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

Second round, first meeting for Minneapolis Public School reorganization

Monday night saw the first in a new series of community meetings in Minneapolis, as school officials seek public input on several proposals to re-organize district schools. The meetings are a continuation of the public input process which began in February, and was extended after angry reactions from parents at many meetings who felt their voices were being short-changed.

At a March 9 meeting of roughly 20 parents at the Little Earth Neighborhood Early Learning Center, in Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood, participants were asked to rate their preferences for five scenarios – three options for re-organizing elementary and K-8 schools, and two for middle and high schools. The different scenarios have not changed substantially since they were presented in February, although Minneapolis Public Schools is no longer proposing that high school students take city buses in High School Scenario B.

(Originally published in the Twin Cities Daily Planet, 3/10/09)

Filed under: Minneapolis, Achievement Gap, Education, Education Policy, Minneapolis Public Schools, Restructuring, Shameless Self-Promotion

To save money, Minneapolis schools plans major restructuring — Parents skeptical their voices will be heard

(Originally published in the Twin Cities Daily Planet, 2/18/09)

Faced with a growing – and seemingly permanent – gap between revenues and finances, Minneapolis Public Schools is organizing meetings where parents and teachers are invited to give input into the district’s future. It’s not news that school politics and policy in the Twin Cities are less transparent than a brick wall, with precious few people trying to shed light on the goings-on in either district. But not everyone at one of Thursday night’s three community meetings was convinced MPS is trying to shed its old, top-down, bureaucratic ways as it looks to reorganize and shrink the number of elementary, middle, and high schools, and the complicated and expensive busing system.

“Community engagement is just an obligation for the district to fulfill,” said community activist and Ramsey Fine Arts Center parent Ralph Crowder, who was disappointed that the Northside meeting did not include a broader discussion of why poor students and students of color were not succeeding in the school system.

“People have a lot of suspicion that the community opinion might not sway what happens,” said David Allen, a contractor who works with the district’s Student Placement Center.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Achievement Gap, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Kate Towle, Minneapolis, Minneapolis Public Schools, Public Schools, Restructuring, Shameless Self-Promotion

Dept. of Shameless Self-Promotion

New articles up at the Daily Planet:
“Pushing against the achievement gap”
The high schoolers in Claire Hypolite’s chemistry class are clustered in little knots of desks, heads down and pencils flying as they grapple with packets of homework problems. They toss solutions and gossip back and forth in English, Somali, and Hmong while they work. Watching this entirely generic classroom scene, it’s hard to believe more than 80% of these kids were failing this class only a few months ago.

“Schools Pay, Society Benefits from ECE”
How do you market an investment that costs almost twice as much as the losses it’s designed to offset? One way is to wait for someone else to fund it.

Filed under: Announcements, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Achievement Gap, Claire Hypolite, Early Chilldhood Education, Edison High School, Education, Education Funding, Education Reform, Minnesota, Shameless Self-Promotion, Wilder Foundation