The problems facing the Minneapolis Public Schools are a predictable result of board policies, not the size of the district. For example, when the board adopted a new attendance policy a few years ago, the district predicted that it would push some students out of the district. However, the new attendance policy was evidently the straw that broke the camel's back for more families than the district expected.
The sharp enrollment decline has forced the district to lay off many of its newer, and lowest paid teachers, pushing up the average teachers salary. One of Jennings' solutions is to eliminate teacher tenure rights - all teachers will be on probationary status for as long as they are employed with the district, not just their first three years. When teachers lose their tenure rights, they have no rights that the district has to respect. If teachers lose their seniority rights, the management style throughout the district will more closely resemble that of a banana republic (more favoritism, arbitrariness, and corruption) than it already does. It is mainly students who are failing to thrive academically who have been leaving the district, which is why the district can report that some of its test score averages have increased and some progress has been made toward "closing the gap." However, the initial improvement in student attendance figures did not translate into the kind of improvement in student performance that the district promised. The underlying problem was evidently misdiagnosed, and the doctors are unwilling to admit they made a mistake and discontinue a treatment that is killing the patient. We continue to see very high student suspension rates in the Minneapolis Public Schools. The way the data breaks down by race indicates that a majority of African-American students are not only failing to thrive academically, but are also getting a lot of negative feedback from their teachers. The district's approach to dealing with behavior problems has not been effective. -Doug Mann Author of "Flight from Equality: School reform in the US since 1983" In a message dated 1/19/2004 10:35:38 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Jennings is urging the school board to radically remake the district. > > Create smaller districts...Expand charter schools... Form a union hall. > > http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4328022.html > 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. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
