High-Stakes testing officially dead — for this year

Education policy folks and Minnesota’s high school juniors can stop holding their breath about this year’s math graduation test:  with the stroke of his pen, Governor Tim Pawlenty has turned the once-high-stakes test into a dead letter.  A compromise solution was reached earlier this year by the Governor, and both houses of the state legislature, that would permit students to retake the test three times, prior to graduation.  Pass or fail, though, no-one is barred from graduation.   Legislators were concerned that, since the test results come back a few weeks into summer vacation, high school Juniors wouldn’t have much time to take remedial courses and retake the test before they have to start studying for finals, or graduate.  

According to the Strib’s Emily Johns, though, the real reason is that the test is too hard.  

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Achievement Gap, Education, Education Policy, GRAD test, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota, Testing, Tim Pawlenty

Does he or doesn’t he? Pawlenty claims unallottment authority, but school districts not sure

Norman Draper’s piece on the $1.75 billion education accounting shift, in today’s Star Tribune, points out that while Pawlenty may claim the authority to shift payments without legislative approval, this is by no means accepted.  

What, wondered [Peggy Ingison, Minneapolis Public Schools' Chief Financial Officer], happens if the Legislature decides not to approve such shifts?

“It puts us out on a limb,” she said. A big funding shift, she said, merely compounds the problem of schools getting no new money while facing increased costs due to inflation.

Most of the Capitol press corps seems to accept that Pawlenty will get his way somehow, particularly since there will probably be no special legislative session this year.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Budget Crisis, Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, Unallotments

Minneapolis Public Schools Seeking a New Headquarters

A Marcy Open parent and reader of this blog emailed me last week, asking if I could check out Minneapolis Public Schools’ plans for a new headquarters building.  She raised a good point — why is the district pursuing this plan while they are facing a $28 million deficit (2009-2010 school year) and is saddled with excess classroom capacity and empty buildings?  

I had interviewed Steve Liss, MPS’ Chief of Operations, at the beginning of April, when the district called on developers and property owners to submit proposals to build or lease a new building for the district’s headquarters.  He estimated the cost of owning and maintaining the current Educational Service Center (807 Broadway, NE) and the Webster building (425 5th Street NE) at $91 million, including $10 million for an “immediate” and badly-needed replacement of the ESC’s roof and sewer system.  

That’s $10 million less than the next-cheapest option (pdf, table on pg. 2), leasing 1010 Metrodome Square for $101 million over 30 years.  

In the report to the Board of Education, linked above, MPS identifies the three most attractive options for the next 30 years:

• consolidating district administration in the ESC and the Webster building and remodeling the ESC to update the office space ($107 million)
• leasing 1010 Metrodome Square ($101 million to lease / $110 million to buy)
• building a new headquarters

Liss was careful to characterize the Request for Proposals as a fact-finding exercise, saying no action would be taken at least until August at the earliest, although proposals from developers are due June 4th.  He also claimed that it would not impact MPS’ budget for at two more years, although “there may be some planning money” in budgets for the next two years.

However, based on the tennor of our conversation, and the presentations to the Board of Education, it seems safe to assume that Liss and MPS seem to view the current arrangement – consolidation in the Webster and ESC buildings – as a real “last resort” option, even though it’s the cheapest.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Changing School Options, Education, Minneapolis Public Schools, New Headquarters

An update on Tuesday’s Minneapolis Board of Education Meeting

Dylan Thomas, schools reporter at the Southwest Journal, has a Southwest-specific recap of Tuesday night’s discusion that led to Superintendent Green temporarilly pulling his restructuring proposal from considderation by the Board.  Also, Steve Kotvis, a parent activist from Southwest Minneapolis, was at the meeting taking notes, and pointed me to his summary in the MPS Parents’ Forum.  His notes, after the jump.  (To pay the bills, I have a night job that required me to miss Tuesday night’s Board meeting).

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Education, Minneapolis Public Schools, Restructuring, Steve Kotvis

Minneapolis Schools Postpones Downsizing Plan

When Minneapolis Superintendent Bill Green presented his downsizing plan (pdf) to the Board of Education a week ago,  a number of school board members poked and jabbed at portions of the proposal — too little, said Tom Madden; not enough attention paid to the East Harriet/Kingfield Open Area and overcrowding in Southwest schools, said Pam Costain; don’t close schools that are doing well, said parents at Pratt and Longfellow Elementary Schools.  Seems those voices have carried the day — below is a press release I just received from Minneapolis Public Schools:

Last night at a working session, the Minneapolis Board of Education raised additional questions and submitted alternative ideas to the administration’s recommendation for Changing School Options submitted Tuesday, April 28, 2009. The Board was scheduled to vote on the plan on May 26, 2009, for changes that would go into effect in the 2010-2011 school year. Board members indicated the recommendation in its current form would not gain the majority vote required to pass on May 26.

 Minneapolis Public Schools’ leadership is in the process of studying the potential impacts of the Board’s ideas. Because these decisions are complex and critical, the process of analyzing the impact of different ideas requires time and careful deliberation. Therefore, previously announced community engagement meetings for May will be postponed. We will notify our families and communities as soon as we are able to establish a new schedule, likely within the next week.

