Update 4/13/07:
Last night the Minneapolis School Board held a meeting at 807 (headquarters) to vote on the proposal to close 5 schools in north Minneapolis. Many of us already knew that the board had made up it's mind, however that didn't stop people from showing up and it didn't stop the board from making themselves all look like asses. They spent 4 hours arguing first with the audience then with each other. At one point board member Lydia Lee made an amendment to exclude Lincoln from the closings, which was seconded by Director Henry-Blythe but failed in a 4-3 vote.
The amendment itself left the audience in an uproar as many felt like this was bias, and showed doubt in the proposal on behalf of the board members, meaning they would need (and should) go back and re-analyze all of the schools.
**my take on that: Lincoln was and has been everywhere the board has gone with this. Students, the principal, teachers, and community members alike... and it just goes to show that if you can get enough people to rally and stand behind something it puts pressure on folks and there IS the possibility for change in doing so.**
Prior to Lee's amendment, Director Chris Stuart made an amendment to post-pone the entire proposal for one year. He expressed a lot of dismay for the board and the proposal arguing that the board was presented with "3 boxed packages and told choose one" giving the connotation that he was pressured into his decision and allowed very little leeway for change or adjustment.
Either way the amendment failed in a 6-1 vote. Somewhere in between these two amendments board members began to take cheap shots at each other, airing each others dirty laundry like an argument in the street between family members that your grandmother always advised you against--being that it simply makes you look foolish--and in this situation very unsure about the decisions being made.
After all the tears and speeches, and arguing the question was called and the proposal was approved in a 6-1 vote, Stuart being the only board member to vote 'no'.
We knew it was coming. The question now is what will the alternative be? The wheels are spinning in the minds of the students, teachers, and community members alike.
Several great initiatives can come from this if we are strategic in our planning... but we'll have to see who's still there when all the "smoke" clears.
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Original post 4/11/07:
The Minneapolis School Board will be voting on the proposal to close W. Harry Davis Academy, Lincoln Community School, Shingle Creek, North Star, and Jordan Park School in north Minneapolis.
Last night they held a meeting @ Patrick Henry High school where they allowed the community to address the school board and it was a beautiful thing.The community was in there strong, but more importantly there were CHILDREN there who spoke up. Children of all nationalities. I'm talkin picket signs, they wrote short speeches, they cried... it was something to see.
My concern however is follow through.
There will be a meeting this THURSDAY APRIL 12th from 6-8pm @ 807 W.BROADWAY where the school board will "vote" on this proposal. Many people think that the board has already made up their minds and that they WILL vote to close these schools.
AND THEN WHAT?
What will we do?
They are trying to make North into a school for 6-12 grade... come on now... we know that's not gonna work and we know like they know it's not appropriate to say the least.
I'm asking for us to stand up and be accountable to each other and the young people who are looking up to us. They have minimal control over what will happen in this delicate stage of their lives.
The Northside Initiative is bull-ish..it's another way for them to gentrify urban communities and particularly people of color in these communities. We gotta be accountable to each other if we are going to accomplish something or meet a goal and we gotta have a vision.
people in a COLLECTIVE are working together thus holding each other accountable for their role in the movement and it is absolutely necessary for the growth and progression of the COLLECTIVE as a whole. Culturally it is not in our nature to have an individualistic mentality.
The point is we are very reactionary as a people and we are long over due for a collective vision and putting that vision into action. I'm tryna do my part by going out and tryna network with organizations out there that are making positive things happen for young people and tryna pool resources.
I went to a presentation yesterday to hear Dr. Xolela Mangcu (Google him if you don't know) speak about his role as a community organizer in South Africa and he was adamant about the fact that when people are going to organize there first has to be initiate, even if it's just a small group of people. When Steve Biko began to organize people against apartheid it started with a small group of people in the community, and he was only 21 or 22 years old. Steve Biko brought national and global attention to the issue of apartheid, and not single handedly, but he knew something was terribly wrong with what was happening and he took his role and made things happen. I'm just saying take your role in whatever it is you do and do it to the fullest and have a vision and see that vision through.
Man if you ain't gonna stand up for yourself at least stand up for the babies.
Friday, April 13, 2007
It's 8:40 am do you know where your children are?
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4 comments:
there really has to be a comprehensive and well articulated ALTERNATIVE vision!
while i support the people, i don't expect the school board to work on a plan for months just to change their mind when everyone show up before the vote and says, oh don't close it.
where was everyone during the envisioning periods? where were/are the alternative ideas?
the public schools are in financial crisis, closing schools is an option.
they think that by closing schools that are rapidly loosing students to suburban, private, and charter schools... they can be more effective with their money on the students who are staying over north and in public schools...
the public school model is in crisis and there are no new ideas from the community...
i'm not saying it is the right or wrong option...
but where's the OTHER option?
