All posts in the topic School board primary: Who should I vote for? (Short link)
Summary
- There are 11 posts — by 8 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Lynnell Mickelsen at Sep 10 19:04 UTC
This year, thanks to RNC and professional attention elsewhere, I consider
myself an embarrassingly low-information voter in the School Board primary.
And I have only 3 days to get up to speed!
Could list members who are more in the know present the case for their 3 (or
fewer) selections. Not too brief, but not endless, with proper paragraphing
(for readability), please!
Also, I'd really appreciate it if it could be respectful as well as
substantive. Thanks to everyone who can help!
I'd like to second this - and add, that I'd be interested in knowing
more about the Judge races.
Eva Young
As far as Eva's request on the judges, I guess I can only discuss the ones who will work in Minneapolis (if that, we'll see) or risk suspension due to my alleged non-local Haiku, but this article was helpful to me: http://www.minnlawyer.com/article.cfm/2008/07/28/A-primary-primer-The- Hennepin-judicial-race-Six-vie-for-seat-vacated-by-Judge-Wexler-all- plan-a-nonp I'll post a little something on MN-Pol about the Supreme Court seats, I guess
A number of the judicial candidates running in the District Court primaries
in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties have responded to the League of Women Voters
Minnesota questions. You can see their responses and links to their
websites at:
www.lwvmn.org/edfund/election.asp
Ady Wickstrom
LWVMN Webmaster
<email obscured>
Work in St. Paul, live in Shoreview (hi Rick!)
David Brauer wrote:
> Could list members who are more in the know present the case for their 3 (or
> fewer) selections. Not too brief, but not endless, with proper paragraphing
> (for readability), please!
>
My votes will go to Jill Davis, Lydia Lee and Doug Mann. These are the
three candidates with the experience to do the work and the three who
have clearly expressed an understanding that teachers are not the
problem with the MPS.
Carla Bates has the DFL endorsement but I personally don't trust her.
She was vehemently anti-teacher in the past but has since tempered her
comments when she announced her decision to run for the the board. I
appreciate her new found temperance but suspect that it is political
expedience rather than heart felt support for teachers.
.
For links to bios from each school board candidate, go to
tcdailyplanet.net/node/14068 and for coverage of the school board forum, go to
tcdailyplanet.net/node/14070
In a message dated 9/7/2008 8:36:17 AM Central Daylight Time, <email obscured>
writes:
> >
> My votes will go to Jill Davis, Lydia Lee and Doug Mann. These are the
> three candidates with the experience to do the work and the three who
> have clearly expressed an understanding that teachers are not the
> problem with the MPS.
The truth is that a majority of low-income and nonwhite students get
a very low quality education due to administrative practices, such as
sending layoff notices to hundreds of teachers, even when the district
doesn't need to layoff anyone. That practice is still being defended
as a prudent risk management strategy. The board shut down North
Star elementary school, and refused to relocate the program. Of the
district's racially identifiable schools that few whites attend, North
Star had the strongest program and was getting the best results.
The closure of North Star makes no sense if you really want
to close the so-called learning gap
Today, the board is going to approve a 'covenant' with a group of
African American educators and others. The covenant doesn't
really commit the district to do anything about the problem of
students being denied an adequate education, except to talk
about the problem.
The covenant calls for the designation of at least two schools
serving every grade level where the district will see that the
teaching staff is stabilized and best practices utilized. As I
pointed out at the last school board meeting, the district should
have a plan to stabilize bring teacher turnover to very low levels
in all schools. And the district should also evaluate current
practices, including ability-grouping practices, which are
evidently not helping the district close the so-called racial
learning gap. How can one keep doing the same things
and promise different results?
In my opinion, the 'racial learning gap' is mainly the reflection
of the quality of educational programs to which students have
access. The problem is actually a racial access gap that will
require some action from the board to close.
