Final pre-endorsement forum for Minneapolis school board candidates

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With a theme of “Why We Can’t Wait,” current Minneapolis School Board member Tracine Asberry hosted a school board candidate forum at Martin Luther King Park on April 24. The forum was intended to address school board governance questions, and it brought together citywide candidates Rebecca Gagnon, Ira Jourdain, Iris Altamirano, Doug Mann, and Andrew Minck, along with District Five candidates Jay Larson and Nelson Inz.Asberry’s forum, which was described as being sponsored by partners and supporters of “Team Tracine,” was moderated by Victor Cedeno of Generation Next and included pre-determined governance questions as well as questions from the audience and from Minneapolis high school students.An audience of around fifty people listened as the candidates sought to distinguish themselves from one another before the April 26 Minneapolis DFL Convention. The first question asked the candidates what they would look for in a future superintendent, which led to calls for someone who would lead with transparency and what Altamirano called a “collaborative yet decisive” approach to the job.As the forum progressed, a high school sophomore from Washburn asked what the candidates would do to allow for “more inclusion of Latin American history” in the district’s classrooms. In response, most candidates spoke about how they would push for the greater inclusion of parent and student voices regarding what is taught in schools, with Mann saying he would want to look at what is present and what is missing in the curriculum.Become a supporting member of the Twin Cities Daily Planet. A Bryn Mawr parent asked how to further diversify the literature students are exposed to in district classrooms. In response, current board member Gagnon said that the board is in charge of curriculum, but not Focused Instruction, which some have said emphasizes a more narrow, standardized approach to the classroom. She then went on to say that she supports the IB (International Baccalaureate) program currently used in the district because she believes it does “pull in” materials that represent broader perspectives.Mann said today’s curriculum is “still about patriotism” and therefore offers a limited view of history and literature, while Minck said he believes teachers should use as many sources and resources as possible throughout grades K-12. Continue Reading

Minneapolis Public School Board video forum

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This year, voters will elect two candidates to at-large school board seats, and one candidate to each of three district seats. To help our readers learn more about the candidates and the issues they’ll be deciding on the school board, we invited each of them to our office to record a short video interview.

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E-DEMOCRACY | Minneapolis Public schools, attendance boundaries, and civil rights

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Editor’s note: Seward Montessori School is located at 2309 28th Avenue South, Minneapolis. According to its website, it became a K-8 school back in the 1990s. This E-Democracy discussion thread has two concerns: 1) What’s a Montessori school for grades 6-8? and 2) Where should Minneapolis invest money in order to provide good schools for all students? From: Sue Kolstad Date: 7:26pm, Apr 19An interesting illustration of what happens when you convert elementary and middle schools to K-8: Seward Montessori School. It was changed from K-6 to K-8. Continue Reading

Minneapolis School Board candidates give their solutions to public school problems

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Delegates to the April 26 Minneapolis DFL City Convention, along with a handful of parents and educators, sat in the half-filled auditorium April 17 at Sabathani Community Center to hear candidates for the Minneapolis School Board give their views on what can be done to improve public school education in the city. The forum was sponsored by the Coalition for Quality Public Schools, a group focused on addressing racial and economic disparities in local schools.The candidates faced moderator Nicque Mabrey, an associate director at Out Front Minnesota and an anti-bullying advocate, along with a panel of four community members who posed questions about high-stakes standardized testing, bullying, class size, school closures, discipline policies and community schools.“We want to bring together different view points,” said Mabrey. “We have to transform school culture and focus on the first steps to change.”The candidates – Siad Ali from the 3rd District, Jay Larson and Nelson Inz from the 5th District, and Iris Altamirano, Rebecca Gagnon, Ira Jourdain, and Andrew Minck running for two at-large seats – are seeking the party’s endorsement. At-large candidate Doug Mann, a democratic socialist, is seeking an indorsement from the Green Party.All the candidates agreed that there are troubling problems with local schools, including ethnic differences in graduation rates. While graduation rates are rising, 21 percent of students still don’t finish high school. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Citizens chained and united – Let’s pass HF 276 the “We the People” Act

