Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Ed Graff’s Overhaul of the Office of Black Male Achievement (Now Office of Black Student Achievement) Demonstrates His Cluelessness as an Academic Leader

The Office of Black Male Student Achievement was unwisely created in September 2014 at the behest of then Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson in an effort to address the lagging performance of African American males in the public schools of Minneapolis. She tapped Michael Walker, who had been Dean of Students at Roosevelt High School, where he had made strong favorable connections with students and families but gave little evidence in his educational preparation or career of having any ability to construct a program of curriculum or teacher training. 


While the problem that Johnson sought to address is severe, the solution is merely of the typical bureaucratic type that establishes a new department and gives it a name that seems to address the problem but puts in place staff members who have no hope of addressing the problem identified. When Walker assumed the position, he commented that he would know that he had been successful when he had worked himself out of a job. Six years on, Walker is still in a job the pay for which has risen by $20,000. The academic performance of African Americans at the Minneapolis Public Schools is no better than when Walker’s position and the office were launched, as this record demonstrates:


MPS Proficiency Rates for Academic Years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 (Results of Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments [MCAs], administered each spring of those years)


Math         2014     2015     2016    2017    2018    2019


African       23%     19%    19%     16%    17%    18%
American


Reading


African       22%      21%    21%     21%    21%    23%
American


Science        11%      15%    13%     11%    10%    11%


African American The Office of Black Male Achievement has recently been renamed as the Office of Black Student Achievement, with aspiration now to address the similarly lagging performance of African American female students. There has also been an overhaul of staffing, as the information succeeding these initial comments conveys.


Peruse this information, noting the staffing changes, and know that no academicians are making decisions in the Office of Black Student Achievement, the same phenomenon we witness in the Department of Teaching and Learning, the Academic Division as a whole, and the Department of Indian Education. Superintendent Ed Graff and his Interim Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing are academic lightweights. Ed Graff’s inclination in fixing the problems at the Minneapolis Public Schools is to make staffing changes and to more rationally align declared purpose with actual performance. But in the absence of any idea of how to design an academic program or any notion of the type of staffing needed, Graff is merely flailing for solutions while revealing his cluelessness as to the needed overhaul in curriculum and teacher quality.


Carefully review the following changes and come to an understanding of just how ineffective the staffing changes and office renaming will be in actually improving the quality of education for African American students at the Minneapolis Public Schools. 


Perpend:


By September 2020, the Office of Black Male Achievement (created in September 2014) had renamed the Office of Black Student Achievement, with a vow to serve African American female students, as well as males.


The mission of the office is given as follows:


Mission


We exist to awaken the greatness within Black students at MPS, to have them determined to believe and achieve success, as defined by their own values and dreams.


As of September 2020, there appeared to be six Davis Center (MPS Central offices, 1250 West Broadway) staff, as follows:


Michael Walker, Director
Qiana Sorrel, Program Coordinator
Nneka N. Abdullah, Queens Program
Umar Rashid, MPA, Kings Program


In a portal at the website, Social Studies Teachers Marlaan Sirdar and Richard Magembe were still listed, but otherwise perusal of the following lists will reveal considerable shake-up in the office over time:


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 Univerisity of Minnesota. As the family and community coordinator for the Office of Black Male Student Achievement (OMBSA), 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, uplife, and empower her community. Cierra has worked win multiple positions within the 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 the 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 Schools, working under the umbrella of the Office of Black Male Student 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 primariliy focused on serving African American adolescents and their families. Much of his professional career effors have been intentionally concentrated on facilitating community change through democratic, grassroots efforts.


Marjaan Sirdar, Teacher, Social Studies


Marjaan Sidar grew up in a low income, single parent home in east Bloomington, He attended predominately 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. The 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 2018. 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 at 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. 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 E & L (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.

Act Locally, Knowing That in a Democracy You Are the Government and Have the Power to Make Permanent Change >>>>> Vote for Michael Duenes for the At-large Seat, Sharon El-Amin for District 2, and Adriana Cerrillos for District 4 in the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education Election--- and Be Highly Attentive to Opportunities to Flip the United States Senate with Support of Candidacies Such as That of Theresa Greenfield in Iowa

I received this communication from the Theresa Greenfield campaign in Iowa today, conveying the extent to which the corrupt Republican leadership in Congress recognizes Theresa's candidacy as a threat to the careers of office holders who once asserted  legitimate political principles with which I mostly disagreed but made logical sense and could be defended in the context of the Constitution and a certain view of American society.  But when a party that was dominated by presidential candidacies of relatively moderate conservatives got blindsided by the Trump phenomenon, dedication to former principles gave way to political expediency.  The Republican Party as presently constituted gives evidence of having no convictions other than political self-preservation.

