Interim Superintendent Robicheau and EMID Board Chair Cristina Gillette testified to the state’s Integration Revenue Replacement Task Force on Tuesday, 12/13. They even brought along Robert Rostrom, the EMT graduate of EMID some of you may remember testifying at the October board meeting. Rostrom reiterated to the task force that “Crosswinds let me become the person that I am.” These are the reports Robicheau and Gillette shared with the task force:
Category Archives: EMID
EMID Board Considers New Proposal from Superintendents
After presenting a preliminary recommendation to close EMID schools at the last board meeting, the member district superintendents came forth with a second recommendation: keep EMID schools open without spending any integration revenues on the schools themselves. The board will vote on both options, to close and to restructure, at its next meeting on Wednesday, October 19, at 5:30pm at Crosswinds.
The proposed restructuring of EMID finances would reduce member district contributions of integration funds by 43% to $30 per student and require that this money only be spent on the shared services EMID provides for member districts. The schools would be funded through the “per pupil ‘backpack’ money” that each student brings to EMID and an additional contribution per student from the EMID reserve funds. EMID has enough reserve funds to maintain this arrangement for two to four years while the state works out what to do with integration funding and EMID discerns what should be done with the schools in the long run.
It looked quite likely that the board would vote next week to not close the schools but to restructure the funding instead. However, both these options will be moved and both will be voted on, so there is still the very real chance the board could vote to close EMID schools at the end of this school year. We hope EMID families can find time to attend this critical meeting of the EMID board next week. There is a good chance the news will be positive, but a positive outcome is much more likely with the public keeping careful watch on the board’s work.
We recorded tonight’s meeting and have many notes that we will post as soon as possible.
Saint Paul Public School board discussing EMID, 10/4
This has been posted on our EMID Families list a few times, but we also wanted to get it up on the website. The SPPS board will be discussing EMID school closure today at their 10/4 work session. Note that the agenda has just been revised and EMID is now item “D” on the agenda. This means the EMID discussion should happen after 5pm, in an effort to allow more of the EMID community to get to the meeting.
The details of the meeting are at the SPPS web site. It will be at 320 Colborne Avenue in Saint Paul.
White paper to recommend closing integrated schools
Today’s EMID board meeting lasted five hours! First the bad news, then a bit of better news.
Interim EMID Superintendent Jerry Robicheau made it very clear that the superintendents of EMID member districts want to close Harambee and Crosswinds at the end of the 2011/2012 school year and that he agrees with them. Robicheau will be writing a “white paper” with the other superintendents to spell this recommendation out more clearly. He promised the white paper within a couple weeks.
A few board members made it very clear that the superintendents were in the driver’s seat on this one. In large part, the board is deferring to their expertise and opinion. In an odd sort of way, this clarity at least helps us understand where the battle lines are drawn.
The first hour of the meeting was taken up with the most heartfelt and amazing testimony from 20 parents and students. Over 200 people attended to cheer them on and let the board know that we appreciate what Harambee and Crosswinds do for the community. A number of board members were moved by the testimony and the many letters they had been receiving. We also delivered the EMID-SOS petition to the board, which topped out at 462 signatures.
The senior staff of the district also made an impassioned plea for the work they do both at the schools and for member districts. Former board chair Bruce Hagerty also made a forceful argument for a more coherent process and questioned the urgency with which the board was acting.
All in all it was a powerful night that left some board members questioning the wisdom of moving as fast as they have been. A few also made strong requests for more data from the superintendents. Clearly some are uncomfortable with the rational for the superintendent’s recommendations. This is far from the end of the process, so don’t despair!
A big thank you to everyone who took part today! We will keep you posted on next steps.
Bruce Hagerty signs EMID-SOS petition
Some of you may know the former chair of the EMID board, Bruce Hagerty from South Saint Paul. It turns out he signed our petition last week! Here’s what he had to say…
I will support points 4 and 5 of your petition and look forward to working with you to see that school closure is the last possible alternative under consideration.
Sincerely,
Bruce Hagerty
As a reminder, our petition states…
We petition the EMID school board to:
(1) Slow down and consider the costs of closing Harambee and Crosswinds for the well-being of children of color – indeed, of all children – in the east metro area.
(2) Carefully consider the implications of this decision on the Office of Equity and Integration.
(3) Return to the original mission and vision of integration upon which the joint powers agreement was first founded, which includes explicit attention to cultural understanding, rather than constraining their assessments to a narrow definition of academic achievement.
(4) Give serious attention to parent, teacher and community concerns that have been raised and seek substantial public input in planning.
(5) Consider the large number of alternatives to school closure that have been raised.
Finally, we deplore the EMID school board’s recent pattern of secrecy and non-disclosure, and request that they proactively communicate with parents, teachers and students and develop clear transparency in both their meeting schedule and their agendas.
We are preparing the signatures from the online petition for presentation to the board at tonight’s meeting (Wednesday 9/21). If you sign after we present the board with the petition, we will share your signature at the October board meeting.
