Just a quick update on the Streetbeat (city visioning) meeting on education with the mayor on 2/22 at Jackson Elementary..
The turnout of people other than school staff and invited guests was very small -- perhaps 10-15. Moderator was Grant Abbott from the MN Council on Churches (and an SPPS parent/site council member at Murray); Mayor sat on a tall stool at the front of the room with his education director, Dr. Penny Harris Reynen. Opening entertainment was a 9-yr-old Hmong male pianist who performed to rave reviews! Randy's opening presentation included lots of legitimate praise for great volunteers, neat new initiatives, and so on; overall I found it to be balanced and accurate. Audience questions were light, and provided good opportunities for Randy/Penny/Grant as well as staff and other adults in the audience to provide information about the current funding situation (massive 24+ million dollar deficit in St. Paul, fully half in one year what we've had to cut in the last 5 -- this can NOT happen!); upcoming rally in support of increased education funding so we can properly educate and prepare kids for successful futures (Jan 28, 4:30 pm, Capitol; contact your nearby school and hop on their bus! see www.spps.org for more info); and so on. I took the opportunity to remind people that we are tremendously grateful to have trained volunteers in our schools, and we're also training staff to know how to best work with the volunteers, but no matter how robust the volunteer system it cannot substitute for well-trained and properly paid teachers and responsible overall funding for education. There was some discussion (initiated by one of Randy's finance guys) about types of funding and the transitional funding shift of those levy funds from state to local responsibility (even further burdening our taxpayers!), but we didn't go too far with that. Randy referred to the state budget projections coming out in a week and after that the districts would know more about funds available for education. He was generally quite supportive of the importance of good quality public education in St. Paul as the engine of the economy and the basis for our collective future. He also made clear that the city's role is as a booster/supporter/coordinator of support activities, not to be confused with this independent school district and our elected board. They interspersed Q&A with short presentations and Ames principal Delores Henderson did a great job talking about the "Beating the Odds" results showing the tremendous success of Ames and other SPPS schools compared to data nationally from schools with comparable poverty rates. There was a reference to the new arts charter (whose principal, Steve O'Connell? was there and introduced), and kudos to the partnership and support from Metro State (pres Wm Bradshaw was there, along with another funding/partner person). Meeting ended shortly after 8:30 pm. -- Anne Carroll, St. Paul School Board ------------------------------------------------------------ Anne R. Carroll Carroll, Franck & Associates Public Involvement, Strategic Planning, Communications 1357 Highland Parkway St. Paul, MN 55116 USA <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 651-690-9162 School Board: 651-690-9156 "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. "...You will be more credible and you will be more powerful if you do not separate the lives you live from the words you speak." -- Paul Wellstone "A politician worries about the next election. A true states[wo]man worries about the next generation, and children yet unborn." - e.e. cummings ------------------------------------------------- JOIN the St. Paul Issues Forum TODAY: http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/ ------------------------------------------------- POST MESSAGES HERE: [email protected] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