 

In this context, Greenfield's campaign is one of the most important in the nation. 

 

As important as defeating Donald Trump is, we must recognize that there is a deeper dilemma in a nation that will still find 28 states casting their electoral college votes for Trump and in which 43% of the popular vote will still be cast for a political actor who has invited Russian interference in our elections, issued demeaning statements regarding women and a host of citizens of various demographic descriptors, signaled more support for a variety of authoritarian leaders than for long-time Western democratic allies, sent unidentified paramilitary units into the streets to counter the efforts of peaceful protesters, denied climate science with multiple associated harmful policies, encouraged the vitriol of mean-spirited white nationalist groups, repeatedly spoken in racist code, and responded to the Covid-19 pandemic so dismally as to constitute a moral abomination.  

 

This is the nation in which we live.

 

This is the nation that we must change.

 

Be active.  Stay alert.  Know that in a democracy the government is you and that you have the power to bring change if you muster the moral commitment to do so. 

 

In the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education election, vote for Michael Duenes for the At-large seat against Kim Ellison, Sharon El-Amin for the District 2 seat against KerryJo Felder, and Ariana Cerrillos for the District 4 seat mercifully abdicated by Bob Walser.

 

Stay attentive to important congressional races, most especially those with highly viable chances to assist flipping the Senate.

 

And in that regard, please peruse the following communication and help if you can.

 

We have the power to change this nation if we muster the moral energy to do so.

 

Consider >>>>>

July 6: Greenfield 49% -- Ernst 47% (+2)
August 5: Greenfield 45% -- Ernst 48% (-3)
September 10: Greenfield 45% -- Ernst 50% (-5)

 

Gary, this isn't good news.

 

Our opponent, Senator Ernst, is pulling ahead thanks to

the millions Mitch McConnell is spending attacking us.

In fact, McConnell and his allies plan to spend more than 

$60 MILLION in nasty, false attacks against us -- and the latest

poll shows their attacks are working.

Look, I'm a feisty farm kid, so I'm not one to back down from

a tough fight. And frankly, right now I'm ticked off: Senator Ernst

is spreading debunked COVID-19 conspiracy theories, accusing

our health care heroes of lying. She's gone from wrong for Iowa

to outright dangerous.

 

We need to replace her and bring some decency back to the Senate.

But to do that, we have to fight back against the millions McConnell

is spending to prop her up. Winning this race is our one shot at

defeating Ernst and taking back the Senate majority.

Folks, that means we have got to hit our extended mid-month

fundraising deadline by tonight at midnight. We fell short the first

time and we can't afford to let it happen again. Hitting this

$50,000 goal before midnight will help us counter McConnell's

attacks and give us a fighting chance to flip this seat. I'm not taking

a single dime from corporate PACs -- I'm relying on the help of

grassroots supporters to help us fight back against the millions

flooding into our race.

 

So if you're ticked off like me, and you're ready to see some real

change and some real action to help hardworking folks, I need you

to step up today and help us hit this mid-month goal.

 

Flipping this seat is not going to be easy. McConnell has made it

clear he will do -- and spend -- whatever it takes to defeat

our grassroots campaign. But I'm pushing hard to make up for

lost ground to hit our extended mid-month fundraising goal.

With the future of Social Security, affordable health care,

quality education, and the Senate majority all on the line, I

need to know I can count on your support today. Together, I

know we can get this job done.

 

Rush a donation of $10, or whatever you can, before midnight

tonight to help us hit our mid-month goal, replace Earnst, and

take back the Senate.

 

Thank you,

Theresa

 

Our race against our extreme opponent is neck-and-neck.

Theresa Greenfield isn't taking a dime of corporate PAC money –

instead, we're relying on our average contribution of just $30.

Will you pitch in now to help us take back this seat and flip the Senate?

 

DONATE

An Important Message from New Salem Educational Initiative Supporter Jay Kinn Concerning Iowa Campaign of Theresa Greenfield for United States Senator

One of the most loyal and generous supporters of the New Salem Educational Initiative, California attorney (and Minnesota native) Jay Kinn, recently sent Barbara and me information on the candidacy of Theresa Greenfield, a Democrat in Iowa opposing Republican Trump supporter Joni Ernst for a United States Senate seat.  Jay just retired from a career as a highly successful attorney, with an aspiration to make a difference in society by now giving his efforts to those causes he thinks most important.  Thus, his selection of the Greenfield campaign in his first major post-retirement foray into the sphere of political activism conveys much about the importance that Jay places on flipping the Senate and thrusting into that body leaders of conscience and moral clarity.

