A Conversation Concerning Race, 3/5

The Saint Paul Foundation has been offered a grant by the Kellogg Foundation to conduct conversations concerning race, providing training for community members so that we can better function as a multi racial team in our combined work and service together. We have set up such a “workshop conversation” at Crosswinds for staff and parents and community members from Harambee, Crosswinds and any other interested members.

Leslye Taylor, the mother of a Crosswinds 7th grader, has already gathered over 20 people to take part in this conversation. But there is still room for more! If you would like to participate, please email Leslye as soon as possible.

The conversation will be at Crosswinds on Monday, March 5, from 5-8pm. It will be a potluck dinner, more details will be shared when you RSVP to Leslye.

If you’d like to read a blurb about this endeavor, visit The Saint Paul Foundation. The woman smiling in the front is Sharon Goens, one of the two facilitators we would have opportunity to work with.

MinnPost: Integration task force forwarding results to Cassellius

Beth Hawkins writes in MinnPost: “Integration task force forwarding results to Cassellius.” She describes the compromise the task force arrived at in the context of last year’s legislative session and the expectations for their work.

The recommendations carry the endorsement of such presumed opponents as University of Minnesota law professor Myron Orfield, a relentless integration advocate, and Lakeville School Board member Bob Erickson, a fiscal conservative.

Victory, in this instance, was snatched not from the jaws of defeat but from the yawning maw of gridlock.

Swanson and Kersten file a minority report

Rose Hermodson confirms that integration task force co-chair Peter Swanson did file a minority report that included content from both he and Katherine Kersten. MDE is working on formatting the final product for the Legislature, and only after it has been shared with the Legislature will they post it on the task force website or provide public copies. So it looks like we will have to wait a few more days to know what was said in the minority report.

Robicheau to inform board he intends to resign

Tomorrow is yet another EMID board meeting, and as we’ve learned this year, there is never a dull moment when the EMID board gathers! The breaking news is that Interim Superintendent Jerry Robicheau, who was just reappointed by the EMID board in December, plans to announce his resignation from his post effective March 15. This means that the agenda item labeled innocuously “consider scheduling special board meeting to discuss candidates for superintendent position” in this month’s board packet gains a great deal of urgency.

Also on the agenda this month are discussions of capturing some portion of member district operating levies to make the EMID budget more sustainable, and a discussion of the community forum and budget reduction work already underway.

Particularly intriguing is an item labeled simply “Good News” on the agenda. Let’s hope so!

The board gathers at Harambee tomorrow, February 15, at 5:30 for a work session. Public forum (where the community can say a few words) is scheduled to start at 6:30 when the board meeting begins. Both the work session and the meeting are open to the public, please consider attending.

Star Tribune: A positive grade for integration aid plan

Monday’s Star Tribune editorial gives the integration task force “A positive grade for integration aid plan.”

Two members of the group opposed the recommendations (including Star Tribune contributor Katherine Kersten), arguing that funding over the years hasn’t produced the intended results. But the task force also suggested ways to address those concerns by ensuring accountability and better oversight.

The Department of Education would define limited uses of AIM revenue, and school districts would have to submit plans with measurable goals to receive the funds. The department would monitor and evaluate the programs — and withhold funding if districts do not make adequate progress.

Star Tribune: A bad idea just keeps coming back

Integration task force member Katherine Kersten gives us a taste of what her minority report may sound like in a Star Tribune commentary: “A bad idea just keeps coming back.” She envisions a world where attorney Dan Shulman succeeds in turning the Twin Cities into Hartford, Connecticut:

Most Hartford children still attend district schools, which remain as racially isolated as they were 20 years ago. And achievement is still bottom-of-the-barrel: In 2010, only 43 percent of Hartford’s K-8 students were proficient in reading, and only 57 percent in math. Meanwhile, all-minority charter schools like Jumoke Academy (pre-K-8) are among the region’s highest-performing schools in terms of achievement gains by poor, minority children.

Ironically, the Hartford school district — the intended beneficiary of the court-ordered plan — is now strenuously working against the requirements, which increasingly threaten the district’s viability. Hartford will likely have to close six or seven schools and lay off hundreds of teachers and staff if it is compelled to send more students to the suburbs. In April 2011, the Hartford schools launched a television, radio and print advertising campaign imploring parents not to send their kids out of the district.

Daily Planet: Integration revenue task force approves plan

Alleen Brown writes another story in the Twin Cities Daily Plant: “Integration revenue task force approves plan.” She focusses on describing the elements of the task force report:

The task force’s plan would create an Achievement and Integration for Minnesota (AIM) program. The program would be funded by what is currently known as integration revenue. The difference: only programs that fall under a list of clearly defined categories would receive revenue. Districts would submit plans with measurable goals to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE.) The goals would include improved test scores and reduced differences in demographics between schools and between districts. Approved programs would undergo an annual review by the MDE, to determine whether or not they are meeting their goals. If not, funding would be cut.

The article is a good summary of the report. Of course, all eyes are currently on the minority reports that might emerge by Monday evening.


(Illustration from the TC Daily Planet.)

Star Tribune: State integration task force adopts plan to close achievement gap

Kim McGuire writes in the Star Tribune: “State integration task force adopts plan to close achievement gap.”

For almost a year, the task force has been wrestling over the question of whether the funds should be used 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.

In the end, the task force gave a nod to both, calling for the creation of a program called Achievement & Integration for Minnesota (AIM), responsible for coming up with a new integration rule that prohibits school segregation. Among other things, AIM revenue should be pumped into programs such as full-day kindergarten for low-income families and Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college preparation effort, according to the task force recommendations.

Aside from the obvious error that the task force has only had two months to do its work, not “almost a year,” the article does a decent job of summing up the conclusion. The article ends with a statement that, “At this stage in the debate, metro school officials were relieved to know that the task force supports the program’s continued funding.”

Certainly. But what really matters is now the Legislature takes up this issue. Most don’t expect it to squeeze its way onto this session’s agenda, so all eyes now turn to the election of all members of the Minnesota House and Senate, some in districts with new boundaries.

Integration Task Force Approves Report that Affirms Integration

Minnesota’s Integration Revenue Replacement Advisory Task Force approves a report that, believe it or not, affirms integration efforts. It recommends the creation of an “Achievement and Integration for Minnesota” program (AIM) funded through existing revenue streams. The task force recommends that the state maintain statue that prohibits intentional segregation and maintain the current language defining racially isolated schools and districts.

Of particular interest to EMID families a section that allows AIM funding for:

Family Engagement that promotes involvement in the academic life and success of the student.

Also in the report, though toned down slightly from earlier drafts, is a section that asks the legislature to examine on large collaborative metro integration district:

Examine the merits of one collaborative Metropolitan Integration School District that folds in the services of existing integration districts to create efficiencies and eliminate duplication of services. This Collaborative Metropolitan School District serves all metro-area districts within the seven county area that receive integration revenue.

Some work remains for staff to prepare the final report for the legislature, but the report, as approved by 10 of the 12 task force members, is available on the EMID Families website. Since two members voted against the report, we can also expect that minority reports will be added before the task force report is forwarded to the legislature.

IMG 0201