Article #26 >>>>> Origin and Consequences of the Wretched System of Public Education Throughout the United States

The Heavy Toll Taken on Native American Students at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Due to the Abysmal Quality of MPS Curriculum and Teaching

The Department of Indian Education at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) is legislatively mandated, so that unlike the MPS Office of Black Male Achievement, this academically hopeless entity cannot be disbanded.  But the 15-member department should be overhauled for focus on academic achievement, so that most of the current staff is dismissed, to be replaced by scholarly academicians whose unrelenting mission is to provide the knowledge and skills sets that American Indian students need to go forth in the world as culturally enriched, civically engaged, and professionally satisfied citizens.

A retrained MPS teaching staff, including those at schools such as Anishinabe Academy and South High School with high percentages of Native American students, should be especially attentive to the literature and history of American Indians while imparting the knowledge and skills sets to be received by all MPS students in the overhaul of curriculum at the district.

Remember that the 31-member staff of Teaching and Learning and the following staff members at the Minneapolis Public Schools are most culpable for the knowledge-deficient, skill-deplete curriculum that academically abuses MPS students  >>>>>

>>>>>

Ed Graff is the Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS);  his salary is $230,000 per annum.

Aimee Fearing is MPS Senior Academic Officer; her salary is $174,971.

Maria Rollinger is MPS Deputy Senior Academic Officer;  her salary is $146,813.

But Department of Indian Education Director Jennifer Rose Simon, who receives an annual salary of $115,379, and the department’s other staff members, whose salaries total approximately $1,300,000, are also deeply culpable for the academic abuse specifically heaped on Native American students.

Proficiency rates for American Indian students for years ending in 2014-2021 are given as follows, succeeded by a list of staff members of the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning   >>>>>

>>>>> 

Minneapolis Public Schools Department of Indian Education

Academic Proficiency for American Studentds, as Indicated by Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs)

 Academic Years Ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021

(Note   >>>>>     No MCAs were administered during the academic year ending in 2020.)

 Reading

 2014   2015   2016   2017   2018   2019   2021    

  21%   20%   21%   23%   24%   25%   20%

Mathematics                      

2014   2015   2016   2017   2018   2019   2021             

 23%   19%    19%   17%  17%   18%    9%

Science

2014   2015   2016   2017   2018   2019   2021                          

 14%   16%    13%  17%    14%   17%   9%

Department of Indian Education Staff, Minneapolis Public Schools

Jennifer Simon, Director

(Cheyenne River Dakota) 

Diane Leaskas, Account Specialist

Christina Wilson, Family Engagement Specialist

(White Earth)

Alexis Dauenhauer, School Success Program Assistant

(Standing Rock)

Patrick Engrav, School Success Program Assistant

(Bois Forte)

David Stier, School Success Program Assistant

Leo Baker, School Success Program Assistant/ Senior Graduation Coach

(Upper Sioux Community)

Jodi Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment

Tracy Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment

Branden Canfield, Social Worker

Jennifer Weber, Special Education District Program Facilitator

(Oklahoma Choctaw)

Anjanette Parisien, District Program Facilitator

(Turtle Mountain)

Mathew La Fave, Ojibwe Language Teacher

(Fon Du Lac)

Shiela Zephler, Dakota Language Teacher

(Oglala Sioux, Turtle Mountain)

Tate Wilson, Social Studies Teacher

(Sisseton Wahpeton)