Minneapolis Public Schools Office of Black Male Achievement Staff, March 2018 >>>>> Due for Elimination in the K-12 Revolution

The Office of Black Male Achievement was inaugurated in August 2014 as one of the last programmatic initiatives of the Bernadeia Johnson administration; Superintendent Johnson announced her pending resignation in December of that year and officially departed at the end of January 2015.

 

Johnson clearly saw the Office as a means of addressing low achievement levels of African American males as revealed on objective measures, especially the National Assessment of Student Progress (NAEP) and the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs).  Michael Walker took the position after a popular tenure as Dean of Students at his alma mater, Roosevelt High School.  In a compelling address to the Minneapolis Board of Education as he accepted the position and was given official board approval, Walker said that he would know that he had been successful when he worked himself out of a job.         

 

His job security has been fine.

 

Unfortunately, Walker has not worked himself out of a job on the basis of task accomplished.

 

He should be terminated in his position, though, on the basis of merit.

 

African American male student achievement has continued to languish:  Fewer than twenty-five percent of black males in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) have met state standards for mathematics, reading, and science throughout the academic years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

 

No matter to the administrations of Acting Superintendent Michael Goar and current Superintendent Ed Graff:

 

Over the course of Michael Walker’s tenure as Director of the Office of Balck Male Achievement, his salary has risen from $114,000 to $125,400, with powerful incentive therefore to continue to produce the same abysmal results that he has thus far inflicted upon the African American males of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

   

Walker and staff have never gone beyond the pilot program stage;  African American males number approximately 7,000 within a total MPS student population of about 36,000 students, yet the Office of Black Male Achievement serves fewer than 500 black male students.  Moreover, the courses organized by Walker and staff do not directly address mathematics, reading, and science knowledge and skill;  the abiding assumption is that by conveying information pertinent to African American culture and seeking to build self-awareness and confidence, the students in the pilot program will dedicate themselves to the effort to improve academic performance.

 

Current (March 2018) staff composition of the Office of Black Male Student Achievement is as follows:

 

Minneapolis Public Schools Office of Black Male Achievement

 

(March 2018)  >>>>>

 

Staff Member                                   Position

 

1)          Michael Walker                                  Director
2)            Andria Daniel                                    Family and Community

          Inclusion Specialist

3)            Cierra Burnaugh                               Office Specialist, Senior
4)            Corey Yeager                                     Coordinator, Educational Equity 

5)            Marjaan Sirdar                                  Teacher, Social Studies
6)            Richard Magembe                            Teacher, Social Studies

7)            Jamil Jackson                                     Community Expert
                                                                                      Classroom Coach

 

Descriptions of individual staff experience are given as follows:

                                                                                    

Michael Walker, Director of the Office of Black Male Achievement

 

Michael Walker brings a career focus on youth development and assisting black youth to achieve success. He earned his undergraduate degree in physical education from Southwest Minnesota State University and his master’s degree in counseling from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls as well as his administrative license from St. Cloud State. From 1998 to 2006, Walker served as community outreach, program and youth development director at the YMCA of Minneapolis and Greater St. Paul, where he developed programs for social, academic, athletic and employment skills for youth and served as the coordinator of the Black Achievers program. Walker worked as a career and college center coordinator for AchieveMpls at Roosevelt High School (2006-2009) before serving Minneapolis Public Schools as Roosevelt’s dean of students from 2009 to 2011 and assistant principal from 2011 to 2014. He is the inaugural director for the Office of Black Male Student Achievement, where his sole responsibility is changing outcomes for Black Males who attend Minneapolis Public Schools. Walker is a product of Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

Andria Daniel, Family and Community Inclusion Specialist

 

Andria Daniel is passionate about helping build communities where everyone’s voice is heard and valued. She believes it is important for families and students to feel fully supported. Over the years, she has worked with parents to create and facilitate listening sessions to address issues that affect the academic success of children. Andria’s goal is to generate unique and positive experiences for families and to create new pathways between home and school. She has a master’s degree in family education from the University of Minnesota.  As the family and community coordinator for the Office of Black Male Student Achievement (OBMSA), Andria works with parents to understand how important it is to be involved in their children’s education from cradle to career. As a parent of three, she believes there is a shared responsibility of building the capacity of effective family engagement, which is linked to learning.

 

Cierra Burnaugh, Office Specialist, Senior

 

Cierra Burnaugh is a native of north Minneapolis and a graduate of North High School. Cierra is deeply rooted in her community. Through her work with the Office of Black Male Student Achievement and as a Dance Studio owner in north Minneapolis, Cierra strives to build, uplift and empower her community. Cierra has worked in multiple positions within Minneapolis Public Schools and in many positions in her community to service the evolution of her people. Her passion for her community and her people drew her to the Office of Black Male Student Achievement. As the senior office specialist for the office, Cierra works directly with staff, student and community members to ensure the mission of the office is achieved. Her mission in life is to provide knowledge of self to her community to ensure they know where they come from and where they are going. 