The following gives the portion of the communication relevant to the Greenfield candidacy.  I strongly encourage readers of this blog to consider donating to the Greenfield campaign at a level qualifying for the online event of Tuesday, 15 September.

In that spirit, please read the following:

From New Salem Educational Initiative Supporter, Jay Kinn   Now that the corporate career is done, I’m making an effort to move into projects that add real beneficial value.   It just so happens that there’s an extremely important election around the corner — an election that will determine whether we continue as a functioning democracy. I’ve been dismayed at the destruction wrought by the current administration in Washington and at the failure of the Senate, led by a once respectable party, to stand up for what’s right. So the only real choice for my first post-retirement project is to throw myself into a political campaign. Electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is, of course, of paramount importance. But their ability to enact positive, meaningful change is limited if we miss our opportunity to flip the Senate.   We need to flip at least four seats, and I’m feeling good about three of them. Then there’s a group of three or four that could go either way. That’s why I’ve become an “Ambassador" to elect Theresa Greenfield to the U.S. Senate from Iowa (next door to my home state of Minnesota). If I can make a difference,   I’m all in. I’m working hard to help defeat Joni Ernst, who has done nothing to protect democratic values under attack from the current administration. Ernst never spoke out against separating families the border. Ernst never spoke out about the President failing to condemn bounties on our troops in Afghanistan. Last week Ernst spread a QAnon conspiracy theory that the number of Covid cases is vastly overstated. Enough said.   Theresa Greenfield, the challenger, is an engaging, passionate candidate who will always stand up for important American values. As part of my all-in duties, I’m co-hosting a virtual fundraiser   for Theresa. Participants will meet Theresa, as well as hear from Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.  For those who want to participate in my first do-good post-retirement project, I’ve invited them to make a contribution and join me, my co-hosts, Senator Klobuchar and Mayor Steinberg, on  Tuesday, September 15 from 5:30-6:30 PM Pacific Time / 7:30-8:30 PM Central Time for a very special Zoom event where there will be an opportunity to:  ·                Meet U.S. Senate candidate Theresa Greenfield (see her bio below) ·           ·         Participate in a Q&A session ·           ·         Share the flip with other like-minded friends who are determined to not sit         out this election. ·            To RSVP, click on this link: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/091520weiss Theresa Greenfield Bio   Theresa Greenfield grew up on a family farm, where she and her four siblings  learned the value of hard work and self-reliance. At 16, Theresa began helping with the family crop-dusting business. When the farm crisis of the 1980s hit rural families, Theresa put herself through college with the help of financial aid and multiple part-time jobs. Theresa married and as she and her husband were expecting their second child, he was killed in an accident at his job as a union electrical worker.   As a young widow, Theresa provided for her two boys as a single mom. One of the things that helped Theresa’s family stay out of poverty was Social Security survivor benefits, and she’s committed to protecting Social Security against partisan attacks in Washington. Theresa worked as an urban planner and has worked in real estate and development in Iowa. She lives with her husband Steve in Des Moines and together they have four grown children: Tanya, a media specialist; Nick, a horticulturist; Phil, a healthcare consultant;  and Dane, a soldier in the U.S. Army.

A Message to My Fellow Teachers Concerning the Love They Must Feel for Their Students >>>>> The Meaning of--- and Developmental Context for --- True Love

What is Love, and why is the felt emotion and expression of True Love so hard to achieve?

 

Love is a deep and genuine Caring that ever wants the best for the one Loved. 

 

Love entails listening with real interest, trying to understand and getting as close as possible to full comprehension concerning the stances, ideas, emotional fabric, spiritual or ethical framework, present concerns, and Life goals of the one Loved.  Love entails refined and heightened empathy and committed action to express one’s Caring on a daily basis to abet the efforts of the one Loved to attain the deepest life satisfaction and reach her or his Life aims.  Love looks beyond the merely apparent, the behavior of the moment, to seek the source of manifest emotions, verbal expressions, and actions.  Love seeks to understand the real emotions felt by the one Loved and to move those emotions toward inner peace and rewarding action in ways consistent both with the Loved’s best ideals and in ways consonant with those ideals that add to, enhance, and enrich those ideals and their associated goals and values.

