Category Archives: Uncategorized

Check out the Crosswinds video!

Many thanks to the students, teachers, and families who helped us create this video for Minnesota legislators. We know all of you are sending letters to your representatives, feel free suggest they visit emidfamilies.org/crosswinds so they can see the school in action!

The video is available on both Vimeo and YouTube, please “like” it and pass it along to anyone who may help us convince the legislature to give the Perpich Center for Arts Education the authority it needs to keep Crosswinds serving future Minnesota children and teachers.

Make your voices heard!

On January 25, the EMID Board voted to allow Perpich Center for Arts Education to take over governance of Crosswinds if they can receive approval from the Minnesota Legislature by April 1. The Perpich Center for Arts Education is now working very hard to convince the Minnesota Legislature and Governor to give it the authority and funding it needs to run the Crosswinds Arts and Science School. Your voice is critical to this effort, your own state representative and senator need to hear your support for the Perpich proposal.

Please write letters to Governor Mark Dayton and Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. Let them know what Crosswinds has meant for you and your student and ask them to support the Perpich proposal which will continue to Crosswinds program. Please also write letters to or meet with your State Senator and Representative. Let them know that you are a constituent and why you believe Crosswinds is important.

More information, including addresses and a tool for finding out who your representatives are can be found on our “Contacting your Representatives” resource page.

Joint Committee Hearing on Integration

The Minnesota House and Senate education finance committees are holding a very unusual joint session this Thursday (2/7), 8:15am, in Room 200 of the State Office Building (100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN). This join hearing agenda will include an integration revenue program presentation including the 2012 report and recommendations of the Integration Revenue Replacement Advisory Task Force.

The task force got almost no attention from the last session of our legislature, even though the report included bipartisan recommendations for significant reforms. This joint session should provide some very interesting insights into the thinking of current legislators about the direction of integration priorities and funding.

EMID Families invites you to a meeting with Sue Mackert

As you know, the EMID board has given the Perpich Center for Arts Education only a very short window to seek legislative authority and funding to run our Crosswinds school. If you are interested in helping with this effort, please join us for a meeting with Sue Mackert at Crosswinds this Friday (2/1) at 7pm.

Sue will share the communications plan and talking points that Perpich has prepared for legislators. She can answer your questions about what message legislators need to hear in order to keep the Crosswinds program going under Perpich authority.

This meeting is open to families, students, and staff. If you want to see the Crosswinds program continue, please join us Friday!

A Letter to EMID Families from Sue Mackert of Perpich

Dear EMID Parents, Guardians and Friends,

The strength of Crosswinds is due, in large part, to your ongoing advocacy, strength and sheer determination to do what is right for young people. The EMID Board voted for children this week. They voted to maintain a school that has proven itself to be needed as a school of choice—a school that successfully brings together a community of people able to embrace innovative education delivered in an environment in which all people are valued. I am certain that EMID Board members, in compliance with how governing Boards operate, will support the decision of the majority and will all work in harmony to support the adopted resolution.

You have placed your heart, soul and faith in Perpich to carry on the heritage of excellence you have maintained. We are focused, determined and engaged to make this happen.

We are continuing to assess information regarding the operation of Crosswinds and expect to have an outline prepared early next week for distribution to lawmakers. Your ongoing assistance is welcomed and needed.

I will maintain communication with you through this site and directly with Eric Celeste to keep you up-to-date and informed on how you may participate.

The Perpich Center is honored to be of service to you.

Respectfully,
Sue Mackert

Bulletin: Schools have long list of legislative concerns

Judy Spooner writes in the Woodbury Bulletin: Schools have long list of legislative concerns. The article describes the list of request school officials are making of their legislators in South Washington County.

In addition to the start date issue (833 wants a start before Labor Day), special ed, and kindergarten, the article discussed Crosswinds:

Jacobus also got legislators up to speed with information about the possibility of District 833 acquiring Crosswinds school in Woodbury.

The school is operated by the East Metro Area Integration District, which can no longer afford to operate it because 10 member school districts have withdrawn their funding in order to operate integration programs in their own districts.

On a year-round schedule with a focus on art and science with about 300 students, the school is half full of students from grades 6-10.