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The “We the People” Act HF 276/ SF 17 has passed Minnesota’s Civil Law Committee and needs everyone’s help as it faces an imminent make or break close vote in the full State House. It succinctly requests a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to overthrow the Supreme Court’s rulings in favor of both Citizens United and Shaun McCutcheon. Thanks to a citizen’s organization called Move to Amend, 500 cities/ towns plus 16 States have voted in support, and with HR 276 Minnesota could be the next. Minnesota Move to Amend will be having a rally at the state capitol 2PM on Wednesday, April 30 joined by Common Cause, Friends of the Earth and League of Women Voters though the critical vote may happen earlier.Rarely in human history has there ever been an arrangement where so few people could single-handedly inflict so much damage to so many as just 5 Supreme Court justices just did.  (Click here to read my addendum on The Supreme Court’s 5-4 rulings) Farewell to fair play.In the McCutcheon ruling announced April 2nd, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the $123,200 aggregate limit for how much money any individual donor could give to candidates, parties or PAC’s in a two-year election cycle was unconstitutional under the First Amendment even though money is mentioned nowhere in the first amendment. (Click here to read my addendum on McCutcheon Tarnishing the Name of Free Speech)Here is a parable to explain illegitimate court-fabricated doctrines that these 5 out-of-touch justices they have imposed upon our nation:1: Declaring corporations to be “legal persons” under the 14th Amendment thereby having first Amendment free speech rights is like chaining natural persons to the wall behind the elephant in the room. Continue Reading

Achievement gap or education debt? Minneapolis school board candidates face questions

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Is “education debt” a more accurate description than “achievement gap?”This was one of the early questions in the April 12 Minneapolis school board candidate forum put on by Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC). The forum is one of several being held before the  April 26 DFL Convention, when delegates may or may not choose to endorse school board candidates.The forum was held at Shiloh Temple, across the street from the Minneapolis Public Schools’ Davis Center headquarters, and it attracted approximately fifty neighbors, NOC members, and interested citizens.A key race this year is for two citywide at-large seats, and all five declared candidates for these two spots were present. They included incumbent Rebecca Gagnon, who has been on the board since 2010; Doug Mann, who is making his ninth run for a spot on the board; and newcomers Iris Altamarino, Ira Jourdain, and Andrew Minck.Also present was Nelson Inz, who is running against Jay Larson for the District Five seat in south Minneapolis. District One incumbent Jenny Arneson, who is running unopposed for her seat, was not able to make the forum; Said Ali, running in District Three, was also not there.The forum was moderated by high school student and NOC member Jerica Gillespie, who worked to keep candidates’ answers succinct and on topic. When Gillespie finished, audience members also had a chance to ask questions.The first question asked the candidates how they would define the term “achievement gap,” and Gagnon said she would reframe it the way African American educator Gloria Ladson-Billings has, as an “education debt.” Gagnon said she felt the term achievement gap implied that children are responsible for catching up to another group of students.Inz built upon Gagnon’s distinction and said it is important to consider how the “achievement gap” is being measured. Continue Reading

Kahn, Noor head to primary battle as convention fails to endorse

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Longtime State Representative Phyllis Kahn lost out on a DFL endorsement at the 2014 Senate District 60 Endorsing Convention on April 5, as Somali candidate and current school board member Mohamud Noor brought enough delegates to keep her vote total below the 60 percent needed for endorsement. The convention at De La Salle High School, which lasted nearly 10 hours, ended without an endorsement of either candidate, leaving them both to vie against each other in the August primary.Kahn is currently serving her 21st term in the state legislature, serving as chair of the Legacy Committee in addition to sitting on numerous other committees. She’s perhaps best known for being the chief author of Minnesota’s smoking ban.Noor currently serves on the Minneapolis School Board, where he was appointed to the late Hussein Samatar’s seat in December. Noor previously ran for the Minnesota State Senate seat now held by Kari Dziedzic, who narrowly beat him in the 2011 primary.Somali City Council member Abdi Warsame, who was elected in 2013, worked on Noor’s 2011 campaign, but in this race has supported Phyllis Kahn, who lent her support to him during his campaign. [See sidebar about Warsame’s role at the convention.] Abdi Warsame and delegate credentialsAmong the many confusions at the endorsing convention was whether Minneapolis council member Abdi Warsame would be a delegate. Continue Reading