Aimee Fearing Must Be Replaced By A Scholar, the Department of Teaching and Learning and the Office of Black Male Student Achievement Must Be Disbanded, and the Legislatively Mandated Department of Indian Education Must Be Overhauled to Include Genuine Academicians

Over summer 2019, the position of Executive Director of the Department of Teaching and Learning was bestowed upon Aimee Fearing.  In the course of academic year 2019-2020, Graff designated Fearing as Interim Chief Academic Officer.  This appointment clearly indicates Graff’s lack of understanding of the qualifications that the senior academic officer for a locally centralized school district should possess.  Fearing, like Graff (who holds no degree at any level indicating subject area mastery), is an academic lightweight.

    

Fearing’s credentials are as follows.

 

Academic Credentials for Aimee Fearing

Minneapolis Public Schools

                                                                             

Executive Director, Teaching and Learning

 

Degrees Earned          Field in Which                Institution at Which             

                                          Degree Was Earned      Degree Was Earned

 

Bachelors Degree       ESL Education                University of Northwestern

 

13 May 2000

 

Masters Degree          Education                       Hamline University

 

23 May 2003

 

Doctorate Degree       Education                       Hamline University

 

30 April 2015

 

Other Credentials

 

Professional Licensures

 

K-12 Principal Licensure

 

Expiration, 30 June 2023

 

K-12 ESL Licensure

Expiration, 30 June 2023

 

5-12 Communication Arts Licensure

 

Expiration, 30 June 2023

 

Thus, Fearing has the typical profile for an academic decision-maker at the Minneapolis Public Schools: 

 

Her training is entirely in education rather than in an academic discipline (mathematics, natural science, history, government, English) that should be at the core of the curriculum of a locally centralized school district. 

 

Fearing is not a scholar. 

 

She is not a subject area specialist. 

 

She should not be making decisions pertinent to academics. 

 

And yet she leads a department that has the official responsibility for the academic program of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

…………………………………………………………………………………..

 

The senior academic officer for the Minneapolis Public Schools should hold a Ph. D. granted by a department representing a key academic discipline:  mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, political science, economics, or literature.   She or he should set about inviting other scholars to contribute to the design of knowledge-intensive curriculum for impartation in logical sequence throughout the PreK-12 years.  Teachers should be retrained so as to gain ability to deliver such a curriculum:  Teachers at preK-5 should be required to pursue a highly substantive masters of liberal arts degree designed by these scholars;  and all middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) teachers should be required to pursue master’s degrees in one of the key academic areas (or advanced training in artistic, technological, or vocational fields as appropriate).  No putatively advanced degree from a department, college, or school of education should be accepted.

 

Graff must hire a scholar for the position of senior academic officer.  Curriculum design and teacher training must proceed apace.  Teacher pay should be raised to a median of $85,000 per annum.  The Department of Teaching and Learning and the Office of Black Student Achievement should be disbanded and the legislatively mandated Department of Indian Education should be overhauled to include true scholars.

 

Academics constitute the core of any school system.

 

Academics require academicians.