The Travesty That Is the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education >>>>> Members Whose Multiyear Ineffectiveness Makes Paramount Their Immediate Resignation
District #5 Member Nelson Inz >>>>> The Specter of the Political Hack as School
Board Member
Nelson Inz was elected to the
Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education in November 2014 and reelected
without opposition in November 2018.
Lack of opposition to call Inz on his corrupt ineptitude demonstrates
public disinterest in, and misunderstanding of, the chronic deficiencies of
preK-12 education.
Inz is a former bartender turned
teacher who has located professionally in several different school systems
during his five years on the MPS Board of Education. After Rebecca Gagnon quickly offended enough
of her fellow offenders to turn the majority on the board against her as chair,
Inz began his stint as chair in January 2017.
By that time, Inz had joined Kim
Ellison and Rebecca Gagnon in recruiting Ira Jourdain and Bob Walser to run
against Tracine Asberry and Josh Reimnitz for the District 6 and District 4
seats respectively. Asberry was a
particularly effective advocate for academic progress who would closely
question Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and Accountability Chief Eric Moore
when he would deliver the latest bad news on student academic achievement; Reimnitz, a former Teach for America
participant, was also an independent voice.
Jourdain and Walser were recruited to do the bidding of the Minneapolis
Federation of Teachers (MFT). Gagnon
specifically endorsed Jourdain; Inz
endorsed Walser.
Endorsement of Walser, the silliest,
most offensive school board member I have ever witnessed on this or any other
board, conveys much about Inz’s personal judgment. He is a political hack who harbors the same
ambitions as do Ellison and Gagnon, neither of whom has been able to realize
goals for exalted political futures. Inz
describes his endorsement of Walser over Reimnitz as the action of a “team
player.” There were many of those in the
regimes of Hitler and Stalin; they abide
in the administration of Donald Trump today.
Before the Public Comments phase of
every meeting of the MPS Board of Education during his stint as chair, Inz read
the following protocol:
>>>>>
The MPS Board of
Education values public comment
and input at
board meetings to inform our decision
making and
provide information and insight into
what is happening
throughout the district.
If you did not
sign-up ahead of time, there are sign
up sheets on the
table where you entered, near the
meeting agendas.
We will close sign-ups 15 minutes
after public
comment begins. Each person wishing to
address the board
will be given 3 minutes and the
clerk will let
you know when your time has expired.
Individuals will
be called up in the order in which they
signed up to
speak. Please approach the podium, if
able, and state
your name, area of the city you live in,
and connection to
Minneapolis Public Schools.
To ensure we are
modeling constructive public
engagement for
our students, we ask that if you wish
to address the
board, you observe the following:
·
Address your comments to the Board Chair
and not to individual Board directors, staff,
or the audience.
·
Refrain from personal attacks, swearing,
abusive or threatening language, or other
disruptive behavior.
·
Respect those around you and do not hold
up signs that block the view of others—
please do not bring signage to the podium.
·
Do not discuss employee or employment
related issues, as public comment is not the
appropriate venue to raise such issues.
·
Refrain from referring to a person by name
or position.
·
Making accusations and derogatory
statements about employees is not
appropriate.
This is a time
for the Board to listen so we will not be
responding to
comments or questions posed. If you
have a question
that requires a response, please
submit it to the
Board’s Executive Assistant in the
back of the room.
Thank you.
<<<<<
This protocol was appropriately read
by the political hack that Inz is but was not of his authorship. The protocol was written by Ed Graff and
Rebecca Gagnon (when the latter was briefly chair), because I was regularly
citing specific Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway) staff
members who were not doing their jobs and also taking to task particular board
members. The protocol is written as a
shield from criticism of central office bureaucrats and MPS Board of Education
members
and makes mockery of the opening claim
to value public comment. Board members
now know that I have so many venues for issuing my views that the Graff-Gagnon ploy was an exercise in futility; but the protocol does have an inhibiting
effect on some speakers.
The current iteration of the MPS Board
of Education is composed of politicos heavily indebted to the MFT for electoral
backing.
These corrupt board members are
cowards who hide behind metaphorical embankments that they have devised to
shield them from criticism.
That they have opted for Nelson Inz as
Hack in Chief is telling.
If Inz should search within himself
and find a soul, Nelson Inz should resign immediately from the MPS Board of
Education.
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