Notes on the Highly Eventful Tuesday, 10 May, Meeting of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education

Of the three big items on the agenda of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education meeting this past Tuesday, 10 May, the board did not follow through with a

 

>>>>>     description of the process to be followed in searching for a long-term MPS superintendent

 

but did vote on

 

>>>>>      a replacement in the at-large board position vacated by Josh Pauley by resignation in February;

 

and

 

>>>>>     the appointment of Rochelle Cox as Interim Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

Rochelle’s appointment came by a unanimous vote 4-3 vote (of the eight board members remaining after Josh’s resignation, board chair Kim Ellison abstained with the stated reason of avoiding the possibility of a tie).

 

The vote to replace Josh took a mildly unexpected turn:

 

In the run-up to the 10 May meeting, there had been a good bit of buzz around the application and candidacy of longtime Northside resident and community activist Lynne Crockett.  Lynne had run in the August 2020 primary for an at-large seat on the board but lost to Michael Duenes and Kim Ellison in the general election---  in which Ellison prevailed.   

 

In a recent blog article, I gave an account of the most notable features of the 25 applications for appointment to the vacated at-large position.  Five or so candidates seemed to have some potential for confronting the status quo.  A bit different was the application of a candidate named Cynthia Booker, for which I noted,

 

>>>>> 

9)     Cynthia Booker

Brief notes on significant items in applicant response;  I give only those items that truly made an impression on me from the application;  again, to make your own judgements, go to

https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1807?meeting=526209

>>>>>    Outreach counselor for the Minneapolis Public Schools

>>>>>    Identifies as BIPOC

>>>>>    First generation college student

>>>>>    B.A. on Economics

>>>>>    corporate finance experience

Likely to run in the election of November 2022?     >>>>>     No

<<<<< 

 

Then, most likely not accidentally, I came to think, there was a Star Tribune article that read as follows:

 

>>>>> 

 

Museum exhibit examines 1971 desegregation effort in Minneapolis schools

The Hennepin History Museum display, created in part by two former Hale-Field students, looks at what has and hasn't changed in the city and its schools in the past 50 years. 

By Mara Klecker Star Tribune 

MAY 9, 2022 — 5:05PM

JERRY HOLT, STAR TRIBUNE

Cindy Booker was a first-grader when Field and Hale elementary schools were paired as a way to combat segregation in south Minneapolis. She helped put together an exhibit on the pairing, called “Separate Not Equal,” which is now on display at the Hennepin History Museum.

Cindy Booker switched schools in 1971. Instead of walking to Field Elementary in south Minneapolis like she did for kindergarten, she boarded a bus for Hale Elementary for first grade.

What her mother didn't explain then was the reason for the shift: The Minneapolis school board decided to pair Hale and Field elementaries, mixing their students, to combat segregation and distribute resources more equitably between the two schools. Hale was 98% white and had extra space while Field was over capacity and serving mostly students of color, predominantly Black children.

"As a student, you don't really realize that context until later," said Booker, who is Black.

Together, Booker and another former 1971 Hale-Field student named Heidi Adelsman, aim to share that story through a Hennepin History Museum exhibit called "Separate Not Equal: The Hale-Field Pairing." The exhibit examines segregation in south Minneapolis schools in the '70s and the efforts by both opponents and proponents of the school pairing.

The city's schools are still grappling with racial disparities and segregation. Today, students at Field and Hale are predominately white.

The Minneapolis district reassigned thousands of students to different schools last fall in the rollout of its new comprehensive redesign, an effort to lower the number of racially identifiable schools and redistribute resources across the district. That plan, like the Hale-Field pairing, proved controversial.

The district also faces challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers of color. At the time of the Hale-Field pairing, it mandated that 10% of staff be educators of color — that's no longer the case.

Adelsman, who is white, said one of the best parts of her school experience was learning from educators who didn't look like her. Her adopted brother was Black and her mother was a proponent of the pairing. Adelsman's mother and other white Hale families who supported the change faced harassment, including threatening phone calls and acts of violence.

At Hale, more than 70% of families opposed the pairing, according to the exhibit. School board meetings became contentious and the only Black school board member's home was put under police surveillance for protection after multiple threats.

Opponents created a petition, worked to introduce bills in the state legislature to dissolve the Minneapolis school board and filed a class-action lawsuit.

"It was a painful time in south Minneapolis," Adelsman said. Like Booker, Adelsman said her mother tried to protect her from seeing or hearing the anger and hate in the community.

Adelsman has spent almost two decades or so collecting stories from the parents and students from that first year of pairing 50 years ago. She interviewed parents who hosted coffee parties for community members to discuss the pairing and remembers one Field parent saying, "We were making history and we didn't even know it."

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Thus, there were interesting features in Booker’s application, including a B.A. in economics (making her more academically legitimate than Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing and anyone in the Department of Teaching and Learning or most principals and teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools.  So, I thought, I wonder if she might actually be a better candidate than Lynne Crockett, whose focus has always been to get more material resources for Northside schools, without much well-articulated focus on academics. 

 

At the moment for nominations prior to the vote for the available at-large position, District 5 Member Nelson Inz nominated Booker.  Siad Ali  nominated Crockett, with District 4 member Adriana Cerrillo and District 2 Member Sharon El-Amin commenting favorably on Crockett's nomination.

 

The vote went 4-3 for Booker, with Nelson Inz, Kim Caprini, Jenny Arneson, and Ira Jourdain voting for her;  and Ali, Cerrillo, and El-Amin voting for Crockett.

 

The mild surprise, then, was the lack of support for Crockett among the terrible contingent Inz-Caprini-Arneson-(and most likely the abstaining)- Ellison.  I had thought that Crockett had developed connections with board members over the years that might lead to a unified vote in her behalf.  But she has most likely become objectionable to the political hacks on the board.  In any case, there is now a taint on the vote for Booker because of the qualities of her supporters.

 

In summary, we now have the very favorable selection of Rochelle Cox as MPS Interim
Superintendent and the qualitatively muddled election of Cynthia Booker as the ninth member of the board at one of the three at-large positions.   

 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

The months ahead will be critical to the K-12 Revolution.

 

MPS Board of Education District 5 Member Nelson Inz is not running for reelection, seemingly the case, too, for MPS Board of Education District 1 Member Jenny Arneson and MPS Board of Education District 3 Member Siad Ali.  MPS Board of Education At-Large Member Kim Caprini is running for reelection.  The At-large seat vacated by Pauley and now filled by Booker will also be up for election.

 

MPS Board of Education Districts 1 (Adrian Cerrillo), 2 (Sharon El-Amin), 5 (Ira Jourdain) and the MPS Board of Education At-large position currently occupied by Kim Ellison are not up for election until November 2024.

 

Keeping in view, then, that Inz, Caprini, Ellison, and Arneson are the most objectionable status quo hacks on the current board, the objective will be to nominate and elect candidates to replace Inz, Arneson, Ali, and Caprini who are likely to side in votes with the two independent voices, Cerrillo and El-Amin;  while monitoring Booker’s performance to observe where her stance is located;  with the goal of isolating Ellison and inducing movement of Jourdain toward the positions of Cerrillo and El-Amin.