Category Archives: Events

Perpich community forum

Susan Larson writes…

It has been a long time since we connected as a group. I miss all of you and our time together working to save our schools.

I am reaching out to you now because our schools once again need help and I am hoping you can assist. As you know there have been a great deal of public concerns raised about the Perpich Center for Arts. It has reached a point where I sincerely feel the whole agency is at risk of survival. This would mean not only losing Crosswinds, but also losing the Arts High. As a Perpich Board member I am trying to understand what is happening and to rectify the situation. I humbly apologize for any action or inaction on my part which has contributed to the situation. I am truly sorry for any pain this has caused any of you and hope that we can build upon our past relationships to come together and find a path forward.

Thursday evening the Perpich Board will be hosting a community forum. Your presence and voices are welcome and needed. I hope you can be there and encourage you to invite anyone else you feel may be interested and available. Below is the announcement that was on the Perpich website.

Thank you.

Susan

Perpich community forum

The Perpich Board of Directors will host a community forum 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at Crosswinds Arts and Science School, 600 Weir Drive, Woodbury.

The Perpich Board iinvites anyone interested to attend. The goal of this forum is for board members to hear more about everyone’s experience with the Perpich Center, the arts high and Crosswinds. We want to know what is working well, learn about any challenges, and gather ideas and opportunities for the future.

Date: Thursday, June 9, 2016
Location: Crosswinds Arts and Science School, 600 Weir Drive, Woodbury
Time: 6:00-8:30 p.m.

The mission of the Perpich Center is to provide all Minnesota students the opportunity to develop and integrate their artistic and academic abilities to their highest potential.
Concerns about the Perpich Center have been raised in the media and in the state legislature. We want to engage in a dialogue about how we can work together to overcome these concerns and build a strong future for all students. Through open communication and collaboration we believe we can achieve and sustain our mission.

Please attend and share your voice!

The Imperative for 21st Century Learning, 10/2

Join Parents United to hear the latest on learning, relationships and stories. The last decade in education policy has increased demand for student and teacher accountability based largely on one metric: test scores. This allowed us to shine a light on gaps in achievement, but it has not proven an effective tool at closing those gaps. Parents United welcomes the insights of David O’Fallon, CEO, and Shandi DiCosimo, Program Officer of the Minnesota Humanities Center and Kent Pekel, Director of the Search Institute. Their research shows developmental relationships and cultural stories have the power to fundamentally change how students learn by bringing connection & context to the lives of students often defined by stereotypes.

This Parents United Parent Leadership Summit will be on Friday, October 2, from 11am to 2pm (with opportunities for networking starting at 10am) at the TIES Event Center (1640 Larpenteur Ave. W., Saint Paul, MN). The $35 registration fee includes lunch, but scholarships are also available if that fee is hard for you to cover. Please register today!

Myron Orfield on school segregation/integration, 4/21

You are invited to a talk followed by discussion by Professor Myron Orfield on school segregation/integration in the Twin Cities at the League of Women Voters Roseville, Maplewood, Falcon Heights meeting. The meeting is free and open to the public.

April 21st at 7pm
Little Venetian
2900 Rice St. Suite 240
Little Canada, MN 55113

For more information please see the PDF flyer and feel free to share it.

Please contact Carrie Dickson you have any questions.

Parents United Legislative Kickoff

Hi EMID Friends! I thought you would like to know that the Parents United Legislative Kickoff is planned for Saturday, January 10th at 9am. There is no fee for this event, but Parents United does ask that you please RSVP so they know how many are coming.

This is the beginning of a new biennium, on in which the Republican party will control the House and the Democrats the Senate. It is also a “funding year” this year. Come learn more about what all this means for education in Minnesota and prepare to fight for your schools as the state’s budget is built.

Parents United Annual Legislative Kickoff
Saturday, January 10, 2015, 9 – 11 am
TIES Main (East) Building, 3rd Floor Cafeteria
1667 Snelling Ave. N., St Paul, MN 55108
Coffee, rolls and conversation! The Kickoff is free, but please RSVP

By the way, if you cannot make it to TIES on Saturday 1/10, but you want to watch the kickoff, we will be experimenting will a live-stream of the event. As soon as we have details about that stream, we will update this post.

Talking Circle, 8/26

JoAnn Ward will lead a Talking Circle assisted by Leslye Taylor. This is for parents and alumni students to share in a safe circle space all that needs to be expressed from our experiences. If there is time, we might envision about what we are moving into together. We’ll have some time to visit together over refreshments as we gather. The Talking Circle will take about three hours, including time to gather at the start and wrap up at the end. Please plan to spend the entire time with us and not just drop in.

Tuesday, August 26
6:30 – 9:30pm
Home of Leslye & Terrance Taylor
433 Woodhill Dr., Roseville, MN 55113

Please RSVP and send any questions to
Leslye at 651-343-8511
leslye@taylormadecreatives.com

EMID Families Reunion and Fundraiser, 7/19

Crosswinds and Harambee both have a long future ahead of them thanks to the incredible work of EMID Families and our supporters in the Minnesota legislature. Please join us for this celebration of our accomplishments and chance to return some support to two of our most dedicated supporters: JoAnn Ward and Peter Fischer. Much work still lies ahead as we make our schools the best they can be, so we need to make sure JoAnn and Peter are there to fight for us in the future.

Saturday, July 19, Noon to 2pm
at the home of Eric Celeste & Mary Hess
1993 Lincoln Avenue, Saint Paul

Co-hosted by Carrie Dickson, Lee Ann Fugaban, Susan Mau Larson, Jocelyn Stein, and Leslye Taylor.

Bring your own picnic lunch. We will have a grill and some drinks. We’ll be outside if we can, inside if we must.

We will be accepting donations for Peter and JoAnn at the reunion. If you cannot join us, or would like to use a credit card, please visit Peter and JoAnn’s campaign websites to make a donation:

Crosswinds Hearing with Senate E12 Finance, Tuesday 3/18

SF530, the bill to convey Crosswinds to Perpich, is scheduled for another hearing the the Minnesota Senate tomorrow. This time the bill will be heard by the E12 Division of the Senate Finance Committee in Room 112 of the Capitol, Tuesday, March 18, 8:30-11am. Join us at the capitol if you can!

Please visit our Contacting Your Representatives page for more details on how to ask your own senator to support SF530.

Crosswinds Hearing in the Senate, Thursday 3/6

Exciting news for all of us who waited through the whole 2013 session without a hearing in the MN Senate, this year we are getting our first Senate hearing right up front! Join us in Room 112 of the Capitol, Thursday, March 6, Noon-2:30pm for a hearing of the Senate Education Committee on SF530, the bill to convey Crosswinds to Perpich.

If you can’t be at the hearing, then please consider writing a testimony for the conveyance of Crosswinds to Perpich. We have a packet of testimony (PDF) from parents to the House last year that might provide some inspiration. Just send your testimony to testimony@emidfamilies.org by Tuesday 3/4, and we will make sure it gets to the committee. Visit our Contacting Your Representatives page for more details.

Sue Mackert, Executive Director of Perpich, will join us at our EMID Families meeting on Sunday (3/2, 3pm, Rondo Library, Saint Paul) to fill us in on plans for the legislative session.

Crosswinds Open House on Tuesday 1/28

Please help us fill up Crosswinds by letting everyone know that the Crosswinds Open House will be on Tuesday (1/28) evening at 6:30pm. Also, if you are a Crosswinds family or alumni, please come to the open house to help spread the word about what a wonderful school it is to all our prospective students and families.

Please join us and put up this event flier wherever you can.