Education news

The Sunday Star Tribune for May 9, 2010 featured the fascinating front page article "State's bad teachers rarely get fired". Since it was designated premium content, it is just now available online.

Be sure to read the whole piece.

Thursday at TBFBS

EMID on tonight's ISD 622 agenda

At their January 22, 2008 meeting the ISD 622 (North St. Paul, Maplewood, Oakdale) Board voted unanimously to withdraw from the East Metro Integration District (EMID) in 2oo9, planning to develop their own collaboration with neighboring districts. Along with many parents, Representative Nora Slawik addressed the board that evening suggesting that they, at the very least, slow down in their decision making process.

Tonight the board takes up transportation and open enrollment issues (medium sized pdf) that will affect whether parents electing to keep their children in EMID via open enrollment will receive help with transportation. The board appears to be trying to close that door. The parents, who have formed the group emidfamilies.org, think the Board may be misinterpreting sections of MN statute 124D (Education Programs).

For readers who, like me, are not yet fully conversant with the issues, attending or watching tonight's board meeting should help our learning process. ISD 622's website says that "School Board meetings are also broadcast live on Cable Channel 20 and are rebroadcast daily at 10 a.m. and 4 and 8 p.m."

Stephan

Making public school policy

It has been a while since we linked to a Katy Zillmer article. Today she returns with District 622 leaves 10-year integration partnership in this week's Lillie Newspapers.

We have linked to a few stories in the dailies (here, here, and here) on this ISD 622 policy change with respect to the East Metro Integration District (EMID) , but didn't catch the intensity of the opposition until receiving a note from a reader and then reading Ms. Zillmer's article.

In front of a room full of parents, educators and students, the District 622 Board of Education unanimously voted Jan. 22 to opt out of a collaborative project it joined 10 years ago to help integrate area schools.
...
[a letter posted on the district website responding to attacks] addresses the presence of a police officer at last Tuesday's meeting. "He was asked to attend because of the level of anger that came through in e-mails and phone calls. We knew that this was an emotional issue for many and felt it was the responsible thing to do."

While they maxed out the allowed public comment time, the spectators remained civil throughout the remainder of the School Board meeting.

For some, it was because they felt their chance to influence the district's choice had passed.
...
By the regular board meeting date, there was enough talk around town to fill the room to capacity.

State Rep. Nora Slawik, a Maplewood DFLer, addressed the board first. "It's not Feb. 1 today, and there is still time to think about this. I'm here because I'm concerned and because parents are concerned, and you're setting a big precedent here tonight and you know that."
...
With the conclusion of the open forum, the crowd waited, almost in silence, to hear the reasoning of staff and for the board members' final vote.
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[Tom Howley, coordinator of the Office of Educational Equity:] "Some concerns (parents) have may be able to be answered through more conversation, for example, transportation services," Howley said. "I thought the parents who were attending were obviously passionate ... they care a whole lot about their students.

"To see that level of engagement was encouraging actually. I would like to in some way continue a collaboration with all of the folks that were in that room."

The parents have organized and set up an EMID Families website.

Aside from what is likely a few extremists getting vicious as noted in the story, we can start from the assumption that this is democracy in action: an elected board doing what they think is best in conducting their mission, in contention with some of those directly affected who are doing what they think is best for their families and children, as well as the community at large.

In any case, the issue presents an opportunity for Maplewood Voices to learn more about what an 'integration district' is, how our larger school district is working to provide quality public education for our citizens, and how citizens are organizing to work for an important dimension of that quality.

Stephan

[Note: to review the 1/22/08 meeting discussed in the article, the district website says "School Board meetings are also broadcast live on Cable Channel 20 and are rebroadcast daily at 10 a.m. and 4 and 8 p.m."]

Roseville Schools finances improving

Star Tribune: November 14, 2007 – 9:38 PM: Ben Goessling: School briefs

ROSEVILLE

District's financial situation improving

For the first time in eight years, the Roseville School District is out of statutory operating debt.

The district's 2006-07 financial statements and audit, released Tuesday, show the district in its best financial position since 1999. Greenway is the only school district in the state that had been in statutory operating debt longer.

The term describes a Minnesota Department of Education measure calculated by taking a district's unreserved general fund balance -- money that can be used for unanticipated expenses -- and dividing it by the district's operating expenses. Auditors consider the general fund balance to be the most useful indicator of a district's financial health.

Districts with a deficit greater than 2.5 percent of expenses are in statutory operating debt. There were 20 districts that met the condition statewide in 2005-06, including Roseville.