Article #2>>>>> The Highly Promising Initiatives of the of the Team Assembled by Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson

In sharp contrast to the prevaricating and irresponsible posturing of Lynn Nordgren and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, the initiatives of Minneapolis Public Schools officials under the leadership of Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson are innovative and focused keenly on addressing academic issues of schools targeted for high priority changes in the delivery of education.

In a document entitled, “MPS Background on High Priority Schools “ (October 10, 2013), school district officials demonstrate through data presentation that the most academically challenged schools have much more staffing instability and less experienced teachers, even though schools such as Bethune, Bryn Mawr, Edison, Hall, Lucy Laney, North, Northeast, and Olson, by comparison with other schools, have much greater incidence of student poverty and chronic underachievement than does the district as a whole--- even in a school district that is itself underachieving.

To remedy the prevailing underachievement at schools prioritized for structural changes in the interest of better academic results, the district proposes the following in its “Summary of General Interest.” Responses of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers to each of these points are given in quotation marks, underneath the points:

1) Blend the former Memoranda of Agreements (MOAs) relating to High Priority Schools (HPS) and School Improvement Grant Schools into one new article of the contract.

“Question: Which elements of each MOA are intended to be “blended”? There are only a couple of sentences that are different.”

2) The list of participating Schools would be included in an Appendix to the contract, rather than listing schools in the agreement itself. This way the list can change from year to year without having to amend the contract repeatedly.

“NO.

“We are not entering this into our contract. There is not definite agreement, there is no evidence that what is being proposed will make a difference, there are too many details that have to be worked out. Students and teachers are not pawns to be used in an experiment. Children and youth need to be treated humanely--- they are not robots and their aptitudes and gifts should not be judged solely on test scores.

"A longer day of academic drilling while sitting at a desk is not in synch with best practices or child development. We agree with more hands on, experiential time after school that is educational but not more time at a desk, which ends up leading to students hating learning and school.”

3) Allow sites to provide more professional development or collaboration time to meet the specific needs of their site.

“There is already an overload of PD and meetings at the sites. Teachers cannot keep up with preparing lessons for the next day because of it. WE must find time for more review of student work, planning differentiated lessons, gathering of resources and time to speak with parents. Over and over, we are hearing the PD is not helping and actually hurting classroom instruction. It is all too often superficial, not relevant, and time consuming. We believe in professional development but not in its current format.”

4) Allow sites to provide additional instruction time to meet the specific needs of their sites. “Sites do provide more instruction time. Many students have an additional hour of math and hour of reading after school.

“Without more discussion, this feels chaotic--- free for all at best. Families already have a difficult time managing our system; this would only add more disruption.”

5) Enhance the ability for sites to hire and retain staff to maximize continuity of instruction and quality.

“Sites already have this ability. They select whomever they wish through the Interview and Select process.”

6) Maintain class size targets and ability to address teacher to student loads.

“There was no good faith effort over the past year by the district to do anything about class size or caseloads except the usual class size adjustments in October. Class sizes have not changed or they have gotten bigger. Caseloads are out of control--- way beyond state recommendations. We know class size and caseloads make a difference in learning and we can close the gap if we adjust to sizes that research tells us works.

"There appears to be an unwillingness to tackle the problem with any zeal or depth. That said, we are hopeful (yet also skeptical) the proposed plan to open schools will make a difference but that is not going to solve the problem we face in the present moment.”

7) Regular collaboration and assessment of the aspects that are working.

"Based on what? We did not do this over the past year and do not see anything in place to make that happen over the upcoming year(s). We refuse to use standardized test scores as the indicator of success."