 

Once Loved, the one loved is always Loved:

 

Love abides through disruptions of physical interaction, catastrophic occurrences, and dramatically changed Life circumstances.  Love never forgets, always forgives, never dwells in or on the petty.  Love is constant.  Love never goes away.  Love endures whether or not the one Loved seems to care, even when the one Loved seems hostile, resentful, envious, or angry to the one who Loves. 

 

Love is extended to all of those with whom the Loving has been close in family, friendship, or significant association. 

 

Love is the reason for Being and the only way to Be.

 

Loving is difficult because Ego and Environment often work against feeling and expressing Love.  Human beings are ever focused on the effort to find a suitable self-definition and to project the suitable image into the world.  Because for most human beings a suitable definition is never attained, and attainment varies from one person to another on a wide continuum stretching from enormous personal insecurity to the most security of which humanity is capable, conversations, rewarding relationships, and commitment to the best interests of the Other is difficult in the extreme.

 

Listening for most human beings is either not a true aspiration or an aspiration faintly attained.

 

Caring is a received ideal that rarely attains the status of real.

 

Further impeding the attainment of the Spirit of Love are the unsupportive environments in which most people dwell.  To feel Love, one must exist is an environment in which one has satisfied the biological imperatives and the strivings of the Ego, so that empathy and compassion for others may be felt.  On a societal scale, Love will never be possible for most people until the society-wide environment satisfies the biological imperatives and Ego satisfaction pertinent to the physiology and psyche of all people.  Love may come only to those for whom sustaining Environment has provided satisfaction of physiology and psyche so as to make possible the empathy and altruism necessary for True Love.

 

These thoughts are my own, built upon a synthesis of the penetrating insights of Sigmund Freud, B. F. Skinner, Jesus, St. Paul, Siddhartha Gautama, Laozi, Paul Tillich, and Erich Fromm.  The latter wrote a small book, The Art of Loving, of enormous insight that deserves wide reading and the status of classic for posterity.

A Teacher must attain the Spirit of Love---  and feel and express that Love for her or his students at a height approaching that felt for the Teacher's own child, or children, and family members.

 

Front Matter and Contents >>>>> >Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota<, Volume VII, Number 3, September 2020

Volume VII, No. 3                                

September 2020

 

Journal of the K-12 Revolution: 
Essays and Research from
Minneapolis, Minnesota        

                                                                                

A Five-Article Series         

 

A Publication of the New Salem Educational Initiative

 

Gary Marvin Davison, Editor

                               

Culpability for the Wretched Education at the         

Minneapolis Public Schools

 

With Explanation for How We Came to Be Inflicted with Superintendent Ed Graff;  Interim Senior Academic Officer

Aimee Fearing;  Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, and Brian Zambreno;  Staff at the Department of Teaching and Learning;  and Those Who Have Created and Sustained the System of PreK-12 Education in Minnesota and the United States  

 

A Five-Article Series         

 

Gary Marvin Davison, Ph. D.

Director, New Salem Educational Initiative

 

New Salem Educational Initiative

Minneapolis, Minnesota

               

Culpability for the Wretched Education at the         

Minneapolis Public Schools

 

With Explanation for How We Came to Be Inflicted with

Superintendent Ed Graff;  Interim Senior Academic Officer

Aimee Fearing;  Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry,

LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, and Brian Zambreno;  Staff at the

Department of Teaching and Learning;  and Those Who Have

Created and Sustained the System of PreK-12 Education in

Minnesota and the United States 

 

A Five-Article Series         

 

Copyright © 2020

 

Gary Marvin Davison

New Salem Educational Initiative

 

Contents

 

Introductory Comments                                                                                                    

 

However Bad You May Think Things Are at the

Minneapolis Public Schools, They Are Much Worse

Than Your Perception

 

And Thus I Am in the Process of Taking the

Offending Systems and Staff Apart Piece by Piece

 

Article #1                                                                                                                

The Gravity of the Dilemma

 

Article #2                                                                                                                              

Those at the Davis Center Most Culpable

For the Wretched Level of MPS Education

 

Article #3                                                                                                                            

The Corrupt Context for the Academic Abuse of MPS Students

 

Article #4                                                                                                                            

How We Got in This PreK-12 Education Mess

 

Article #5                                                                                                                            

The Revolution That Will Expose All Culpable Parties