Category Archives: Integration

Integration revenue task force seeks testimony

Minnesota’s Integration Revenue Replacement Advisory Task Force is seeking public testimony at its 1/10 meeting. They have set aside time at this all-day session to hear from the public, giving each person 2-3 minutes. Please consider requesting a slot to share your thoughts with the task force, even if you don’t get called to testify, your 300-450 word written testimony will be shared with the task force.

So far the task force has heard from administrators from various school districts around the state, including our own Jerry Robicheau and Christina Gillette, and from lawyers and social scientists arguing the effectiveness of integration efforts. Recent stories in the Star Tribune (which includes a picture from Crosswinds!) and MnPost provide some insight into this testimony and the dynamics of the task force. Most remarkable, given the task force’s name, is that they have not yet ruled out a continuation of integration funding of some sort.

The task force asks these questions of the public, and your testimony can help answer them:

  • What meaningful links are there, if any, between racially integrated schools and students’ educational outcomes?
  • What educational opportunities are at risk, if any, for all students (not just poor and minority) if we make changes to integration revenue in Minnesota?
  • Historically, considering how districts responded to Minnesota’s school desegregation rule, what worked and what didn’t work (educational structures, strategies, and programs)? Why?
  • What are the current measures of success in a given district? Are they data-driven? What should the measures of success be?
  • How should Minnesota allocate the dollars that, in the current biennium, are going to integration revenue?

The task force needs to hear from you by the end of next week, 12/30, if you wish to testify. Please review their Request to Speak form (PDF). Other documents from the task force can be found on the Integration Revenue Replacement Advisory Task Force website.

EMID Board keeps Robicheau and considers 10% cut for schools

The EMID board met last night to consider Dr. Robicheau’s contract extension and the EMID budget situation. Following recommendations of the Steering Committee, the board approved extending Dr. Robicheu’s contract through June 2012. They hope to have a permanent superintendent search or some form of “administrative restructuring” underway before that date. They also considered a budget proposal from the Steering Committee that would reduce our school budgets by 10% while essentially not reducing any member services. This would be done to cope with a 57% reduction in the integration funds received from member districts that would not be replaced with any levy funding from those districts sending students to EMID.

Other business before the board included consideration of the “phase 2” strategic planning process (a “Community Council” is now planned to “drive the process” and to double as the community council required by state statute to write a new integration plan for the collaborative by mid-March), revision of the Joint Powers Agreement to allow non-elected “former” board members to continue serving on the EMID board, and acceptance of a “clean” audit report.

The board changed the date of its next meeting from 1/18 to 1/25, so please update your own calendar if you want to attend the next meeting.

Three parents testified to the board during open forum. Mike Boguszewski expressed concern that the revision to the Joint Powers Agreement would make the EMID board even less accessible and accountable to the community, he also thanked chair Gillette for her responsiveness and expressed hope that the “Community Council” could be an opportunity for the community to work together with the board on solutions. Eric Celeste expressed serious concerns about the secrecy of the board’s Steering Committee and the quality of the decisions it was making. Bill Droessler noted that some parents had already been meeting with Dan Schulman and suggested that the board might want to read the stories about the integration task force in the Star Tribune and MN Post. Not a single board member had read those stories or knew who Dan Schulman was.

Update

The EMID board also approved a “guiding change” document (PDF) that will be the foundation on which the phase 2 strategic planning process rests.

MinnPost: Task force on school integration policy hears sharp debate

Beth Hawkins writes a story in MinnPost covering the integration task force: “Task force on school integration policy hears sharp debate.”

Joining them was the architect of Minnesota’s last two legal challenges to school segregation, attorney Daniel Shulman, who criticized the state for failing to enforce the law and said he’s willing to go back to court to fix that. . . .

“If parents come to me with complaints, I will file suit again,” he continued. “And I will do it for free because this is just that important.

“The incidence of an inadequate education falls 100 percent on the children who receive that inadequate education. It stunts their lives. And it has virtually no impact on those who created the inadequacy.”

The article goes on to discuss questions of constitutionality and the arguments made by social scientists with different views on how integration has affected the achievement gap. A good read!

Star Tribune: Cost vs. benefit steers debate over future of integration aid

Corey Mitchell writes in the Star Tribune: “Cost vs. benefit steers debate over future of integration aid.”

The current state program to help promote integrated classrooms expires in 2013 and the 12-member task force faces a February deadline on whether to continue spending the money to combat segregation, or, as GOP members of the Legislature have argued, use the money for literacy programs and other efforts to narrow the state’s achievement gap between white and nonwhite students.

Ending school segregation and closing the achievement gap should be dual goals, state Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul and a task force member, argued Tuesday.

“If this turns into a choice between integration and closing the achievement gap, that’s a false choice,” Mariani said. “There’s no winning that.”

Fun fact: the Star Tribune article includes a picture of Jeff Parker from the EMID-SOS community input session at Crosswinds in September 2011!

Robicheau and Gillette testify to integration revenue task force

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:

Testimony at 21 September 2013 EMID Board Meeting

The following recordings are community testimony at the board meeting on 21 September 2011. More notes of the meeting are also available.

