When it comes to charter schools, Minnesota has been leading the way. Shortly after state legislation was passed in 1991, the nation’s first charter school opened its doors. Today there are 131 charter schools in the state with 23,478 students enrolled. In a freshly painted bright yellow building in St. Paul resides the nation’s second charter school to open and the only one in the state to cater to deaf and hard of hearing elementary students, Metro Deaf School.

Metro Deaf School (MDS) is one of the many charter school success stories. Despite the negative stories that sometimes appear in the newspaper, charter schools in Minnesota are doing quite well. They often are started by dedicated teachers who want to make a positive impact on the lives of their students. When a charter school fails, it is not due to inadequate teaching, but rather to a lack of administrative capacity, a situation you will be hard pressed to find at MDS. Their success can be attributed to not only the quality teaching but also to the dedicated administration.

MDS’s director Dyan Sherwood, along with parents and teachers in the St. Paul School District, chartered Metro Deaf School in 1992. A year later they opened the doors of a remortgaged house with no furniture to thirteen students. Their mission was to provide a quality education for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Over the years, they expanded in the small house to downtown St. Paul from two rooms to two floors over five years and then moved to another building they occupied for eight years.

“One of our goals was to eventually own our own building, but state laws specify that charter schools cannot own a building,” states Sherwood. A separate nonprofit named 1House2Hands was created with the sole mission “to own and lease a building to Metro Deaf School.” With 1House2Hands created, the next step was to find a building…and pay for it.

After looking at numerous buildings, they eventually decided on a warehouse near the fairgrounds in St. Paul. MDS approached their bank, M&I, for a loan to purchase the building. “We were worried that we were too small to get a loan,” said Nan Martin, business and operations manager. “But when M&I looked at our plan, they said if we can get someone to help us with 20% down, they could provide us with a loan.” That is when MDS turned to Nonprofits Assistance Fund.

“Phil Hatlie, the loan officer at Nonprofits Assistance Fund, really went to bat for us,” smiled Martin. “He did his homework and was there to see our vision all the way through.”

Phil worked with MDS and 1House2Hands by first helping them create a cash flow of their income and expenses. Martin adds, “It was a piece of cake. It was just a matter of pulling reports and talking to Phil.”

Nonprofits Assistance Fund was able to provide MDS with the funds they needed and M&I provided the mortgage loan. “It’s a win-win situation for Nonprofits Assistance Fund and M&I, a community bank that wants to do good in the community” states Sherwood.

In January of 2007, the new school opened its bright yellow doors with a staff of 45 including 22 teachers. Nearly eighty DHH students attend from 24 school districts across the metro area and western Wisconsin. The building includes state of the art teaching systems and well-lit spacious rooms that allow for the movement needed to communicate with sign language. MDS is also in the process of building a media center with an amphitheater, computers, and television studio.

MDS has also started a capital campaign to raise $1 million to build a regulation high school gymnasium. The gym would become a central point for athletics in the DHH community and help the community become more aware of MDS. MDS looks forward to working with NAF on financing their gym.

“It’s just a great experience working with Nonprofits Assistance Fund,” says Sherwood. “They are very receptive. It’s nice working with an organization that supports you and can see your vision.”

Phil concludes, “Metro Deaf School’s determination and willingness to work with M&I Banks and Nonprofits Assistance Fund is proof that charter schools are out to succeed. These are the types of charter schools that should be making the news.”

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