District 833 wants to take over the school but the Perpich Center for the Arts and Intermediate School District 916 are also interested.

Jacobus said 833 is the only metropolitan entity that can take over the school.

District 833 needs the school to address growth concerns but would not continue operating the existing program, he told lawmakers.

Press coverage of the transfer of governance

Tony Lonetree wrote for the Star Tribune: Woodbury school is saved, but work still needs to be done.

The board overseeing the integration school heeded parental wishes to save Crosswinds from closure by agreeing Wednesday night to turn the school over to the Perpich Center for Arts Education.

But the Perpich Center now must win legislative approval and funding by April 1 or see the building claimed, instead, by the South Washington County School District, under action taken by the East Metro Integration District (EMID) school board.

Christopher Magen wrote for the Pioneer Press: Harambee and Crosswinds: Transfer of the integration-focused magnet schools OK’d.

Crosswinds families will now turn their attention to the Capitol, where they have a short time to win over lawmakers in order to keep the school open.

“It means will still have a massive amount of work to do,” Zaiman said.

Judy Spooner wrote for the South Washington County Bulletin: South Washington County Schools in line for Crosswinds if Perpich can’t secure state money.

Deciding the future of Crosswinds, valued at $25 million including its property near Tamarack Road and Interstate 494, took a series of votes and amendments.

The final vote, to give the school to the Perpich center if it can secure funding from the Legislature, failed on a 5-5 tie.

After a short break, a second vote to amend the motion with a deadline of April 1, passed 6-4.

If District 833 acquires the school, it will be at no cost if the building is used for education. It was built with state funds.

EMID board votes for Perpich and Roseville plans

The EMID board voted to close Harambee and Crosswinds tonight. EMID will not be running schools next year. They also voted to accept the Roseville proposal to take over Hararmbee. The real question was, what would they do with Crosswinds.

The EMID board tonight voted to give the Perpich Center for Arts Education until April 1 to get the authority and funding it needs to run Crosswinds. If Perpich fails to get that authority and funding by April 1, the building will go to South Washington County.

This makes the legislative task for Perpich enormous. Perpich will have to seek a separate bill and early action by the Minnesota legislature. By forcing this to be an early vote, they have made this a very difficult task. Difficult, but not necessarily impossible.

Step by step.

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Come to the EMID Board Meeting, Wednesday 1/23

This is it. Since August 2011 we have been doing all we can do to see that our schools can keep doing the wonderful work they do. Over two years have gone into saving our schools, and the EMID board meeting tomorrow will decide their fate. Whether or not you have something you want to say to the board, just being present to witness the board action will send a message. Please come to the meeting tomorrow. The EMID board meeting will be at Harambee, Wednesday 1/23, 5:30pm. Childcare will be provided.

The big question of the meeting is whether the EMID board will allow Crosswinds a chance of holding together its program as part of the Perpich Center for Arts Education.

If you do want to testify, the public forum will begin at 5:30pm. Some of us will gather early, starting at 4:30pm, to share ideas and feedback on our planned testimony. Feel free to come early if you would like to get feedback yourself.

We are expecting that there may be media at the meeting tomorrow. The Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, and Bulletin have all been covering the story. Meanwhile integration has also been in the news, putting our board’s action even more in the public eye.

If EMID does allow the Perpich proposal to move forward, then our attention turns to the Minnesota Legislature. Stay tuned!

Star Tribune: Fate of Crosswinds Arts and Science School in Woodbury may lie with Perpich Center

Tony Lonetree writes in the Star Tribune: Fate of Crosswinds Arts and Science School in Woodbury may lie with Perpich Center. This article focusses more on the money and includes quotes from Perpich, our board, parents, and administration. The article ends with a not-quite-quote from Jim Gelbmann:

Wearing multiple hats in the situation is Jim Gelbmann, a South Washington County board member who also is an appointee to the EMID board.

The Perpich Center proposal has gained strength, he said, primarily as result of the hearing earlier this month. But he and a couple of EMID colleagues are concerned, he said, about the center’s ability to raise $2.5 million to $3 million as state leaders grapple with a $1.1 billion deficit.

Crosswinds, he said this month, is an expensive program, but an effective one for some students.

It’s likely, he said, that those students would not have succeeded if not for Crosswinds.