Recommendations for Election to the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education, 5 November 2024 >>>>>
Vote for Lara Bergman (District 6) and
Shayla Owodunni (At-Large) for Seats on the Minneapolis Public Schools Board
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 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 student 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 than
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 in which
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 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.
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