Below are two paragraphs from the Strib story, then a 4 paragraph comment that conveys what I actually tried to communicate to the Strib reporter.
"The Parent Information Centers opened in August without a majority of the members' approval, Mann said. Members feared a potential conflict of interest, Mann said, because the branch should serve as an education watchdog. The centers, located in north and south Minneapolis, are intended to be neutral places where parents can find information about items such as report cards, student-to-teacher ratios and teacher certifications. "The centers are funded through a federal grant of $900,000, which is expected to keep them open for four years. Gallmon said the Minneapolis branch received a waiver from the NAACP's national headquarters in Washington, D.C., to start the centers, even though the organization is opposed to parts of the federal No Child Left Behind Act." -NAACP branch at the crossroads again." [Doug Mann] The membership voted to not open the Parent Information Centers. The motion to kill the project, put forward by Evelyn Eubanks, cited a conflict of interest. The Minneapolis Public School district is supposed to provide exactly the same information to parents through its "Welcome Center" and employees elsewhere who assist parents with school registration. In 1999 and again in 2003 the branch membership opposed major initiatives by the branch executive committee related to the Educational Adequacy Lawsuit, which was settled in 2000. The settlement stipulates that limited choices made available to parents through the "Choice is yours program" and other voluntary school choice programs will solve the problem of students of all colors (and especially students of color) of getting an inadequate education in the state of Minnesota. These choice programs are remarkably similar to the choice programs used in the Deep South during the 1960s in that they do not give very many black students access to educational facilities that can provide them an adequate education. The "waiver" from the NAACP national office came in the form of a letter dated June 30, 2003, two days after the branch passed a motion instructing Gallmon and the executive committee to not open the centers and to return the seed money to the state. The national office had not approved the expenditure of any money on the parent information centers before the branch membership voted to kill the project. The "waiver" also required the executive committee to submit a hiring policy to the branch for approval (fat chance of it being submitted or approved). The Parent information centers are funded through a $5 million dollar per year "No Child Left Behind" grant to the state of Minnesota for the Minnesota Voluntary School Choice Project. About $900,000 per year is allotted for the parent information centers. At one point the salary of the director was set at $130,000 per year plus benefits. It's hush money. -Doug Mann, King Field REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ 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
