James Sanna

About me

James Sanna (james.sanna@gmail.com) is a freelance journalist covering K-12 education issues in Minnesota. He blogs at the Twin Cities School Notebook ( www.tcschools.wordpress.com )

Column:

School Talk

workaround

Hennepin County holding accused transgender murderer in solitary confinement

By James Sanna, Minnesota Independent

A transgender woman charged with murder in Hennepin County is currently being held in solitary confinement in the county jail, local LGBT rights activists say. The activists are attacking the county for using a measure criticized by many national transgender rights organizations as a flawed attempt to keep the accused safe while she awaits trial.MORE »

GOP education plan has educators seething

By James Sanna, Minnesota Independent

On Thursday afternoon, the state Senate passed a highly contentious education budget bill that has many in the Minneapolis schools seething. They see the bill, and its sibling passed by the state House of Representatives on Monday, as an attempt to put their districts on a "starvation diet." MORE »

LGBT activists question Target’s new giving policies

By Andy Birkey

By James Sanna, The Colu.mn

Last week, Target Corp announced what some are billing as a major change in their corporate giving policies, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last summer's public relations fiasco, following their donation of $150,000 to anti-LGBT Republican Tom Emmer's campaign for Governor.MORE »

Minneapolis' schools adopts LGBT-inclusive sex ed, evidence-based anti-bullying

By James Sanna, The Blog Colu.mn

The Minneapolis Board of Education made history on Wednesday, in a couple different areas. The board swore-in Hussein Samatar, the first Somali-American elected to office in Minnesota. But it also took a little-noticed step toward ensuring equality for the district's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in an anti-bullying resolution.MORE »

3M, Pentair draw criticism for MN Forward donations

By James Sanna, The Blog Colu.mn

On Oct. 28 three investment management firms announced that they'd filed shareholder resolutions with two more Minnesota companies that donated to a political action committee supporting Tom Emmer's race for governor, criticizing the companies' approaches to political donations.MORE »

Target says boycotts did not hurt its bottom line

By James Sanna, The Blog Colu.mn

In an interview with the magazine Advertising Age, a Target Corp spokesperson claimed that this summer's boycotts did not dent its profits, even though they helped bring national attention to Target's donations to MN Forward, a Political Action Committee that exclusively supports anti-LGBT GOP candidate Tom Emmer.MORE »

Minneapolis development: What's next at Hiawatha and Lake?

By James Sanna, TC Daily Planet

October 16, 2010 CORRECTIONS AND RESPONSES: After publication of this article, CURA researchers and the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization contacted the Daily Planet to say that the article does not correctly represent their positions and findings, and that it contains factual errors about the reports and authors described.MORE »

Target, Best Buy, 3M lose points in survey of LGBT-friendly companies for Emmer donations

By James Sanna, The Blog Colu.mn

The Human Rights Campaign released their 2011 Corporate Equality Index earlier this week, a rating of corporate America's commitments to LGBT equality through their workplace policies.

The CEI was being closely watched to see if the HRC would deduct points from Target, Best Buy and 3M, Minnesota companies with stMORE »

Educators unimpressed as Dayton, Emmer, Horner debate education future

By James Sanna, TC Daily Planet

Thursday night, the three leading gubernatorial candidates squared off in a debate in Twin Cities Public Television's St Paul studio focused on education. The night was long on hopes and aspirations, and short on specific proposals for addressing urban, suburban, and rural challenges, leaving some education leaders dismayed at prospects for the future of Minnesota's public schools. MORE »

Trial court declares DADT unconstitutional

By James Sanna, The Blog Colu.mn

In a bit of a surprise, a federal trial judge in California has declared that Don't Ask, Don't Tell is unconstitutional. US District Judge Virginia Phillips' opinion, released Thursday night, has the potential to be a landmark decision on the DADT issue.MORE »