Please Introduce Yourself What's your connection to St. Paul public schools? mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________
I am a life long resident of St. Paul and will celebrate my 50th year this July.
I attended Catholics schools from 1 - 8th grade (St. Mary's in downtown St. Paul 1-4 and St. Adalbert's 5-8th in Frogtown) I started high school at Mechanic Arts, then moved on to Washington High, did a short stint at Johnson and then on to Boy's Toem Town for 11th grade and then graduated in 1972 from Walter H. Maginnis High School in Red Wing, MN (aka the State Training g School for boys) I guess it would be fair to say I fell into the "at risk" crowd. :-)
My 10 siblings took more traditional education paths that included Cathedral, St. Mary's, St.Adalbert's, North End grade schools and then onto high schools that including Hill High School, Archbishop Brady, St. Agnes, Murray, Monroe High School, Washington High, and Como Park.
I have two adult sons who attended St. Francis De Salle grade school and Cretin-Derham Hall High School. The oldest went for two years to the University of St. Thomas and then graduated from the U of MN with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 2001. Ther first person from the Hill family to earn a college degree. His younger brother completed 2 years at the U of MN and should complete his last two years at University of St. Thomas this year. I believe he then plans on going on to become the next Donald Trump. :-(
I worked for the last twenty three years at the University of Minnesota in student support services where I helped organize the clerical employees union, AFSCME Local 3800. I've also been a DFL/Labor activist for the last 25 years and have worked hard to maintain the political domination of the St. Paul School Board by DFL/Labor endorsed candidates.
I usually only step into a public school now to attend a DFL precinct caucus or convention or to vote on election day. My general philosophy about how the schools should be run is to leave it to the college educated trained professionals. I don't want them coming to my workplace to tell me how to do my job, so I will return the favor. I have a number of friends and acquaintances who are teachers and they strike me as being very dedicated professionals that know much more about the state of public education then I do.
I do my part by paying my taxes, preparing my kids for school, encouraging our elected officials to increase funding for K-12 and higher education and working every for years to replace Tom Conlon on St. Paul School Board.
Where I live a kid could walk to either Monroe Community School, St. Francis, or the Twin Cities Academy Charter School to attend a K-8th school. The Adams Spanish Imersion School ain't to far away either.
I oppose school vouchers for private schools.
Dennis Hill West 7th Street St. Paul
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