 In the meantime, please know that doing what is best for our students, raising academic achievement and creating a sustainable school district for the future is at the heart of our decision-making. We would like to acknowledge the families’ investment of time and energy that has informed our planning every step of the way. We need, appreciate and want our families’ continued involvement.

More to come…

Filed under: Minneapolis, East Harriet, Education, Kingfield, Minneapolis Public Schools, Restructuring

School Restructuring, Structural Racism and the Suspended Principal (UPDATED)

Tim Cadotte (photo: MPS)

Chris Stewart certainly doesn’t mince his words when talking about race.  Tim Cadotte, until yesterday the principal of Burroughs Elementary, found that out when Stewart paid a routine, although unannounced visit to the school a few days ago as part of his duties as a member of the Minneapolis Board of Education.  At least one Board member is supposed to visit every school in the district each year, to check on the school in-person.  I’ll bet that Cadotte flew off the handle at Stewart when the latter accused him, his school, and his Site Council (a PTA-like body) of racism for trying to get an English-Language Learners program re-instated.  Burrough’s old ELL program served mostly Spanish-speaking Latino students.

 

Wait.  What?  ELL programs = racism?

Filed under: Minneapolis, Achievement Gap, Chris Stewart, Education, Education Policy, Education Reform, Minneapolis Public Schools, Restructuring, Segregation

Chris Stewart, Minneapolis Schools vs. Burroughs Principal

Chris Stewart (Photo: MPS)

The principal of a Southwest Minneapolis elementary school has been placed on indefinite paid administrative leave, following what Patrice Relerford of the Strib is describing as a “heated exchange” between Chris Stewart, a member of the Minneapolis Board of Education, and Tim Cadotte, the principal of Burroughs Elementary.  Stewart, Cadotte, Cadotte’s lawyer, and Minneapolis Public Schools have all declined to speak in detail about the exchange to both Relerford and Art Hughes, of KFAI, but parents at Burroughs say Stewart accused Cadotte of being racist, and promoting racist policies.  

Filed under: Minneapolis, Achievement Gap, Chris Stewart, Education, Education Policy, Minneapolis Public Schools

Students still homeless, despite improving economy

While we all appreciate President Obama’s and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s belief that the economy is starting to look up, this doesn’t matter a whole lot to the growing number of homeless students in Minneapolis and St Paul.  They, and their families, still have to make it through the rest of this recession.  A few days ago, the BBC posted a short, touching video following around one such newly homeless family, from New York City.  While Minneapolis and St Paul schools put in a lot of effort to finding and helping homeless students, per federal legislation, school officials say they’ve seen a dramatic increase since the last counts were done in the fall of 2008.  I haven’t been able to get current numbers from Minneapolis, but St Paul schools officials say numbers of homeless students are up 44% from this time last school year.  Becky Hicks, SPPS’ coordinator for homeless and highly mobile student services, says she expects her district to be serving well over 2000 homeless students by June.

Filed under: Minneapolis, St Paul, Education, Homelessness, Minneapolis Public Schools, News, Social Services, St Paul Public Schools

Spring cleaning for your bicycle

And now for something completely different (Originally published on the Twin Cities Daily Planet, 4/6/09)

Now that spring has officially begun, a lot of you are probably wondering how to get your bike ready for the road, since you’ve left it in the garage or chained to the porch all winter. When it comes to bicycles, most of you are probably not as crazy as I am. I was like the US mail – neither snow, nor sleet, nor hail could stop me. That left my bike in need of a spring clean-up.

Filed under: Minneapolis, St Paul, Bicycles, Shameless Self-Promotion

Wednesday Schools’ Roundup – Admission Possible expands / St Paul gets stimulus $ / Braised Artichokes

• Admission Possible expands into North Metro suburbs.  AP is an college-prep organization that works in schools to get low-income students ready for college, and guides them through the admissions process. (Star-Tribune)
•  The St Paul Public Schools’ Board of Education gets an update on how they can spend federal stimulus dollars.  The district expects to receive $29 million, but because of strings attached to the funding, it will not prevent layoffs planned to close the district’s $25 million budget shortfall, caused by declining enrollment, which reduces the amount of aid a school district receives from the state. (Pioneer Press)
• Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talks more about how he’d like to see schools spend the stimulus money. (Education Week)
• Remember the Pioneer Press’ recent series on how hyper-competitive school sports have become?  The Star-Tribune has a piece on the pricey “spring training” trips to Florida taken by some high school sports teams. (Star-Tribune)
• Tom Doher of Education Minnesota (the state teacher’s union) doesn’t like the Senate’s education budget. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t really like any of the big three budget proposals – from the House, Senate, and Governor – circulating around the State House.  He also doesn’t really answer Cathy Wurzer’s questions (and she doesn’t press him further) about why districts can’t use their reserves to make up payment shifts, and how he proposes to close the education budget gap.  He definitely does not like Q-Comp, though, and argues that it will increase inequity in the classroom, and between districts.  Look for more on this, later. (MPR)

I think I’ll have to try to make this recipe: artichokes braised in lemon and olive oil.  One of my favorite foods as a kid was Artichokes boiled with peppercorns, and served with a mustard-herb vinaigrette, so maybe I’m biased, but my mouth watered when I read that post!

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Admission Possible, Arne Duncan, Education, Education Funding, Food, School Sports, Stimulating Stimuli, Tom Doher