A state-run integration school in Woodbury will close for good after St. Paul Public Schools couldn’t reach a takeover deal with the Department of Administration.
Following a legislative auditor’s report on mismanagement at Crosswinds Arts & Science School, lawmakers last session ordered the school sold. St. Paul made a late bid to operate the school on a one-year lease, but no deal was reached.
The school district has told about 120 students that they would be welcome at the downtown 6-12 school Creative Arts Secondary, whose principal, Carlondrea Hines, once led Crosswinds.
“It’s better for all parties that the school closes and ends,” said Jackie Turner, chief operations officer for the St. Paul district.
The state is seeking an appraisal and expects to offer it for sale in late fall, Department of Administration spokesman Curt Yoakum said. As long as no state agencies want the building, it will be offered at the appraised price to local governments.
Depending on the price, St. Paul Public Schools could be in the running to buy the building. South Washington County Schools also is interested.
If local governments don’t want the building, the state can offer it for sale to the public.
Laurel LeBlanc of St. Paul, whose son had hoped to attend Crosswinds as a freshman this fall, said she was devastated by the decision to close it. She attended legislative hearings on the school and said lawmakers seemed set on shutting it down.
“They kept saying it’s a failing school. Look at their test scores,” she said.
LeBlanc, whose daughter also attended the school, saw in Crosswinds a “very special community” where everyone is respected and bullying is virtually nonexistent. She hopes St. Paul will buy the school and reopen it under its original mission.
Woodbury Leadership Academy, a charter school that leases space inside Crosswinds, will continue to operate there this fall.