Star Tribune: Parents worry that east-metro schools face closure
The Star Tribune published an article online today: “Parents worry that east-metro schools face closure.”
Hundreds of parents are using social media, letters and phone calls to lambaste East Metro Integration District (EMID) school board members who are debating whether to close two experimental schools that political leaders once envisioned would end segregation as well as close the achievement gap.
Wednesday, at their regular monthly meeting, EMID school board members will winnow their options. Then, in November, they will make a final decision on how the district will proceed.
MPR: “East metro integration district considers closing its two schools”
MPR ran a story by Tom Weber this morning. East metro integration district considers closing its two schools. He quotes Superintendent Robicheau, St. Paul & EMID board member John Brodrick, and parents Mike Boguszewski and Eric Celeste.
Learn more on our EMID-SOS page!
Get involved: Key action steps
As you have all heard, the EMID Board of Directors is soon going to be voting on whether or not to close Harambee and Crosswinds. Yesterday a group of parents met to discuss this situation and what we can do to protect our schools. Mary Hess sent an e-mail earlier today with reflections on this meeting and a call for everyone to come together to help with this effort.
At the meeting we developed a series of strategies we believe will help to save our schools. These strategies are listed below. Please continue to watch your e-mail and wp.clst.org/emidfamilies for updates on this situation. Also, please let us know if you would like to get involved in this effort. We need as many voices as possible. We will continue to post here as we have updates on what we’re doing, and how you can help. Thank you.
Save Crosswinds and Harambee — Strategies:
- Develop a petition in support of EMID schools.
- Get as many parents, students, and Harambee and Crosswinds community members to upcoming Board work sessions and meetings.
- A handout explaining the situation and providing the dates, times, and locations of meetings will be available at back to schools nights at Crosswinds and Harambee.
- Work with high school students to encourage them to attend Board meetings and serve as a voice for EMID.
- A sign-in sheet will be available at back-to-school night to gather names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of interested families.
- Develop talking points for parents and student to use as a guide when communicating with Board members.
- Reach out to teachers and staff to let them know parents are doing all we can. Parents at back to school night will speak to teachers one-on-one and ask them how we can support them.
- Develop a library of stories and pictures which will showcase the accomplishments of EMID students. These stories and photos will be shared with Board members prior to, or at, the September Board meetings and will include the following:
- testimony about what EMID has meant for individuals
- Photos from EMID successes such as the Orchestra trip to New York, “The Wiz,” World Affairs Challenge, etc.
- Connect with constituents outside Crosswinds/Harambee community to gain their support as well as additional information. These include:
- Board members
- Education Commissioner’s office
- WMEP families
- Education Minnesota
- Survey families to see where they would go if EMID schools closed. Some of the member districts think closing the schools would bring the students back to their districts and this survey will help to understand whether or not this would happen.
- Share the story of the Board activities with media
- Invite media to a future board meeting to showcase students and families and highlight the actions the Board is considering.
- Encourage families to write letters to the editor and commentaries for newspapers.
- Meet on Saturday, September 10 at 9:00 a.m. to discuss progress and prepare for September 14 work session. We will be meeting at 1993 Lincoln Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55105. Call Mary Hess at 651-236-7592 or email mhess@luthersem.edu for directions. Teachers will be invited to join parents at this meeting.If you have any additional ideas please share them with the group by commenting on this post, or emailing the group at families@emidfamilies.org.Thank you for your help and support in this process.Susan Larson
Update from August 27 meeting
Twelve parents and students met yesterday afternoon (Saturday, August 27th) on very short notice to strategize around the current threat to close the EMID schools. We have put together a number of action steps which we will outline here as soon as we can. We agreed that there is still hope for keeping the schools open — both in the immediate short term and in the longer term — but the next six weeks will be crucial. All of us need to get as many people as we can to the next board meetings (details will be posted here as soon as we confirm them), and we all need to write to the board members and tell them we will not stand idly by as they consider closing our schools. Also — let our teachers know how much we respect them and care about what they do with our students! We will meet again on September 10th at 9 am, at 1993 Lincoln Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55105. Call Mary Hess at 651-236-7592 or email mhess@luthersem.edu for directions.
Emergency Meeting of EMID Families, 8/27
Earlier this week the EMID Board held a board meeting. Lucky for us there were a couple parents who attended. They learned that the EMID Board is considering closing our schools permanently!
One parent tells me they contacted our superintendent, Jerry Robicheau, who said he had “fully expected” the board to close the schools this week. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that, expecting this kind of action, he never once reached out to families for help defending our schools. I am afraid we have no help coming from that quarter.
Another parent took the time to write the following message. If you care about the future of EMID schools, please read it!
Finally, if you want to strategize with other families about what we can do, please come to an emergency meeting of EMID Families tomorrow, Saturday 8/27, at 12:30. We will be meeting at 1993 Lincoln Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55105. Call Mary Hess at 651-236-7592 or email mhess@luthersem.edu for directions.
Here’s the message from a parent who was at the EMID Board meeting… Continue reading