On monday, there was an incident at Roosevelt High School where a student and a coach got stabbed in a fight. What happened was there was that a fight broke out between a group of students, and the student and coach intervened to stop the fight. The link to the story (Jim Adams and Allie Shah wrote it with info from the AP) is here: http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/683994.html Doug Grow's commentary on Mike Heurth's (the principal at Roosevelt) is here: http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/692360.html Both articles suggest that the incident is sort of a reality of urban education (that violence in cities happens). I don't know if I agree, but I _do_ think the incident suggests the realities of the community that MPS and other city agencies serve. If left alone, I believe that cultural conflict of the sort we're seeing here will continue and increase commensurate with the increase of cultural contact. The question then, is this: Given that cultural contact is going to increase (I also believe it *should* increase, but that is another discussion), how does MPS develop policy that ensures that such contact does not lead to conflict? I think there is a few things that we can do: 1. Deepen our connections with religious and cultural leaders in Mpls. Years ago MPS implicitly acknowledged that we cannot serve the entire social needs of our students and families (i.e. broad health services, complete childcare services, etc...). We have a responsibility to educate students and help develop the community, but we need to keep partnering with the parks, libraries, religious organizations, community organizations, businesses, and neighborhood groups to make sure that our families get the resources they need. As far as "deepen our connections..." goes, I think reps. from MPS should be attending as many community events as we can get to, soliciting opinions and support from leaders on issues of concern, listening to the concerns of our communities, and developing policies that are respectful to community concerns and that meet their needs. 2. Continue to stress the need for broad MCGFDA (multicultural, gender-fair, disability-aware) curricula that use the strengths of our communities to enrich all of our lives. For example: why don't more high school students in Minneapolis know more about Somali culture, heritage, language, and history? Henry has a very large Hmong community -- and I wished that I would have graduated from school knowing more about their culture, history, and language than I do. And frankly, I don't see why students and community leaders can't take the lead on presenting this information to their classes. 3. Realize that violence in schools and security will always be a concern -- metal detectors, random locker searches, and mandatory ID cards imposed on schools aren't going to be effective in every situation. In my opinion, every security policy should at some level have student involvement in its development and should treat students, staff, and teachers with respect. I do not believe that good policy is EVER made when it is not made (at some level) with the consent of those who will feel its effects or when the spectrum of opinion on issue is not sought. We also shouldn't fall into the trap of using half-statistics (a few numbers backed up by a lot of assumptions and stereotypes) to justify action. For example, some people believe that schools are the unsafe war zones of "Dangerous Minds" where kids are these violent, uncontrollable monsters in need of an iron fist. In fact, school violence has remained essentially constant over the past 30 years (some types of violence, like fighting, have actually seen a decrease). 4. Take constructive steps to address conflict before they become real problems. In other words -- peer mediation works. Let's keep using it and use it more. The program develops student leaders while neutralizing conflict and produces independent students. In-school suspensions and "saturday school" can work -- let's keep using it. I believe that most cultural conflict is caused by alienation and misunderstanding. If we (a) bring all our kids into our schools and make them friendly places and (b) combat racism and stereotypical thinking I think we're going to do a lot to prevent these types of problems from happening on a larger and more violent scale in the future. Side note: Mike Heurth, the principal at Roosevelt, was my principal at Henry and Doug Grow is correct when he says that Heurth and a group of incredibly dedicated teachers and administrators did a lot to turn Henry around. I can't think of anyone better right now at Roosevelt, and I know he'll do a good job. Patrick 1-4 Patrick Peterson for School Board "believe in the promise of tomorrow." http://www.patrickpeterson.com DFL -- Labor -- Progressive MN Endorsed _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