THAT's where the people's focus ought to be!
the people at that meeting should have been (and still should be) knocking down doors trying to setup forums and meetings with eachother to review the current situation in detail and to then brainstorm ideas on how to fix the broken system.
vote in new representatives who will increase funding? is that likely? kids are leaving the schools.
there's a dual dillemma, people want more funding, but they are also moving away from public schools because the schools lack funding.
so it's like demanding something without being willing to fight for it.
i understand parents want immiediate results and most won't sacrifice their kids to a battle over public education... but hey... if no one fights, the schools are going down the tube and we'll have a handful of decent charter and private schools for a fraction of kids in the city... those who can afford it will go to the best private schools and everyone else will be stuck with a few run down and overcrowded public schools.
i applaud those kids for standing up... but we need vision! we need vision! meetings this weekend... shit, yesterday, last summer this should have happened. otherwise all this reactionary protest is useless.
I agree...and I think it's safe to say like you said that they have already made the decision.
however I also agree with some of the parents when they say that we should be "recruiting" kids from outside of our district, not taking what we have in our community and outsourcing if you will, our children.
There are some really great programs thriving at some of these schools and the question right now is what's next?
That's really the question we should be tryna answer...we should be(have been)planning
It is possible to move other schools into our schools and keep our schools open.
I feel like on the grand scheme of things this is part of the "redevelopment" of Mpls and the gentrification that is taking place already.
and we were there during these so called envisioning periods...parents and community members alike have been attending the School Board meetings..but the school board did not sit down with parents, they sent out a memo saying the schools were to be closed and invited the public 2 days before the vote.
A lot of parents were unaware. We have to search out information, we rely on other people and powers too much, and we are a reactionary people. These types of actions force people to have to do something. It's just disappointing that it takes something so drastic.
People have been there though and parents and teachers from what I saw last night have been doing their part. We just all need to link up. gotta communicate more.
recruiting students is a great idea... public schools got to find ways to show parents that they are great places to send their kids... but it takes:
1) funding for resources
2) it takes paying teachers competitive salaries
3) and it takes giving schools control over their curriculum to make teachers and students want to be there without thinking they are going to get some bland curriculum that has been handed down from the state.
problem with that being that people with no kids in the public school system tend to not want to pay for all these things, further they tend to not want to give local control to a system that they see as wasting their money. they tend to say if we're gonna give them our money we at least better have a say in what they are doing with that money. hence the rigid and detached state required curriculums and testing.
parents aren't going to send their kids to public schools until these three problems are solved or at least begin to be improved upon.
the issue with the public schools is not a "well, my school has some good stuff" type of problem. and this is where you come to understand the comments of a Don Samuels when he disses North High.
the problem is a macro problem not a micro problem. although he's not a great smooth talker, he's not saying there aren't good programs or kids at north, he's saying if we don't fix this big ass problem the school is going to get closed along with the rest of them despite all these great little things that are happening.
he's saying if you can't save the whole public school system then it's not worth saving, cause the whole point of a large public school model is to guarantee EVERY SINGLE KID an equal education... so if we can't do that, we might as well go to a charter/private school model.
and that is what we ought to fear. we are dealing with people who are on their last thread with tolerating the public schools and are ready and willing to begin the process of migrating to a charter/private model.
we don't need to sit down with the school board. we need to sit down with ourselves, come up with a comprehensive alternative proposal... and then take that proposal to the newspapers, to the tv media, to the newsletters, to the PTA conferences, to the halftime shows at football games, make signs banners that advocate that plan (once it's drawn)...
basically it's creating a plan and then marketing it to the people. cause that's the problem. a relatively small group of people actually understand the issues IN DEPTH, and a larger group might SENSE that something is wrong but doesn't know the dill in detail...
it's up to that smaller group of folks to invite the public to create a plan, to create that plan then to educate the public and lobby that plan to the public opinion... fuck the school board if you can get the people to understand and embrace an alternative plan you've won. the problem is that the people are willing to fight but there ain't no plan to fight for at this time... there's only a plan to fight against and that might inspire people for a few weeks, but it won't last.
so let's start here like we tend to do anyways :)
i pose the question, what are the characteristics that an alternative plan might have?
cause even if they close the schools, in order to ever get them back open there's going to be a plan needed of which school board members (new or existing) will have to be convinced can work.
so again, my initial broad demands are that the state government:
1) increase funding for resources to public schools.
2) increase pay for teachers competitive to private schools.
3) give schools local control over their the majority of their curriculum. (if the freedom school curriculum were integrated into the school year there'd be no need for the summer program)
my philosophy is that money is going to have to be injected in the right places, not more of these wack ass afterschool projects, but into stuff like paying existing teachers extra to create Saturday schools that way kids have the same people working with them. also, funding teacher certification/training/degree programs for black and minority high school graduates that require that they come back and teach in minneapolis. do what new york is doing, partner with the uofm and say he we'll pay for your school if you commit to teaching in minneapolis for like 5-10 years. the longer your commitment the more money we'll give you for college.
everyone is willing to take a blind stand cause it makes us feel good. but in order to escape romanticism and rhetoric, we have to be willing to further articulate demands such as these, further refine them based on specific facts and then fight for them passionately. but we can't start fighting passionately before that otherwise our energy is ultimately wasted.
You bring up some very important points.
I hope at this meeting I will be able to meet some others who also have these issues on their agenda and start to build something upon that.
The community is very much in crisis and I think the lack of organization in the community leaves the same people constantly fighting and folks get burned out. In many cases we really don't support each other until the shit hits the fan.
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