“Keep their Minds Engaged in Wonder”: Educators’ advice about summer learning

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“Keep their minds and bodies engaged in wonder during the summer months when they are not attending school.” That’s what Julie Olson, director of elementary education for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools recommended last week. She was one of 41 union leaders, superintendents, principals and other education leaders who responded to my request for suggestions about what parents could do to encourage continued learning during the summer. They described a combination modeling, advocacy, exploration and encouraging participation in community, school and family activities.  This can produce a summer with great memories and student growth. Continue Reading

Is there an app for that? Beyond MPS conversations and presentations

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As one of nine Board members at Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), this blog is a platform for my perspectives on community as a mother, teacher and policymaker. I do not speak for the Board; that is the role of the School Board Chair. Rather, this is an opportunity to find a space beyond the restrictions of a majority vote regarding governance topics. With this goal in mind, I present Why We Can’t Wait blog #2. Continue Reading

Hmong House: Home for community, great food for all

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Hmong House transports the diner far from Minnesota by engaging all the senses. The wall-to-wall hand-painted murals of Asian landscapes are a feast for the eyes. The music, sung live during our meal, made us feel as if we were next door to a night club somewhere in Asia. We bumped elbows with hundreds of Hmong community members celebrating in the restaurant’s banquet hall, and enjoyed learning about their traditions from the restaurant’s owners, Kay Yang and See Yang. Most notably, the exotic flavors of the food transported us as well.The restaurant has a 350-person banquet hall, which appeared to be filled to the max when my family and I recently visited the restaurant. Continue Reading

Krishna Pathak: Hostile environment in Minneapolis Public Schools IT department

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Krishna Pathak, like his former colleague Ben Peck, was a manager in the Minneapolis Public Schools’ Information Technology (IT) department for many years. Pathak started in the district in 2001 and resigned his position as Director of Application Services in December 2013, as a show of support for Peck, who was fired that month by Rich Valerga, the district’s current Chief Information Officer (CIO).Recently, Pathak shared more information about a question that is on many people’s minds these days: What is going on with Minneapolis Public Schools’ IT department?You worked for MPS for over twelve years. Why did you resign in December 2013?I resigned to show support for Ben Peck, my colleague who was suddenly fired in a public way.What happened when you submitted your letter of resignation?I gave my two weeks notice in an email, and outlined the reasons why I was resigning. I received no reply from our CIO, Rich Valerga. That same night, however, I tried to log into the MPS system, but my access was gone.Aside from Peck’s firing, why did you resign?Since Valerga came to MPS in August 2013, we were working in a hostile environment of harassment and intimidation. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Katwalk 2014 delivers impeccable design with a sustainable focus

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It was fast, it was furious — and the show left awe-struck audience members eager for more fashion. Katwalk: Fathom 2014 at The O’Shaughnessy on May 17 showcased original work from over 30 students in the apparel, merchandising and design program at St. Catherine University.Sustainable practice is incorporated at every level of the program curriculum, from re-purposing textiles to creating looks from recycled material. Each year, this sustainability commitment is revealed in many of the designs featured at the Katwalk.The show opened with a series of re-purposed designs. As part of their “apparel construction and analysis” course, sophomore designers were tasked with creating a new look from an already existing textile product. Continue Reading

COMMENTS OF THE WEEK | The fight to keep co-teaching at Lucy Laney

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We return this week to issues highlighted at Lucy Craft Laney Elementary School in north Minneapolis. Three weeks ago featured open letter from a Lucey Laney parent pleading for extra funding to expand a co-teaching model that the school initiated in reading/writing and math instruction. Planet reporter Sarah Lahm presented the parent’s plea in a report making clear that budgeting and teacher-assignment procedures leave Lucey Laney with high staff turnover and a concentration of lower-paid, less experienced teachers.On May 9 Lahm wrote a second Lucey Laney story, “Minneapolis principal fights for co-teaching to counter turnover and burnout.” This report too emphasized “the constant turnover of the teaching staff” for this high-poverty low-performing student body and the urgent need to strengthen both faculty stability and student achievement. Co-teaching, said the principal, is an effective, proven strategy to that end.Become a supporting member of the Twin Cities Daily Planet. Most reader comments this time avoided digging into details of co-teaching and whether Minneapolis Public Schools can afford it. Continue Reading

Art-A-Whirl and Making Art accessible for the Hoi Polloi

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Art-A-Whirl® needs to be cut some slack. Ever since my conversation with Tricia Khutoretsky about this past weekend’s MayDay retrospective installation at Public Functionary, I’ve been a little more aware of some of the negativity that she said is in the air. Khutoretsky had talked to me about how in focusing on In the Heart of the Beast and MayDay, she wanted to give an example of what a neighborhood arts festival could be- one that was inclusive and embracing of all the different diversity and levels of experience of the people participating.That negativity was something I may have thought myself at times- this idea that Art-A-Whirl isn’t “high art” enough or “contemporary” enough. But since she mentioned it, I think Khutoretsky is absolutely right- we just need to let that go.Art-A-Whirl reminds me a bit of the Fringe Festival- where you have an event that is hugely accessible to people who aren’t necessarily the normal art-opening crowd. There are people who might never go to see art for the entire year except Art-A-Whirl, just like there are people whose only theater experiences throughout the entire year are going to the fringe.Become a supporting member of the Twin Cities Daily Planet. Continue Reading

Minneapolis principal fights for co-teaching to counter turnover and burnout

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Being the principal of a high poverty, inner-city school is not easy, and north Minneapolis’ Lucy Laney School principal Mauri Melander has the bite marks on her wrist to prove it. They are from a previous day’s encounter, she explains, and an example of what makes working at Lucy Laney challenging.The constant turnover of the teaching staff is another challenge that Melander has to deal with as she works to build Laney, where approximately 90 percent of the students are working below grade level, into a strong, stable school community. This year, she said, she has seventeen first year teachers and few veterans.When Melander found a strategy that helped improve both student performance and teacher stability, she wanted to do all she could to expand it. The strategy is co-teaching, which puts an additional teacher in elementary school classrooms for up to one hour and fifteen minutes per day. Currently, it is being used in many Minneapolis schools in an effort to keep children in their classrooms, rather than pulling them out for extra services and instruction.The push to try co-teaching came from the district’s Teaching and Learning department about four years ago, according to Melander, as part of an effort to add middle school-style content specialists to elementary level grades. Continue Reading

Money for St. Paul neighborhoods in Green Line Challenge grants

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What’s a “corridor of opportunity?” Six St. Paul neighborhoods are about to discover — or to shape — the answer with Knight Foundation grants ranging from $1,000 to $75,000 over the next three years.The Knight Foundation’s St. Paul chapter has announced a community challenge that they hope will create what they call “corridors of opportunity” for residents and small businesses along St. Paul’s soon-to-be opened Central Corridor light rail line. Continue Reading

Comic Con Minneapolis: Bringing out a little nerdiness in everyone

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Wizard World, better known as Comic Con, is in Minneapolis for the first time ever! Comic Con is a very popular fan convention. It attracts people from all walks of life who enjoy comics, cartoons, science fiction, gaming, fantasy, Dr. Who and more. Lots of people come in costume; lots of people don’t. Some costumes seem like a good excuse to go skimpy, others are scary and other are I don’t know what. Continue Reading