents and eight challengers will compete in November for four seats on the St. Paul school board.

Zuki Ellis and Steve Marchese each are seeking a second four-year term.

Also filing by the Tuesday deadline were Chauntyll Allen, Jessica Kopp, Omar Syed, Charlie Castro, Tiffany Fearing, Jennifer McPherson, Elijah Norris-Holliday and Ryan Williams.

Board members Mary Vanderwert and Jon Schumacher are not seeking re-election.

Two years after loaning his school money in a failed attempt at saving it, McNally Smith College of Music co-founder Doug Smith has filed for personal bankruptcy protection.

Smith and his wife live in their Forest Lake home on $3,913 in combined monthly Social Security income. The government is threatening to garnish that income over an unpaid Small Business Administration loan, according to his lawyer.

“He held out as long as he could,” John Lamey said.

The college abruptly closed in December 2017 and entered bankruptcy two months later. Smith’s business partner, Jack McNally, soon followed with his own bankruptcy filing.

Court records show the two men loaned the school a combined $1.33 million between March 2017 and November 2017, when the school stopped paying its bills.

Smith filed a $665,000 claim in the corporate case in hopes of recovering some of his loan. But most, if not all, of the money available in that case is going to employees who didn’t get their last paychecks.

“My understanding is the unpaid professors and wage claims in the corporate case are going to be the only ones seeing any distribution. We’re not anticipating any recovery,” Lamey said.

WHO GETS PAID?

Under a deal between bankruptcy trustee Patti Sullivan and Exchange Street Partners, the investor group that bought the mortgage on the downtown St. Paul school building, the estate will have around $900,000 to distribute, mostly from the sale of music and recording equipment.

Under bankruptcy rules, Sullivan and the other professionals who are handling the bankruptcy will be paid first.

Wage claims are treated as the next highest priority. Records show 133 employees are seeking payouts in the case; those payments are capped at $12,850 per person.

If there’s anything left, it will go to students who pre-paid tuition for the spring 2018 semester. The school collected $564,000 in tuition before suddenly closing the school, according to Jack McNally’s filing.

Unpaid taxes and other unsecured claims come after the students.

Sullivan wouldn’t confirm that there will be nothing left for students and lower-priority claimants. She said it’ll be about six months before the distributions are finalized.

Smith’s Chapter 7 filing lists well over 100 business-related debts worth $2.2 million that he wants wiped away. They include $1 million to Exchange Street Partners; $300,000 to the Small Business Administration; and smaller amounts to Metro Transit and the City of St. Paul.

Smith also owes $39,000 on student loans and an unknown amount in taxes and government penalties.

INSURANCE PAYS 10 STUDENTS

Ten former McNally Smith students are getting money from the school, but it’s coming through the insurance company, not the bankruptcy estate.

Attorney Jeff Klobucar represents the 10 students, who filed tort claims against the college, alleging school officials misled them about the school’s weak accreditation.

Klobucar said each of his clients reached a confidential settlement with Hanover Insurance earlier this year.

Those students settled for “substantial discounts” from their initial claims, Sullivan told the court.

Sullivan told the judge in March that she gave Hanover a list of 242 people and agencies that submitted $4.47 million in claims in the corporate bankruptcy case. But Hanover isn’t paying anyone other than the 10 students with tort claims.

“Hanover deemed the other claims uncovered,” she wrote.

Many students learned after McNally Smith closed that they were unable to transfer credits to another college because it had national, not regional, accreditation.

Students who took out federal loans to attend the school were eligible to have those loans forgiven, as long as they didn’t transfer their credits to another college.

M.A. Mortenson Co. bought the school building in January for $6.5 million. It houses a charter school, a church and its longtime tenant, the History Theatre.