While I didn't enjoy seeing my school system laid bare as the article did, I think the teacher who took the time to express her day to day events and feelings should be commended for her effort. She agreed to keep this diary long before she suspected she would be laid off. What I read was the disappointment of an intelligent, caring young professional. She pointed no fingers at her co-workers or her principal. She is still looking for a job as a teacher and I hope she finds one. She seems to be a champion for our children and Heaven knows, they need all the champions they can get.
The frustration starts and ends at 807 Broadway. To any of us who have worked with, or I should say, tried to work with, the bueracracy at District Headquarters, this came as absolutely no surprise. If I was on the school board, I would seriously consider closing that building and selling the property. Move the administration out to the schools. Take the 'human resources' people and divide them up among the schools so they are taking care of the people they know. I would also worry more about backing up good teachers and less about 'possible' law suits ( I wonder if they have laid off any of their lawyers?). To follow up, today the lead story was the closing of another school on the northside of Mpls. Since this is a boarding school run by and for African Americans, the cry was immediately made that the closing of this school is racially motivated. The fact is, in two years, 41 children have attended this school. Based on just the public portion of the school's finances, each student's education cost over $95,000. None of the 41 students remanined at the school more than 6 months. In the public school written about on Sunday, the teacher talks of buying her own school supplies, a situation not uncommon in our schools. Her school is also made up of mostly African American students. Why does one school get so much for so few and another so little for so many? My gut feeling is that if the boarding school had been run by whites, it would have lost its public funding long ago. With all of these cuts, I still wonder why the School District is going to build a multi-million dollar middle school on the south side. Is there no existing school building available, if in fact this is truly needed (how about 807 Broadway?). When they are laying off teachers and closing schools, how can they afford new buildings (and don't give me that junk about different funding sources. Geeze, juggle the books or something) One final topic for thought tonight. One of the reasons the boarding school superentendent gave for the lack of students was the county's desire to keep families together at all costs. I have no doubt that this is true as I also have had alot of experience with Hennepin County Child Protection. I have cringed at some of the cases I have been involved in where the children were returned to families not fit to raise a dog. I know of several cases where this 'family reunification' policy resulted in the death of the child. I wonder if a child's rights will ever carry as much weight in our courts and the systems set up to 'protect' children as the rights of a drug addicted, abusive, neglectful and just down right lousy parent currently has. I remember reading one protection worker's report where he said " while there are still problems within the household, the children are secure enough to call 911 when they feel threatened". Really. We have to realize that just because a woman births a baby doesn't make her a good mother. Nor does a man deserve the title of father just because he goes around pollinating women. Well, I think I've stirred the pot enough tonight. Hope everyone's holiday was safe and pleasant. Anne McCandless Jordan. TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