Dan Larson, Curt Sward, Eric Celeste, Zander Sellie, Greg Prince, Mary Jacobson & Austin, Kelly DeBrine, Mike Boguszewski, Abby LeBlanc, Stacy, Nate Celeste, Sam Larson, Shannon Hannagain, Fred LeBlanc, Youth Executive Board, Kathryn Marget, Jessica McKnight, Mary Rose Amundson, and Lauren Schlenker.

EMID Off the June Agenda

Alert! The EMID item has been removed from the June 23 school board meetings of Distict 622 and Roseville. The superintendent of 622, Pattie Phillips, has refused to bring the item to the board this months since she could not get the final wording of the MDE/EMID/Roseville/622 agreement for the board agenda which was sent out last week. The item will now appear, we are told, next month. Roseville, which does not usually have a July meeting, will nonetheless call a special meeting of the board in July to consider this matter.

Bottom line: none of the plans have changed since the “summit meeting” of these four parties earlier this month. Only the date of the relevant board meetings has changed to July. There is no need to attend these two board meetings this month for EMID issues.

Shari Thompson has noted that even if 622 were to pull out of this agreement at this late date, MDE has assured EMID that transportation for any legacy 622 kids currently enrolled in EMID schools would be fully covered. If this were to happen, those kids would just be, technically, “open-enrolled” instead. It is unlikely to come to this, though. Everyone expects 622 to honor the principals and elements of the agreement with MDE and Roseville and EMID on 6/4.

For it’s part, EMID will go ahead with its announcement to parents on 6/24. They feel parents really need to know about this resolution and can’t wait for a set of July board meetings. So those of you in 622 should expect letters next week.

MDE brokering transportation for current EMID families in 622

At our EMID Families meeting this week we learned of a new plan afoot for 622 families in EMID, this time being pushed by MDE.

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has woken up to the situation of existing 622 families in EMID and is working on a plan to help make continuing with EMID schools possible. The open enrollment option that EMID had been working on had one severe drawback for many families, it would require them to subsidize transportation of the kids to EMID. Both open enrollment at EMID and the transportation arrangement that EMID was trying to work out would have been unprecedented in the state, so MDE had to be involved in making way for these options. Now that MDE is awake to the situation they have determined that another course would be simpler, no open enrollment, no costly transportation, instead they would simply allow 622 families who already have a child in EMID to continue sending their children to EMID schools with fully subsidized transportation (in other words, free to the families) until they graduated from EMID or decided to leave the district for other reasons.

This plan differs from open enrollment in that other families, who have not yet had kids attending EMID schools, would not be able to send their kids to EMID. The MDE plan applies only to families currently enrolled in EMID, though it would allow younger siblings to take advantage of EMID. EMID would not be allowed to open enroll other students from 622 or any other district.

This plan is very good news for existing 622 families in EMID. It means your kids can continue at Harambee and Crosswinds without any extra transportation cost. We got this message from Shari Thompson in the EMID administration:

EMID has not had the authority to open enroll students directly to our district and all of this is precedent setting for EMID as well as the state. While we would welcome attendance from all ISD 622 families, our first commitment is to continue to serve our current families which includes the much needed transportation services for students. Please be assured that this issue is of the highest priority to us and we are continuing to work to resolve the situation. We are hopeful that we can come to final resolution with MDE very soon and as soon as we have that information we will communicate it to all families.

Note, this plan is not yet a done deal. Details may shift. The MDE commissioner has yet to sign off on the plan and other details need to be settled with EMID and 622. We are sharing this because we believe that some information is better than silence, but we hope you understand that the outline of this plan could still shift before the dust settles.

Longer term this plan does close down some creative options for EMID to expand its appeal as an open enrollment destination for families across the metro area. EMID is actively working with other integration districts across the metro to find areas where common effort can increase the opportunities and efficiencies of all the districts.

UPDATE: A reader asked me “Do you know Eric what that means for new families that are registered for next year already?”

The answer from Shari…

“Unfortunately we don’t yet have an answer to this question. EMID will make the argument that these families applied for enrollment to the EMID schools while we were all (EMID, ISD 622, and MDE) under the impression that open enrollment was the best viable option. We are awaiting word from MDE before we can continue the dialogue with them.”

Mounds View partners with 622

The Pioneer Press ran a story that “Mounds View Public Schools officials have decided to explore an integration collaboration with neighboring districts.” It goes on to say, “The district will team up with the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale and Mahtomedi school districts to study the idea. A formal collaboration has not been formed, but it’s on the horizon.”

Full story is here.

Mahtomedi sets up group to consider integration plan

At tonight’s EMID board meeting Kevin Donovan (651-407-8983, mksbdonovan@comcast.net) shared the news that the Mahtomedi School Board is setting up a group to consider their integration investments, including the pros and cons of continued participation in EMID. This was just a brief announcement during the Board Forum section of them meeting, so it did not appear on the agenda. After the meeting Kevin told me that the Mahtomedi board expects the group to conclude its work and issue a report by January 2009. Note that the next deadline for pulling out of the EMID collaborative is during February 2009. Kevin stressed that Mahtomedi hopes to get parents involved in the group and told me the best way to indicate interest in taking part would be to contact the Superintendent, Mark Wolak (651-407-2001, mwolak@mahtomedi.k12.mn.us).