Voters Who Seek Change in the Minneapolis Public Schools Should Vote for Sharon El-Amin and Kimberly Caprini on 6 November

For four years now, I have been conducting an investigation into the people and processes  that determine policies and programming in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS).  During that time I have been first up for Public Comments at every monthly meeting of the MPS Board of Education and have attended most subsidiary meetings pertinent to committees of the whole, finance, superintendent search, superintendent evaluation, collaboration with the Minneapolis Park Board, school board retreats, Comprehensive Districtwide Assessment and Design, North Star Accountability System, and candidate forums.  I have convened with all major staff members, including all cabinet chiefs who advise Superintendent Ed Graff at the Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway).  And I have accumulated exhaustive data for presentation on my blog, which I am now assembling in the final draft of a book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect.

 

Hence, there is a bevy of research and observation that goes into this hearty endorsement for Sharon El-Amin and Kimberly Caprini for election to the two At-Large seats up for voter decision on 6 November 2018.

 

I am especially enthusiastic about the candidacy of Sharon El-Amin:

 

El-Amin has lived in Minneapolis for over a quarter of a century, carefully parenting three children along with her husband of 26 years.  As the longtime owner of El-Amin’s Fish House, she earned numerous awards and recognitions for her astute management.  El-Amin is a towering presence in North Minneapolis, well-known for her efforts to make the community as economically and academically successful as it is culturally vibrant.

 

Twice a month, El-Amin cooks and prepares 100 hot meals for families in need and hosts them at Masjid An’nur mosque on Lyndale Avenue North.  She is currently the President of Minneapolis North Polar parent organization and a member of North High School Site Council;  two of her children are MPS graduates and the other currently attends North High School. 

 

I am not easy to convince.  I have seen many personaages come and go, make big promises, then  move on with much work left to be done.  Sharon El-Amin's commitment has been continuous and tireless.  In my discussions with her, she and I have found resonance on a multitude of issues, including my own passions for knowledge-intensive curriculum, training and support for teachers capable of imparting such a curriculum, highly intentional tutoring for students languishing below grade level, and expanded outreach to families struggling with dilemmas of poverty and functionality.  As a candidate, El-Amin emphasizes advocacy for greater accountability, greatly expanded community engagement, and absolute transparency pertinent to administration, finances, and programming in the district.

 

Kimberly Caprini is another well-known parent activist in Minneapolis, the mother of two children, one an MPS graduate, the other a current MPS high school student.  She appears often at meetings and forums of the school district.  She is both a forceful speaker and a good listener.  I have interacted with her often and listened carefully both in my personal meetings with her and at the candidate forums in which she has participated during this campaign season.  Like El-Amin, Caprini has been a dedicated advocate for her own children in the Minneapolis Public Schools;  she now expresses a clear and convincing desire to be an advocate of that dedication and quality for all students of the district.

 

The current members of the MPS Board of Education have bungled superintendent searches, watched as district finances went awry, and demonstrated themselves to be insufficiently concerned about the wretched academic performance of the district’s students.  Rebecca Gagnon has been on the board for eight years now and is deeply implicated in those failures.  Josh Pauly is neither mature enough in his community commitments nor independent enough to resist pressure from the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) on key votes, as will the more politically savvy Caprini, who, like Pauly, is endorsed by the MFT.

 

Sharon El-Amin will be a particularly refreshing presence on a school board desperately in need of her perspective.  The election of her, along with Caprini, could signal a decided shift toward more student-focused decision-making that will be in sync with the best inclinations of Superintendent Ed Graff and the highly skilled members of his cabinet.

 

Please vote for a new direction for the public schools of Minneapolis by casting your votes for Sharon El-Amin and Kimberly Caprini for the two At-Large seats on the MPS Board of Education up for election on 6 November.