Joining the contingent of most
objectionable members of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of
Education--- thus far conveyed as Bob
Walser, Nelson Inz, Kim Ellison, and Jenny Arneson--- are Kim Caprini and KerryJo Felder.
Caprini ran against Felder for the District
2 (North Minneapolis) seat in 2014, losing narrowly; she then ran successfully for an At-Large
seat, with heavy Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) backing, in 2016.
Caprini grew up in north Minneapolis but
mostly attended non-MPS schools, graduating from high school at Benilde/St.
Margaret’s. She has taken scattered post-secondary
courses but does not hold a college degree;
she has a background in culinary arts but now works in social service. Caprini has two daughters who have attended
Henry High School.
Caprini has proved herself to be a corrupt
politico that most typically describes members on this iteration of the MPS Board
of Education, and she frequently betrays a woeful knowledge base, generally and
particularly pertaining to the history and philosophy of education. But her most frequent mode gives appearance
of a person in deep denial.
She has proclaimed that her daughters got a
“first-rate education” at Henry, by factual counterpoint demonstrating that she
has no understanding of the constituents of an excellent education.
At recent board meetings, a contingent of Hispanic
parents have cited woeful conditions at what they describe as “low-performing”
schools attended by their children, calling for “priority enrollment” that
would give their children better educations at “higher performing” schools. Public
commentators have voiced other complaints, such as the turmoil frequently witnessed
at and outside Harrison school attended by students with severe emotional
disorders.
Board members by protocol do not respond in
the moment to Public Comments but have ample opportunity to do so in the course
of regular and Committee of the Whole meetings.
Caprini’s response is impulsively reactive: She reflexively defends schools where
wretched academic quality is most obvious, and she is in seemingly deep denial
over conditions at Harrison. Concerning
Harrison, Caprini correctly countered criticism with citations of good programs,
such as those pertaining to culinary arts and music; but Caprini never concerns herself with the palpable
and chronic turmoil at Harrison, and she has never addressed the abundant deficiencies
in curriculum and teacher quality that describe not only “low-performing”
schools but the classrooms of the Minneapolis Public Schools as a whole.
At-Large member Kim Caprini is a political
hack and gravely ignorant as to the history and philosophy of preK-12
education.
Her most prevalent and manifest mode is
that of the MFT sycophant in deep denial.
She should be shown the Davis Center door, following
closely behind Bob Walser, Nelson Inz, Kim Ellison, and Jenny Arneson.
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