Edison High School

Overview

Edison High is a Community School built in 1922. Edison High does have air conditioning in the building and does have its own kitchen. The building does have a Safe and Welcoming Entrance, as defined by Capital Planning, Construction, and Maintenance. The building is 257,922 square feet in size and has a design enrollment of approximately 1,421 students.

Between school years 2014 and 2023, Minneapolis Public Schools has invested $28,675,527 in capital expenditures for the building. In 2017, a facilities condition assessment classified the building as being in good condition. The Operations Division will be conducting another facilities condition assessment in calendar year 2025.

Edison High had an enrollment of 883 students as of 01 October, 2024, with approximately 72.4% of those students qualifying for Free or Reduced-Price Lunch benefits. Note that families are still submitting Applications for Educational Benefits, so this proportion may change over the course of the school year. Total enrollment is approximately 62% of the building’s designed enrollment, making the current building use underutilized [‘underutilized’ is defined as enrollment totalling less than 70% of the design enrollment].

Building Use

At direction of the Board of Education, in October 2024 district staff performed a physical space study of all District schools. This included a walkthrough of the buildings that included many different stakeholders – Board directors, principals, teachers, central office staff, custodians, and others. The tables, figures, and plots below are a summary of data collected during the walkthrough of Edison High.

Classroom Spaces

See Table 1 below for how classrooms and labs are being used in the building.

Plan Use	Actual Use	N Rooms
Classroom	Classroom	43
Classroom	Office - Private	2
Classroom	SEL Space / Calming Room	1
Gymnasium	Lab - Other	1
Lab - Art	Lab - Art	10
Lab - Art	Project Room	1
Lab - Computer	Lab - Computer	8
Lab - Science	Lab - Science	12

Table 1. Classroom and instructional spaces

Building Layout

The below figure[s] are building floorplans as annotated by building staff.

Figure 1. Floorplan for Edison High, floorplan pages 1 through 4

Guided Discussion

A guided discussion consisting of three questions was held with those who participated in the walkthrough. The major themes are included below, as are more detailed summaries of walkthrough participants’ answers.

Question 1: In what ways does the physical environment in this building best support learning?

Edison High School is well-equipped with several specialized areas to support students with diverse needs. There is a wrestling/prayer room, workout room, and classroom spaces that are flexible and have great natural light. Some larger classrooms feature reading nooks, and the solid structure of the building helps to mitigate outside noise for students with hearing sensitivities. The layout is efficient, with stairwells in each corner offering easy access between floors, and spaces are maximized for both school day and afterschool use. The detached gym offers a separate area for physical activities away from the main building. Small spaces on the 3rd floor, like closets, are valuable for affinity groups and programs like Check and Connect. The building’s strong structural design allows for flexibility with changing need. Finally, there is dedicated storage for art, science, and music, as well as excellent science labs and other specialized spaces.

Question 2: In what way does the physical environment in this building interfere with how we would like learning to happen today and in the future?

Edison’s building faces several challenges with its facilities. Restrooms are plentiful but maintenance issues often require closures, and repairs would necessitate major floor work due to the plumbing layout. There is an inadequate number of gender-neutral restrooms, and cleaning is difficult due to the building’s age, which makes it hard to maintain cleanliness despite best efforts. Edison is a medically-enhanced site, and the elevators, essential for the large number of students with physical impairments, are unreliable and fit only one wheelchair at a time. This often means that students have long wait times and require additional assistance. Additionally, there is wasted space occupied by mechanical rooms and a lack of common space—particularly in the cafeteria, which is cramped. Temperature inconsistency throughout the building adds discomfort, with some rooms being too hot and others too cold due to ineffective air conditioning. The building’s layout is not ideal for the special education areas, and the absence of specialized spaces is increasingly felt. The timeline for new spaces for Developmental Cognitive Disabilities students has been delayed. Some classrooms are overcrowded, and larger high school students make the space feel even more cramped.

Question 3: What should the district know or appreciate about the physical environment of this building?

Edison boasts one of the greenest outdoor school areas in Minnesota, featuring a sustainable design with a watershed parking lot, water collection tanks beneath the field, and solar panels that offset half of the building’s energy consumption. The campus also showcases a significant amount of public art, much of which was created to enhance the surrounding Edison neighborhood and attract more families to the area.

Overall Discussion Themes

Excellent science labs, art spaces, and other specialized areas
Solid building that allows for flexible spaces depending on needs
One of the most sustainable outdoor spaces of all schools in Minnesota
Need for updated and additional gender-neutral restrooms
Elevator is inadequate for the student population

Survey Results

Fourteen questions were asked of walkthrough participants at the end of the walkthrough. There were 12 respondents to the survey at Edison High. The questions the participants were asked are included in Table 2 below, and the response breakdowns are included in Plot 1 below.

Question	Question Short	Question Text
1	welcoming main entry	The main entry is welcoming and able to be used by all students and visitors.
2	physical space design supports program	Generally, the design of the learning spaces in the building supports the way we teach and learn (e.g. classrooms are large enough to fit student desks, small group work space, etc.; there is storage for necessary curriculum, tools, manipulatives; all students can hear when the teacher is talking).
3	enough classrooms	The building has enough classrooms to support the number of students enrolled in the program.
4	entire student body can meet together	The school has a space large enough for the entire student body to be together.
5	adequate academic intervention space	The school has sufficient pull-out space to support instructional needs.
6	adequate regulation space	The school has sufficient pull-out space to respond to student behaviors.
7	adequate SPED space	There are sufficient spaces to meet the needs of the school’s Special Education programming.
8	mental health space	There are sufficient spaces to meet the mental health needs of students.
9	adequate lunch room	The cafeteria can accommodate the entire student body in three lunch services.
10	gyms large enough	The gyms are large enough to meet the needs of the program.
11	enough admin space	There is enough administrative space to meet the needs of the program.
12	functional outdoor space	The outdoor environment provides space for both learning and play.
13	adequate restrooms	The restrooms in the building meet the needs of the student body in terms of location, quantity, and inclusion.
14	building feels bright and welcoming	The building feels bright, welcoming, and efficient.

Plot 1. Survey results for Dowling Elementary

Plot 1. Survey results for Edison High

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