 

Corey Yeager, Coordinator, Educational Equity Corey Yeager is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Yeager is currently the educational equity coordinator for Minneapolis Public School, working under the umbrella of the Office of Black Male Achievement. He is completing his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, with an emphasis in family social science/couple and family therapy. Corey’s therapeutic work is primarily focused on serving African American adolescents and their families. Much of his professional career efforts have been intentionally concentrated on facilitating community change through democratic, grassroots efforts.

Marjaan Sirdar, Teacher, Social Studies

Marjaan Sirdar grew up in a low-income, single parent home in east Bloomington. He attended predominantly white schools and often felt invisible. Marjaan never had any teachers of color or any positive Black men to look up to. This led to anger and violence as a teenager with the potential of prison or death. This experience led him to teaching.

Marjaan worked with homeless youth for most of the past seven years. He’s a graduate from Metro State and he is completing his master’s degree in urban education. As an educator, his goal is to help young people unlearn the dominant narrative of white supremacy and use education as a means of liberation rather than a tool for social control. As a community organizer, Marjaan works on building leadership and power in communities of color so we can tell our own stories, create our own narratives, and control our collective futures.  This is his second year at Franklin Middle School and his first year at Fair Downtown.

 

Richard Magembe, Teacher, Social Studies

 

Richard Magembe joined the Office of Black Male Student Achievement (OBMSA) in August 2016. He has been an employee of MPS since 2012, formerly serving as a school support program assistant at Stadium View School. In his new role as a life coach, Richard will assist the OBMSA in their mission to close the achievement gap between black male students and their peers.

Prior to his employment with MPS, Richard received his undergraduate degree in social work from St. Cloud State University and his master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Argosy University. In 2009 he started his career in education serving as a teaching assistant at Hancock Elementary School in the St. Paul Public Schools District. After providing two years of service to Hancock Elementary, Richard served as an educational assistant at St. Paul’s Johnson High School during the 2011-2012 school year.      

 

Jamil Jackson, Community Expert Classroom Coach

 

Jamil Jackson is a community expert classroom coach for the OBMSA. He is also executive director of C.E.O (Change Equals Opportunity) a life skills mentoring program for males of color ages 12-25, assisting in the areas of college, career and cultural exposure. As the executive director of Run and Shoot EBL (Elite Basketball League), he uses sports as a way to build authentic relationships with young Kings of the community, help assist with college recruitment/placement, and bring together both youth and adult males to fellowship and learn from each other about what “Being a Man of Character is”.

 

Jamil was raised and resides in north Minneapolis where he coaches youth sports at Farview Park. He is an active board member for the Farview Area Community Council,  TakeAction MN, and Core Team Member for J4A (Justice For ALL) working to reform our criminal justice system and build relationships with incarcerated men to help assist their transition back into our community.

..............................................................

 

The only key event scheduled by the Office of Black Male Achievement on the calendar for the remainder of academic year 2017-2018, as I am tapping out this article in March 2018, is as follows:

 

April 26, 2018

Believe & Achieve Celebration

Join us to honor the efforts and contributions of

students, educators, parents and community

members.  This special event will feature an award

ceremony, student performances and a year-end

presentation form our Director of the Office of

Black Male Student Achievement, Michael Walker.

 

A few events took place during January-February, as follows:

January 15, 2018

MLK Basket Tournament at Roosevelt High,

4029 28th Ave South Minneapolis from 8 am - 8 pm

This event [was for the purpose of] fundraising

for OBMSA Scholarships.

January 18, 2018

Career Fair [was] located at 800 West Broadway

from 9 am - 11:30 am.

February 12, 2018

National African American Parent Involvement Day

[This event was held] the Roller Garden [as] a free

family event from 6 pm - 8 pm

February 22, 2018

BLACK TEEN SUMMIT

The Office of Black Male Student Achievement,

in collaboration with the University of Minnesota,

[hosted] its Second Annual Black Teen Summit. 

Selected students from Minneapolis Public Schools

and surrounding districts in the metropolitan area

[had] a chance to hear from leaders within the

African American community.

…………………………………………………………….

 

The Office of Black Male Achievement has failed miserably in its original purpose to raise the academic achievement levels for African American males in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

The program of the Office of Black Male Achievement is not organized in a manner conducive to raising academic achievement.  Staff members have strong backgrounds in social service and community organization, but they are not academicians or scholars.

 

As the K-12 Revolution sweeps the halls of the Davis Center (central offices of the Davis Center, 1250 West Broadway), the Office of Black Male Achievement will be jettisoned.  Its staff members will be incorporated into the new Department of Family Resource Provision and Referral.  These staff members will be part of a major effort to reach struggling families right where they live.  Newly trained teachers and tutors will, as appropriate, impart the new knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum to students. 

 

In the context of these logical facets of the new administration at the Minneapolis Public Schools that replaces that of current Superintendent Ed Graff, students of all demographic descriptors will meet state standards in mathematics, reading, and science;  and they will graduate with an abundance of knowledge in history, economics, literature, and music, as well as the visual, vocational, and technological arts.