EMID Board to continue to operate in secrecy

At the last EMID Board meeting I pointed out to the board that the its Steering Committee meetings, which board chair Cristina Gillette had told me were open public meetings, had never been posted publicly. I noted how much of the board’s decision making was happening behind these closed doors and asked them to let the community know when these meetings were happening so we could observe the process.

Today I got a response from Interim Superintendent Robicheau: no. Here’s what he has to say:

After the last board meeting when allegations were made that our board acting in “secrecy” I asked our school attorney investigate what constitutes the requirement of the Open Meeting Law. I wanted to make sure we were in compliance with those requirements. Based on his opinion we are not required to post the Steering Committee meetings. His opinion, based on court rulings, is a) there is not a quorum of the board, and b) the committee is not making decisions and is only in discussion. All decisions are made at the open meeting of the board. Based on this we will continue past practice of not posting the Steering Committee meetings.

So we will not be told when and where the Steering Committee meets. However, this note does not say that we are not welcome in the room if we can determine when and where they meet. Chair Gillette did tell me we could be at the meeting, I wonder if that still holds true.

…Eric

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 operates in secrecy

At many an EMID Board meeting I’ve heard the words “Steering Committee recommends” or “Steering Committee discussed the options.” This month I decided I wanted to see this “Steering Committee” in action. On 12/2 wrote an email to board chair Christina Gillette and my board member, John Brodrick, who I thought was on the Steering Committee. I told them I’d heard the Steering Committee would be discussing Dr. Robicheau’s contract extension and I was wondering if Steering Committee was a public meeting. I got no response until 12/10 when Ms. Gillette called to tell me that yes, Steering Committee was a public meeting, but sadly it had met on 12/5, so I’d missed the meeting.

To make a long story just a bit shorter, EMID has never issued any kind of public notice of Steering Committee meetings, even though four board members sit on Steering Committee and by Minnesota Statute meetings of elected officials are (generally) public meetings. I learned that EMID considers the Saint Paul Legal Ledger its site of official notice, but had never placed notices of Steering Committee or any other committee of the board there. In fact, a search of Legal Ledger on 12/12 showed that EMID seems to have stopped even posting notices of board meetings there after June 2011.

What happens at Steering Committee? Why is it important that the EMID Board conduct a public meeting behind closed doors? Let’s use the December meeting I missed as an example. The board at it’s meeting this month considered three “recommendations” by the Steering Committee: (1) extending Dr. Robicheau’s contract as interim superintendent, (2) eliminating parent involvement from the strategic planning “Design Team” and replacing that Design Team with a “Community Council” and “Administrative Team” to divide duties of planning, and (3) reducing the integration funds contribution of EMID member districts from $52 to $30 and cutting the EMID schools budgets by 10% in the 2012/13 school year.

Because the community was excluded from Steering Committee and because no notes or minutes ever emanate from the committee, we have no idea how these recommendations were made. Was any other option than an extension for Dr. Robicheau ever seriously considered? We cannot know. What were the concerns about parents on the Design Team? It is a mystery. Why is only the school budget being cut? We have no idea. The fact that the EMID Board allows the Steering Committee to do its thinking in secret is a serious problem for what is supposed to be a publicly accountable board.

Does it matter? Last night the EMID Board agreed to every single recommendation of the Steering Committee. I think it matters a great deal that the community is not allowed to see the venue where real discussion happens and real decisions are made. Below are some deeper questions about two of these December decisions. Continue reading →

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!

Integration Task Force Meeting: 20 December 2011

These PDF notes of the 12/20 meeting are not official minutes, these are very biased and raw notes. Don’t expect fairness, balance, or completeness! I am just trying to be quick at communicating what is happening on the task force. Initials generally refer to task force members, a list of whom can be found at the official task for website.

During this meeting the task force took testimony from experts in the field, including social scientists and lawyers. Dan Schulman says, “I am ready to bring a case.”

More about the task force on our Integration Revenue Replacement Advisory Task Force page.

EMID Board to discuss $3M deficit and planning process

The EMID Board meets this coming Wednesday 21 December at 5:30pm at Harmabee. Actually, to be specific, the board will start its work session at 5:30pm and its actual board meeting at 6:30pm. You are welcome at both, though the public forum welcoming your input will happen at the start of the 6:30 board meeting.

The agenda, available as part of the board packet (PDF), includes the 2012-2013 budget and decisions about the continuing strategic planning process. If you would like to know more about these topics, read on! Continue reading →

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:

Integration Task Force Meeting: 13 December 2011

These PDF notes of the 12/13 meeting are not official minutes, these are very biased and raw notes. Don’t expect fairness, balance, or completeness! I am just trying to be quick at communicating what is happening on the task force. Initials generally refer to task force members, a list of whom can be found at the official task for website.

During this meeting the task force took testimony from many school administrators including the chair of EMID’s board and EMID’s interim superintendent.