-Doug Mann, Minneapolis School Board candidate
Better late than never........and sorry if I end up double-posting. For some reason, I'm having trouble with the site.... On school board: I'm supporting Carla Bates, Sharon Henry Blyth and Jill Davis, in that order, for School Board. I'm looking for smart, wise people who are willing to do what's best for kids and the community, even if that means challenging some of the clauses of our labor contracts and taking on other powers-that-be. My top candidate is Carla Bates. She's an IT manager at the U of M, with three kids in the system in Seward, Sanford and South. She's been active in the district for years. She serves on the Parent Advisory Council; started up this on-line forum for MPS parents and more. She's super-smart, honest, ethical and gutsy. She has a huge depth of educational knowledge. She's willing to try new things, ask tough questions and she's an absolute bulldog about following through. I can't say enough good things about Carla. She's one of my civic heroes. Run, Carla, Run! More info: http://carlabates.org/ Sharon Henry Blyth is running for her third term. Her day job is as the director of children and family policy research for the Family Supportive Housing Center. All of her children attended city schools---her last one is at Southwest High School. Sharon is a smart, experienced member who didn't seek DFL endorsement this time because she says she values her independence and didn't want to make promises she couldn't keep. The longer I've watched Sharon on the board, the more I've come to respect her. She's both tough and diplomatic. I see her as a calm, wise voice for change who is committed to trying to implement the new strategic plan. I can't find a website for her, but here's a link to a profile from the Twin Cities Daily Planet: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/14074 Jill Davis is a social worker/manager who works in Anoka County with a long history of working with school-based programs for disabled kids and their families. She has one son, a 4th grader attending Waite Park Elementary. She's a decent, smart person from northeast Minneapolis---a part of the city that hasn't been well represented on the school board for a while. Jill graduated from Edison. Her dad taught at South High School for 30 years and was/is a leader with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, so I'm not convinced she'd be willing to cross them on any issue. She says she wants to be a "bridge" with the MFT. Jill understands how large systems work. She's been on a bunch of district advisory committees and has more than done her homework for this position. I like her. More info: http://jilldavis.net/index.htm So these are my top three candidates. Carla and Jill are DFL-endorsed, so of these three, the person who may most need your vote on election day is probably Sharon Henry Blythe. Lydia Lee also has DFL-endorsement and will easily go on to the general election. But I think she's been an uninspiring board chair whose mission seems to be Don't Rock The Boat. Stick With Incremental Change, so that's why I didn't include her in my top three. I'm apparently not the only one who's been under-whelmed. At the spring convention, Lydia was the last candidate to get DFL-endorsement, despite her status as the incumbent chair of the School Board and a long-time teacher with rock-solid labor backing. I only learned that Allison Johnson is running for the Board a few days ago. She wasn't at the candidates' forum. I know Allison a little as a friend of a friend. She's a smart, good person and she'd work hard. But she doesn't have a kid in the schools and according to the Daily Planet profile hadn't read the district's strategic plan, so she'd have a lot of catching up to do. I am NOT supporting the following candidates: Mary Buss: I heard her speak at a candidates forum last month and I've read her literature. She has a three-point plan to "revolutionize" Minneapolis public schools by 1) serving more nutritious food; 2) having more recess periods and 3) more parent volunteers. At the candidates forum last month, she came across as uninformed and utterly out-of-her-depth. http://www.marybuss.com/ Thomas Dicks: a social studies teacher who has moved from building to building over the years and is now a reserve teacher. At the candidates forum, he rambled and seemed out of his depth as well. No website, but a profile at http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/14073 Doug Mann is well-known to list members here. He's a perennial candidate who is against grouping kids by ability and in past campaigns has favored a return to more wide-scale, systematic busing for desegregation purposes. I share Doug's frustration with the district's practice of annually sending lay-off notices to far more teachers than the district will ultimately let go, but we probably disagree on the causes and solutions to the problem. The Daily Planet says Doug also opposes the referendum. I couldn't find an up-to-date website for this campaign, but a profile is at: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/14077. Kari Reed: Mother of five who home-schools her kids and opposes the referendum or any extra money for schools because "money's not the answer." She prefers universal tax credits which could be applied to private schools. At the candidate forum, Kari Reed's ignorance of education issues was mind-boggling. http://www.karireed.org/.
