**6th grader Nyree Ramzy holds a photo of trash bins gathered to collect water from a leaking classroom roof.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

By Azhae’la Hanson, Reporter
Leaders of a North Minneapolis Montessori school say they are close to securing a new home after a long, bitter impasse with its landlord, a Catholic church that evicted the predominantly Black school.

JJ Legacy Montessori School was evicted from a building owned by Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church at 5140 Fremont Ave. N. after the last school year for not paying rent. The school, named after civil rights leader Josie Johnson, held rent payments in escrow because the church refused to fix a slew of maintenance issues. School leaders say they have dealt with an accumulation of maintenance issues since 2019 that include a leaky roof, unusable classrooms, broken kitchen equipment, only one working bathroom per gender for the entire building, a 10-week delay in trash removal, and asbestos in a classroom.

“It's been a gradual decline,” head of school Tonicia Abdur Salaam said. “We need clean spaces for our children to be able to learn. It is unacceptable to be okay with the conditions that this parish has allowed in the building without consideration for our children.”

The school says that the church has failed to consistently respond to maintenance requests since 2019. In a final attempt to garner attention, the school withheld their rent payment and left it in escrow contingent upon the church’s response. In return, the school received a notice on June 30th that they had until July 6th, a week to vacate the premises and move out an entire school.

**JJ Legacy School board member Crown Shepherd chanted “Black Students Matter,” at a children's march hosted in the parking lot of Our Lady of Victory Church.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

A peaceful children's march was held on July 9 outside of the church to extend their date to vacate to August so they have time to move and find a new location.

“We don't want to be here anymore either,” Abdur Salaam said. “What we want is the space and the time and the resources to find a clean building because our children deserve the best.”

More than 80 percent of JJ Legacy School's staff is Black, a stark difference from the composition of most schools in North Minneapolis who’s staff is primarily white teaching Black students. Community members, staff and students say JJ Legacy School is a haven for Black children in North Minneapolis.

Sixth-grader Nyree Ramzy, led the crowd to chant “Black students matter.”

“We deserve better, my teachers deserve better,” said Ramzy. She said JJ Legacy School is important. They taught her that she is welcome and deserves to be in school.

In the parking lot, teachers, students, and parents spoke of the maintenance issues that have accumulated over their residency. Irene Robinson, a former cleaning staff member, marched in solidarity with the school. She remembered constantly changing buckets of water from leaky roofs. She saw photos of the damages during the march and was shocked to see that the same leaky roof was worse and amongst even more damages.

“It was horrible,” said Robinson. “The way that they've been treated here has been crazy.”

**School administrators says the parish replaced the roof on the church (right), but the school (left) remained untouched, despite the reports of leakage.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

To mitigate the risks posed by the deteriorating building conditions, JJ Legacy School had to block off portions of the school building that they pay for, including classrooms, offices, and bathrooms, for extended periods, sometimes indefinitely.

“We have been charged full rent, although we have not been able to use every single classroom that we are renting because of conditions,” said Abdur Salaam.

She also says thousands of dollars of the school's property has been lost to unresolved maintenance requests.

Our Lady of Victory Church hasn’t responded to North News with a statement concerning the eviction. A spokesman spoke to other news outlets and said operations of the church is owed more than $175,000 of rent from JJ Legacy School, which hasn't been paid since May of 2022.

The church said it will not be able to continue operations without the money. The church is insolvent and service may be delayed until Sept. 1.

“Since the school has not made payment of past due rent, the parish is left no other choice than to take possession of the building and seek a new tenant for the upcoming school year,” Reverend Michael Tix told KARE 11 News. “Absent the payment of the past due rent, and without the income from a tenant in the school, the parish will not be able to continue operations.”

JJ Legacy board member Crown Shepherd says the school wasn't able to receive rental assistance because the church failed to complete required building inspections. After the children's march, Our Lady of Victory Church extended the date to vacate to July 21.

Abdur Salaam says since then the school has secured a new building but is unable to release the location because they are in the final processes of negotiation. They are raising funds to help with the upcoming school year. The school will remain on the Northside.

School leaders still hope to meet with the archdiocese to resolve lingering bitterness over the years-long dispute.

Although uncertain about a resolution with the church, Abdur Salaam is certain of one thing, class will be in session Sept. 5

JJ Legacy School looks for new home after dispute