Only two seats on the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education will be contested on election day, November 5, 2024: Lara Bergman and Greta Callahan are vying for the District 6 (Southwest Minneapolis) seat that current Board member Ira Jourdain is vacating; and for the one contested at-large seat, Shayla Owodunni is challenging current Board member Kim Ellison.
Voters in District 6 should vote for Lara Bergman and be aware of
the stark contrasts between her and opponent Greta Callahan. Bergman is a certified Montessori education instructor
with over 15 years of experience in early childhood education. She was raised in Southwest Minneapolis, having
grown up in the Kingwood neighborhood and attended Audubon (now Lake Harriet
Lower) Elementary during very early childhood before moving to the Windom
neighborhood, where she attended the school of the same name during grades 3
through 8. Bergman then continued her own
student experience in the Minneapolis Public Schools as a graduate of South
High School.
Bergman is the involved community member par excellence. She has been vice-president and equity community
chair on the Armatage Elementary School (attended by her two children) PTA; board member and volunteer on the Armatage
Neighborhood Association; board chair of
Cathedral Hill Montesorri School; and fellow
of the BUILD Initiative Early Childhood Workforce at the Minnesota Department
of Human Services, among her many community and education commitments. Bergman also joined advocates at the Minnesota
State Capitol that brought historic investment for early childhood and public education
during the 2023 legislative session.
Bergman attends all MPS Finance Committee meetings and is highly
attentive to a looming financial disaster at the district if significant
changes are not made as to building usage and to the academic program. As to the latter, Bergman is a longtime advocate
for early childhood education, a rigorous liberal arts curriculum capable of
boosting student proficiency rates, with a keen focus on equity that aims to
deliver an equitable educational experience to children of all demographic
descriptors.
In vying for the at-large position that all Minneapolis voters will
see on their ballots, Shayla Owodunni brings a similar energetic community
commitment as that witnessed with Bergman.
Owodunni, of Nigerian heritage, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
business from the University of Carlson School of Business and is an active
alumnus with particular focus on bringing greater diversity to Carlson. She has launched several highly creative entrepreneurial
enterprises while maintaining an enormously active and varied schedule as an
Early Learning Corp volunteer, participant in the Hennepin County Master
Gardener program, and student in Spanish language classes (the latter motivated
by a desire to communicate better with students to whom she is dedicated as a volunteer).
Owodunni prioritizes academic growth in reading and math and,
similarly to Bergman, is aware of the disparities in academic proficiency among
various demographic groups in the Minneapolis Public Schools; she, also like Bergman, has full faith that
these can be remedied with a rigorous academic program delivered to all
students. Owotunni is also similarly focused
on the financial woes of the district and knows that hard, student-focused decisions
are going to have to be made as to building usage and as to academic upgrades
that will make the Minneapolis Public Schools more appealing in an effort to boost
enrollment.
Lara Bergman and Shayla Owodunni are far superior options by comparison to their opponents for the relevant seats on the MPS Board of Education.
Bergman’s opponent, Greta Callahan, is a former president of the
Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, who is heavily invested in old, failed practices
in public education. She opposes
summative assessments such as the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) for
measuring student academic progress, to the point of encouraging opting out of
these federally and state mandated assessments;
resists evaluation of building usage in a district where some schools
have only between 25% and 50% student enrollment by comparison to capacity; maintains unrealistic expectation that
enrollment can be improved by better marketing practices; and conveys doubts that economically disadvantaged
students from challenging life circumstances can overcome those obstacles to
achieve at the same academic level as their more economically prosperous fellow
students.
Owodunni’s opponent, Kim Ellison, has high name recognition as the
ex-wife of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. But Ellison has been a member of the Minneapolis
Board of Education for twelve years, during which time student enrollment has
declined from 39,000 to the current approximate 29,000; academic proficiency in reading and math has
been flat at well under 50 percent for all students and under 30 percent for
key demographic groups; and academic rigor has lagged for all subjects.
Lara Bergman (District 6 candidate) and Shayla Owodunni (at-large
candidate) bring much-needed fresh perspectives and ample, pertinent experiences
to the MPS Board of Education in a school district that needs their financial
expertise and dedication to academic rigor for students of all ethnicities, income
levels. and life circumstances. I heartily
recommend Bergman and Owodunni to Minneapolis voters in the general election of
Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
