Much in the
testimonies and the responses, especially in the latter case from candidate
Sharon El-Amin were moving, but two glaring realities marred the event, which
was all too reminiscent of other tightly controlled events in which little in
the way of honest exchanges take place:
>>>>> no issues involving the central
purpose of K-12 institutions--- academic programming--- were
discussed;
>>>>> there was absolutely no opportunity for
audience input or questions.
In the aggregate, we
learned the following about candidate positions as they responded to the four
giving testimonies:
Kim Caprini vowed to conduct office hours at places where constituents
reside and gather. She touted her experience as a resource
navigator at Neighborhood Hub. She wants the Minneapolis Public Schools
to create an individualized education plan advisory committee to help
support families and to educate school personnel and families on resources
available within the district and as provided by outside agencies. She emphasizes
parental empowerment in understanding opportunities to sit on principal search
committees. Citing the importance of nurses, social workers, and
counselors, Caprini vowed to ensure that dollars would be used as claimed in
district literature touting the importance of passing the referenda, also up
for the vote on 6 November.
Josh Pauly stressed equitable financial investments and listening to all,
not merely the loudest, voices. He wants to build on the promising Stable
Homes Stable Schools Pilot Program to find other collaborative ways to help
homeless and highly mobile kids. He sounded the underfunding theme,
lamenting the lack of any inflationary increase to the per pupil allocation
since 2008. Pauly vowed to hold the superintendent accountable for hiring
high-quality staff with multicultural sensitivity. He expressed belief in
restorative justice practices, necessitating much more comprehensive
professional development. Pauly emphasized the importance of
manageable class sizes and better student-to-counselor ratios in helping
support vulnerable students.
Rebecca Gagnon stressed differentiation of transportation and class and school
sizes to meet diverse community needs. She emphasized better customer
service from Homeless Highly Mobile staff and encouraged constituents
struggling with economic and personal issues to reach out to board members for
help working through those issues. Gagnon bemoaned underfunding and
difficulty in securing enough special education teachers. She touted her
role in brining greateer parental involvement to principal-search
processes. She expressed approval for MPS Superintendent Ed Graff’s
assumption of more responsibility for supervising principals, a role long left
to ineffective associate superintendents. A proponent of
full-service schools, Gagnon asserted that her successful effort to restore
$6.4 million to middle and high schools to the 2018-19 budget was instrumental
in avoiding severe cuts to security and support positions.
Sharon El-Amin promised to be accessible to parents and to rebuild lost
trust. El-Amin said more community engagement is needed and that the
district needs to be held accountable for meeting requirements, standards, and
expectations. El-Amin asserted that the need for more sensitive educators would
naturally follow from the implementation of culturally competent
curriculum; she counsels great care in the hiring of teachers possessed
of the knowledge and pedagogical skill for reaching the great diversity of
students in the Minneapolis Public Schools, and she wants to build
relationships with students and families so as to direct them toward needed
resources.
………………………………………………………………………
There is some
surface appeal to the above candidate positions.
Sharon El-Amin in
particular conveys a genuine sense of caring and an ability to look beyond
program names and purported function to the reality of student and family
needs, with incisive ideas as to how to meet those needs.
No comments:
Post a Comment