South Education Center

South Education Center is a special education and alternative school in the 7400 block of South Penn Avenue in Richfield, Minnesota.[1] It is part of Intermediate District 287.[2] Eleven school districts from Minneapolis and environs send their students to the center.[3][4] The population served is from pre-Kinder to 21 years of age. The school defines its upper-age limit as "Transition".[5] In 2022 there were 200 students.[6] In the early 2020s, the school served about 80% minority students.[7] Federally, the school is classified as suburban.[8]

Built for 350 students, the $25.4 million building construction began in 2006, and has lockdown capability: classrooms and areas can be electronically isolated.[9] The school features an Accessible Art Garden opened in 2012,[10] and in 2020 the students and teachers extended their art practice to the school's fence.[11] In 2016 the school phased out its use of metal detectors and instead provided with school safety coaches.[12][13] The school trained its staff in "trauma, crisis and de-escalation".[14]

In September 2021, the Superintendent said that the school "serves some of the highest-needs students in the state".[15] In 2022, she added that the school's focus is to provide "destigmatized mental health support".[16] That same year, following the fatal shooting of a student outside the South Education Center, the school district reinstated the metal detectors it had retired in 2016 because of "concerns about criminalizing student behavior."[17]

Shooting

In early 2022 a student was killed in front of the school and two injured,[18] one seriously.[19] A 20-year old was convicted for his involvement in the killing of a fellow student[20] and sentenced to three years in prison.[21] The 19-year old who shot and killed the student would later be sentenced to 23.5 years in prison after being convicted for murder and also pleading guilty to assault.[22][23]

Awards

The school won the 2011 Grand Prize from Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture.[24] The prize was part of the Healthy Kids Recipe Competition promoted at the time by the White House.[25][26]

References
  1. "Police identify shooting suspects outside South Education Center; 1 still in critical condition". KSTP-TV - ABC 5. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022. the South Education Center — a special education and alternative learning school
  2. Paul Walsh; Eder Campuzano (1 February 2022). "2 arrested after shooting outside school in Richfield kills one student, injures another". Star Tribune. Retrieved 7 February 2022. South Education Center, an alternative school in the Intermediate District 287 that serves students from pre-K to age 21. Police found the two students wounded outside the school, in the 7400 block of S. Penn Avenue
  3. John Bacon (2 February 2022). "'Altercation' among students sparked shooting that left 1 dead, 1 injured at Minnesota school". USA Today. Retrieved 7 February 2022. South Education Center serves several school districts
  4. Jennifer Lewerenz (2 February 2022). "Police: Previous Dispute Likely Lead Up to Fatal Shooting Outside Richfield School". KNSI. Saint Cloud. Retrieved 7 July 2022. South Education Center, which houses an alternative high school and special education programming and serves 11 school districts from Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs
  5. "South Education Center".
  6. Neil Vigdor; Isabella GrullóN Paz (2 February 2022). "Student Killed in a Shooting Outside a Minnesota School". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2022. South Education Center in Richfield, Minn., a school that serves about 200 students with special and alternative-learning needs from prekindergarten to age 21
  7. South Education Center Academy US News
  8. "Search for Public Schools - School Detail for South Education Center Academy".
  9. Adam Johnson (24 October 2006). "Function and flexibility governs the design of South Education Center in Richfield". Finance and Commerce (Journal). BridgeTower Media Holding Company, LLC. ISSN 8750-6149. Retrieved 7 February 2022. $25.4 million project at 7440 Penn Ave. S. [...] will serve about 350 students [...] The building also will possess lockdown capability, with electronic locks that can isolate sections and classrooms
  10. "GALLERY: Richfield SEC Students Turn into Artists". 23 April 2012.
  11. "Students, teachers create George Floyd tribute on Richfield fence". 2 June 2020.
  12. Paul Walsh; Mara Klecker (2 February 2022). "Students' dispute led to shooting at Richfield school, police say". MSN. Retrieved 7 February 2022. Hicks added that South Education Center previously phased out the use of metal detectors at school entrances
  13. "Alfredo Rosario Solis, Fernando Valdez Alvarez ID'd As Suspects In Fatal Shooting Outside Richfield School". CBS Minnesota. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022. The district had previously made the decision to remove its metal detectors and hired school safety coaches to be positioned in the buildings
  14. Elizabeth Shockman (4 February 2022). "Superintendent sought student mental health help months before shooting at Richfield school". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 7 February 2022. Within the last several years the district has made investments to become more trauma-responsive — training staff in trauma, crisis and de-escalation
  15. Kim Hyatt (10 September 2021). "Student in custody after bringing gun to District 287 school in Richfield". Star Tribune. Retrieved 7 February 2022. Superintendent Sandra Lewandowski said [...] "As a school district that serves some of the highest-needs students in the state
  16. "Alfredo Rosario Solis, Fernando Valdez Alvarez ID'd As Suspects In Fatal Shooting Outside Richfield School". WCCO-TV - CBS 4. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022. Superintendent Sandra Lewandowski said [...] focuses on destigmatized mental health support.
  17. "South Education Center will install metal detectors after student was shot, killed outside school". Star Tribune. The district did away with metal detectors and school resource officers in 2016, citing concerns about criminalizing student behavior and opting instead to rely on safety coaches
  18. Mike Hanks (15 December 2022). "Defendant acquitted on 5 of 6 counts in Richfield murder case". Sun Current newspapers. Retrieved 15 January 2023. Two other students were injured during the incident
  19. "Superintendent sought student mental health help months before shooting at Richfield school".
  20. William Bornhoft (8 December 2022). "Richfield School Shooting Trial: Alfredo Solis 'Not Guilty' Of Murder". Southwest Minneapolis. Patch. Retrieved 15 January 2023. the death of Jahmari Rice, who was a fellow student at the South Education Center.
  21. "Alfredo Solis sentenced for role in fatal shooting outside Richfield school". CBC News Minnesota. WCCO-TV. 3 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2023. Alfredo Solis was sentenced to three years in prison
  22. Duxter, Adam (1 March 2023). "Fernando Alvarez sentenced to 23.5 years in fatal shooting of Jahmari Rice outside Richfield school". WCCO. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  23. "Shooter sentenced to 23 years in murder of teen outside Richfield school". KARE 11. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  24. Marsha Trainer (29 July 2011). "Richfield SECA's Journey to the Top of Healthy Kids Recipe Competition". Patch. Retrieved 16 July 2022. at the reception that evening, Guthrie, a Richfield South Education Center Alternative (SECA) teacher, along with Parasole corporate chef Todd Bolton, student Dolores Popescu and Bloomington Public Health Nurse Mary Lair, made and presented a recipe, which are mini turkey burgers, that her life skills class had helped to create and refine [...] the SECA group won top honors
  25. "'Porcupine Sliders' Win School Lunch Contest". 29 July 2011.
  26. Carina Storrs (4 January 2016). "Rules to make school lunches healthier are working, study finds". CNN. 3 of 13. p. 3. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2022. GRAND PRIZE WINNER [...] dreamed up by Chef Todd Bolton and students, community members and school professionals from the South Education Center Alternative School in Richfield, Minnesota{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

44.8679°N 93.3110°W / 44.8679; -93.3110

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