Article #18 of a Multi-Article Series >>>>> Origins and Maintenance of a Corrupt System of Public Education in the United States

The Travesty That Is the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education

 

At-Large Member Kim Caprini  >>>>>  The Case of a Corrupt and ignorant Board Member in Deep Denial  

 

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 2016, losing narrowly;  she then ran successfully for an At-Large seat, with heavy Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) backing, in 2018.

 

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 proven 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 board meetings during November 2019-January 2020, 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.