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

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

Friday’s Schools Roundup — T-Paw’s Suspect Budget / Cops in Mpls Schools / Snuggies!

This morning, the state Senate’s Finance Committee approved Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s education budget, but critics and education activists are questioning the wisdom of relying on Federal stimulus funds to fund a $100 million increase that the state won’t be able to support when the stimulus money runs out in two years.  The  Education and Taxes committees will both have a say before the full Senate votes on the bill later this month. (Hometown Source / MN Daily)

In Minneapolis, city cops are returning to the halls of public schools after a 5-year hiatus where the Park Police provided these school liaison officers.  The Star Tribune article says the aim is to “de-criminalize ‘school’ behavior”, but is sketchy on what that means.  From the reduced number of cases referred to courts cited in the story, it sounds like these officers are trying to mediate disputes and discipline problems in the school, without threatening legal action.

Lastly, someone has organized a “snuggie bar crawl.”   James Lileks reports…

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Minneapolis Public Schools, News, Stimulating Stimuli

Thursday’s Schools Roundup — Education Budget Battles / Ban Candy Cigarettes / Lakeville Magnets

 

Flickr/ingirogio

Happy Thursday?  Mostly budget news today: 

 

• “Budget work is starting in earnest,” says MPR as the state Senate and House square off over their respective education budgets.  The Senate leadership fully pulled the wraps off its proposal yesterday, with a net cut of around 3% — 7% cut across the board, with a little over 3% restored by federal stimulus money.  The House leadership isn’t too happy. (MPR/St Paul Legal Ledger)
• MTN has video of one of the Minneapolis schools forums on how the district might restructure opperations to close their budget deficit. (MTN, via TC Daily Planet)
• St Paul teens organize and advocate to end the sale of candy cigarettes in the city.
• Lastly, I forgot to include this development in yesterday’s item about suburban segregation.  Plans are moving ahead in Lakeville to establish magnet programs that would draw minority students from around Lakeville and from neighboring districts to create more integrated schools.

Today’s recipe: My obsessoin with kale continues: Kale, Butternut Squash, and Pancetta Pie!

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Achievement Gap, Arne Duncan, Education, Education Funding, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota, News, Restructuring, Segregation, St Paul, Stimulating Stimuli

Wednesday’s Schools Roundup — Minorities in Suburbia / Budget Woes / Finally, Stimulus News!

Last month’s fight around the West Metro Education Program centered around issues of segregation in suburban districts.  Now the Pew Hispanic Center has a report out, giving a national overview of the increase in the suburbs’ minority population.  However, the researchers note that most minority students attend schools that are majority non-white — like cities, the suburbs are segregating.  Unfortunately, the report doesn’t go into the economic demographics of the trend.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Achievement Gap, Arne Duncan, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Minneapolis Public Schools, News, Segregation, St Paul Public Schools, Stimulating Stimuli