The Bad News: On Tuesday, 22 January 2007, the school board of district 622 voted unanimously to withdraw from the EMID collaborative. This decision will take effect on 1 July 2009. See this 622 page on the EMID website to learn more about the impact this will have on 622 families. District 622 has issued a statement about the meeting and the decision to withdraw from EMID. There has also been media coverage about the decision.

The Good News: In the week leading up to this 622 board meeting EMID families have found new ways to work together. This web site and the families mailing list are not going away. We will continue to use these tools to work with each other on the EMID/622 issue and more. Please stay tuned.

The story of EMID and 622 is far from over. This vote kicks off some frantic planning on both the EMID and 622 sides. 622 has to come up with a whole new integration plan and partners for a new collaborative before July 2009. EMID has to figure out how it will survive the blow that 622’s withdrawal represents and grow stronger in the process. Certainly the demographic shift that is making the first ring suburbs of St. Paul more diverse will continue and as a result the pressure will be on for all EMID collaborators to rethink the very reasons for the integration work we do together. As families we must stay engaged and demand the best not only from our EMID staff and administrators, but from each other.

Stay tuned!