The Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota (BBB) is offering guidance to area residents who suffered damage to their homes during recent severe weather in and around the metro, and reminds people to take precautions when cleaning up and making repair decisions. Though most contractors have your best interests in mind, there are those few that are only interested in making a fast dollar. To avoid those bad actors, the BBB provides the following tips to homeowners who have experienced property damage: Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. Contact your insurance company immediately to inquire about policy coverage and specific filing requirements. This gets the ball rolling on the claim process. Continue Reading
The Northside Achievemant Zone (NAZ) is an ambitious educational initiative in North Minnepolis set on getting kids into college. CEO Sondra Samuels tells Democratic Visions host Tim O’Brien the challenges that are being faced by the multi-agency and community organization collaborative. Continue Reading
Rebecca Gagnon moved to Minneapolis with her husband and three kids nearly three years ago, but in that short amount of time, she has been extremely active in the community as well as the school district. Since her family moves frequently because of her husband’s job with 3M, Gagnon is not one to wait very long before she jumps in. Before she was elected to the Minneapolis School Board last fall, she was on the MPS district Parent Advisory Council, and served on the K-5 Literacy Adoption Committee for the district, as well as co-chairing the Area C Steering Committee and residing on the Whittier PTA Executive board. Here’s a conversation we had with Gagnon about her hopes for Minneapolis Public Schools. Twin Cities Daily Planet: Why did you decide to run for the school board? Rebecca Gagnon: When we moved here from Austin, Texas, I naturally got involved in the schools… I just found parent community engagement was not effective. For me it was non-existent. TCDP: How can the district improve community engagement?RG: Two years ago my youngest started kindergarten. This was the first place we’ve lived where parents weren’t invited in. There was no organized effort in elementary school—that is really unheard of in a lot of places. We have to work on getting parents into the school to help teachers organize, and building the parent network in to the schoolsTCDP: You were incredibly involved when you moved here. What was your experience as a parent trying to work with the district?RG: I went to every meeting. I studied up and I researched. We’d meet and we’d meet and there would be no follow up. You’d watch the board meeting and see no effect of what we had done as parents and community members. I know they were going through the motions, spending time in the community. Those meetings were people talking at the board. There was no interaction and no feedback.TCDP: Do you think part of the lack of community engagement is that parents aren’t interested?RG: No. To me it’s been the district. I came in as a parent and wanted to jump in wherever I could. I’m not a person to sit back and be invited. But that’s not case for Minnesotans. The culture here is very different. You can’t just say no one wants to come if they don’t feel invited and it’s not welcoming. People aren’t going to come back if there are no translators, if papers aren’t translated. They’re going to feel uncomfortable. I personally haven’t seen this big percentage of parents that don’t want to be involved. I’ve seen busy parents. TCDP: How does marketing fit in?Marketing is a huge part of everything we do. Just being available to the community is better than anything we’ve done in a long time. There’s a fear you won’t be able to answer a question. … Continue Reading
Get to know the school community and support your community by attending Waite Park’s Spring Gala & Silent Auction on Saturday, April 9 from 7 – 11 p.m.
Last week, the new census numbers were released and confirmed what most of us already knew: Minnesota’s population became more diverse between 2000 and 2010. Minorities now make up about one in every seven residents, up from about one in ten a decade ago. Nowhere is this diversity more evident than in the public schools, over a quarter of which now serve a majority of minority students. As our communities diversify, the achievement gap between white and minority students remains a critical shortcoming of our education system. Yet there is another gap that has not received the attention it deserves: the global competency gap. Continue Reading
The Twin Cities has the highest rate of volunteerism in the country with nearly sixty-percent of Twin Cities residents saying they have volunteered before. Of course this is great news for us, as we can add one more item among many that we are number one in!Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. On a less perky note, that leaves 40% of us who do not volunteer or have not before. There is no need to worry, however! Continue Reading
