New school for children of employees a class act - Dayton Hudson Corp. Target Stores; Growth Retailer of the '90s

Discount Store News, Sept 17, 1990

New School for Children Of Employees a Class Act

In a move to show its employees that it knows how to deal with the issues of the '90s, Target has started an elementary school for children of its employees just five blocks away from corporate headquarters.

The parents of 28 children, grades kindergarten through two, "will be able to enjoy more quality time with their children," said Larry Gilpin, senior vice president for personnel.

By showing that Target is "a progressive company that can deal with the issues of the '90s," Target should find it easier "to recruit and retain employees," Gilpin said.

Target employees got first crack at the new school, called Mill City School, that will feature: an extremely favorable pupil to teacher ratio of 14:1; Montessori instruction, a type of individualized, hands-on instruction; and YWCA-provided, on-site day care in and around school hours from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the bargain rate of $25 a week. The school, which opened Sept. 4, also enrolls two children of non-Target parents.

The reaction around Target is "extremely favorable, even among employees who aren't parents," Gilpin said.

Parents can see their youngsters while driving to and from work and even have lunch with them, if they wish. Target parents who have enrolled their children in the school are getting much more involved with school affairs and their children's education, Gilpin said.

As a single mother, Amy Cornell is particularly excited about the school. A senior merchandiser for Target, Cornell works about a 45 minute drive away from the school her daughter, Emily, age 7, attended last year.

Now, with her child going to the Mill City School, "it allows me to participate in her education," Cornell said. "I can drop in to see her read, see her act in a school play, even have lunch with her. I couldn't do that when I worked 45 minutes away."

As a bonus, "her grandpa works just across the street" from Target headquarters, so he can see her more often, too, she said.

A bus will pick up the children at Target headquarters and bring them to school, Cornell said.

Cornell said she previously was spending about $70 a week on day care, compared with $25 now.

As an indirect subsidy to day care, Target is providing free facilities, so that all the YWCA must provide is labor.

The Mill City School is a joint venture of the Minneapolis School District and Target. Target will spend from $250,000 to $300,000 over five years, Gilpin estimated, for leasing and renovating about 10,000 square feet of office space for classroom use, including adding bathrooms, a kitchen and an activity/ lunchroom.

For at least the first year, Target also is subsidizing about two-thirds of the salary of a $36,000-a-year teacher, said Dr. Dave Roffers, principal and head of a new Minneapolis school department called Business Partners. The Target school will have two teachers, although the normal pupil to teacher ratio is 24:1, he said, so Target is paying for the extra teacher time.

Because the school primarily benefits Target employees, rather than the community at large, the money comes out of the Target personnel budget, rather than the funds Target allocates for community contributions, 5% of pretax profits.

Some 800 of the 41,000 pupils in Minneapolis schools now receive Montessori instruction in two elementary schools, Roffers said.

Target is considering expanding the school to cover through grade four, Gilpin said. Over the minimum, five-year life of the program, anywhere from 200 to 250 Target employees will have grade school children who could use the school, he said. Out of 85,000 systemwide workers, Target employs 1,500 at headquarters.

The Mill City School could accommodate comfortably 75 pupils, with a minimum of about 100, Roffers said.

Minneapolis schools began its Business Partnership program back in January, Dr. Roffers said. Target is the first corporation to fund a school, he said, but the school district already has lined up 15 to 20 other partnerships.

The Target program is particularly helpful because the school district is facing a squeeze on classroom space because of a bulge in the number of pupils entering elementary school this year, he said.