Category Archives: Uncategorized

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.

Over 180 attend EMID Community Input Session

More than 180 people showed up at the event almost filling the Crosswinds performance area. Given that most parents didn’t learn of this meeting until earlier this week, that is an amazing turnout. Thanks to everyone who attended!

The board announced a brand new Strategic Planning Resources section of the EMID website, look there for the slideshow from the strategic planning consultants and the survey data from parents and teachers.

The board was not terribly interested in answering questions, especially student questions, but it sounds like there was a bit of discussion. When the board split the attendees into small groups there were not enough board members to go around. I got at least one report of a board member who said that parent letters and phone calls had already had a major impact. Let’s keep it up!

As one participant put it on twitter: “Gr8t turnout at EMID mtg. tonight. Parents passionate – let’s just hope that board members really heard them. Keep talking, people.” I’d also like to especially thank Nate who tweeted during the meeting. A reporter and photographer from the Star Tribune were also present, so keep eyes peeled for a story.

Of course, this was just an input session, we’ll need a big turnout at the EMID board meeting next Wednesday as well. Don’t forget: 9/21, 5pm, Harambee.

A Conversation About Perpich

Sue Mackert, the Executive Director of the Perpich Center for Arts Education, joined The Crosswinds Community Partnership on Monday night (9/12) to talk about the opportunity Perpich represents for 10th graders looking for a pathway beyond Crosswinds. The conversation also merged into a Q&A about Perpich’s interest in possibly picking up the management of Harambee and Crosswinds from EMID. Read on for some notes from this conversation.

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Share your EMID-SOS picture!

We’d like to show the board some of the faces of Harambee and Crosswinds. Send us a picture of you or your family holding an EMID-SOS sign.

  1. Print out our sign or make one of your own.
  2. Hold it proudly while getting your picture taken.
  3. Send the picture to EMID-SOS or put it on our wall at Facebook or on Flickr with an “EMID-SOS” tag.

We will gather these pictures together and make them part of a slide show for the board meeting. By sending us your picture or tagging it “EMID-SOS” you are giving us permission to use your picture as part of our campaign to Save Our Schools.

Thanks for showing support for Harambee and Crosswinds out in the wild!

Nate, Mary, and Eric support EMID-SOS

Perpich Center for Arts Education expressing interest in Harambee and Crosswinds

We have learned that the Perpich Center for Arts Education is expressing interest in taking over Harambee and Crosswinds and is in conversations with EMID and the Minnesota Department of Education about the idea. The Perpich Arts High School is currently an 11th and 12th grade destination for a number of Crosswinds graduates. Perpich also has a significant statewide professional development component to its mission. While we don’t know very much about this proposal yet, it does sound like a potentially exciting opportunity for our schools and interesting expansion of the Perpich mission.

It also appears this might fit under the second of the three options the EMID board is currently considering: “transfer governance of schools to different operator.” If you like the idea of Harambee and Crosswinds continuing under a Perpich Center for Arts Education umbrella, please encourage EMID board members to consider this option.

You can read about Perpich at http://www.mcae.k12.mn.us. We will keep you posted as we learn more!

EMID board announces “community input session” on 9/14

This just appeared on the EMID Facebook page today: “The EMID School Board will be holding a community input session on Wednesday, September 14 at 5:30 PM at Crosswinds. The purpose of input session is to afford stakeholders an opportunity to provide input to the school board regarding the future of EMID, Harambee, and Crosswinds.”

As explained by the chair of the board a few days ago, those board members who can attend will spend 20-30 minutes informing the community of the three options they are looking at and the process ahead. Then the community participants will split into small groups and put their responses onto giant post it sheets around the room, highlighting the most important things the board should think about as it makes its decision among the three options. In other words, this will be more of a work session than talk back session. Of course, the details of this agenda are subject to change and up to the board, so don’t be surprised if it is set up a bit differently than described here.

In any case, if you can make it to this input session on 9/14, please do!

And don’t forget, one week later on 9/21 at 5pm at Harambee the EMID board will be meeting and welcoming community members to address the board in the regular “public forum” segment of the board meeting.

EMID Posts Strategic Plan “Slideshow”

Back in July the EMID Board saw a slideshow by consultants from District Management Council (DMC) describing their findings from the strategic planning process. It looks like that slideshow was finally made available to the public yesterday. It is now on the EMID district website. The document is a PDF of a PowerPoint slideshow.

Note, no other output of the strategic planning process has been made public. This slideshow is marked “Preliminary/Draft” on every slide, so we are not sure it is the final output of the process. On slide 12 you will find the three options the board is recommending. Option three, which we have interpreted as “close the schools” is called “merge students back into home district schools” on this slide!

Slide 12 of DMC presentation to EMID Board

Also posted last night was a letter from Superintendent Robicheau about the planning process and the upcoming board meetings. At least he is honest enough to call option three “closing the EMID magnet schools”. Dr. Robicheau also says the board may hold some public forum sessions before the 9/21 school board meeting, though no specifics are provided. This is already a significant shift, since up to now the board had only planned public input sessions after their October 19 meeting.

Please do review the slideshow and share any insights you glean from it. This is a dense document full of “facts & figures” that may feel a bit jumbled. We need as many eyes looking it over as possible!

Sign the EMID-SOS petition

We are gathering signatures on a petition we plan to present the EMID board at their September 21 meeting. We will share a paper version at back-to-school night tomorrow, but we also have an electronic version for those who won’t be there. Please sign our petition to help save our schools!

Also, please share the petition with friends and family. We’d love to show that support for EMID schools exists well beyond the boundaries of EMID! Just pass along the URL: https://wp.clst.org/emidfamilies/petition.