Better late than never........ On school board: I'm supporting Carla Bates, Sharon Henry Blyth and Jill Davis, in that order, for School Board. I'm looking for smart, wise people who are willing to do what's best for kids and the community, even if that means challenging some of the clauses of our labor contracts and taking on other powers-that-be. My top candidate is Carla Bates. She's an IT manager at the U of M, with three kids in the system in Seward, Sanford and South. She's been active in the district for years. She serves on the Parent Advisory Council; started up this on-line forum for MPS parents and more. She's super-smart, honest, ethical and gutsy. She has a huge depth of educational knowledge. She's willing to try new things, ask tough questions and she's an absolute bulldog about following through. I can't say enough good things about Carla. She's one of my civic heroes. Run, Carla, Run! More info: http://carlabates.org/ Sharon Henry Blyth is running for her third term. Her day job is as the director of children and family policy research for the Family Supportive Housing Center. All of her children attended city schools---her last one is at Southwest High School. Sharon is a smart, experienced member who didn't seek DFL endorsement this time because she says she values her independence and didn't want to make promises she couldn't keep. The longer I've watched Sharon on the board, the more I've come to respect her. She's both tough and diplomatic. I see her as a calm, wise voice for change who is committed to trying to implement the new strategic plan. I can't find a website for her, but here's a link to a profile from the Twin Cities Daily Planet: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/14074 Jill Davis is a social worker/manager who works in Anoka County with a long history of working with school-based programs for disabled kids and their families. She has one son, a 4th grader attending Waite Park Elementary. She's a decent, smart person from northeast Minneapolis---a part of the city that hasn't been well represented on the school board for a while. Jill graduated from Edison. Her dad taught at South High School for 30 years and was/is a leader with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, so I'm not convinced she'd be willing to cross them on any issue. She says she wants to be a "bridge" with the MFT. Jill understands how large systems work. She's been on a bunch of district advisory committees and has more than done her homework for this position. I like her. More info: http://jilldavis.net/index.htm So these are my top three candidates. Carla and Jill are DFL-endorsed, so of these three, the person who may most need your vote on election day is probably Sharon Henry Blythe. Lydia Lee also has DFL-endorsement and will easily go on to the general election. But I think she's been an uninspiring board chair whose mission seems to be Don't Rock The Boat. Stick With Incremental Change, so that's why I didn't include her in my top three. I'm apparently not the only one who's been under-whelmed. At the spring convention, Lydia was the last candidate to get DFL-endorsement, despite her status as the incumbent chair of the School Board and a long-time teacher with rock-solid labor backing. I only learned that Allison Johnson is running for the Board a few days ago. She wasn't at the candidates' forum. I know Allison a little as a friend of a friend. She's a smart, good person and she'd work hard. But she doesn't have a kid in the schools and according to the Daily Planet profile hadn't read the district's strategic plan, so she'd have a lot of catching up to do. I am NOT supporting the following candidates: Mary Buss: I heard her speak at a candidates forum last month and I've read her literature. She has a three-point plan to "revolutionize" Minneapolis public schools by 1) serving more nutritious food; 2) having more recess periods and 3) more parent volunteers. At the candidates forum last month, she came across as uninformed and utterly out-of-her-depth. http://www.marybuss.com/ Thomas Dicks: a social studies teacher who has moved from building to building over the years and is now a reserve teacher. At the candidates forum, he rambled and seemed out of his depth as well. No website, but a profile at http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/14073 Doug Mann is well-known to list members here. He's a perennial candidate who is against grouping kids by ability and in past campaigns has favored a return to more wide-scale, systematic busing for desegregation purposes. I share Doug's frustration with the district's practice of annually sending lay-off notices to far more teachers than the district will ultimately let go, but we probably disagree on the causes and solutions to the problem. The Daily Planet says Doug also opposes the referendum. I couldn't find an up-to-date website for this campaign, but a profile is at: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/14077. Kari Reed: Mother of five who home-schools her kids and opposes the referendum or any extra money for schools because "money's not the answer." She prefers universal tax credits which could be applied to private schools. At the candidate forum, Kari Reed's ignorance of education issues was mind-boggling. http://www.karireed.org/.
In a message dated 9/9/2008 12:07:03 PM Central Daylight Time, <email obscured> writes: > Doug Mann is well-known to list members here. He's a perennial candidate > who is against grouping kids by ability and in past campaigns has favored a > return to more wide-scale, systematic busing for desegregation purposes. I share > Doug's frustration with the district's practice of annually sending lay-off > notices to far more teachers than the district will ultimately let go, but we > probably disagree on the causes and solutions to the problem. The Daily > Planet says Doug also opposes the referendum. I couldn't find an up-to-date > website for this campaign, but a profile is at: > http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/14077. > I was an MPS parent in the mid to late 1980s, and again since 1996. I did not like the kind of desegregation plan that we had in the 1980s, which was a controlled choice plan, where large parts of the district became a common attendance area for many schools. There was too much bussing. However, the district administration went out of its way to resegregate the district when it implemented its Community School Plan, which was outlined in the 1995 resolution, Closing the Gap: Ensuring that all children can learn. The board promised to minimize the segregative effect of the CSP, and to improve the quality of education at schools that few to no whites attend. Promises not kept. The Minneapolis City Council endorsed the community school plan and promised action to desegregate the city's neighborhoods. Another promise not kept. I have called on the City Council to fulfill its promise to help desegrate the schools by desegregating the city's neighborhoods. I have proposed that the city do so by enforcing fair housing and employment laws. The would involve setting up and funding programs to identify and prosecute those engaged in illegal, racial discrimination. It will cost a lot of money, several millions of dollars per year at the very least, to have a serious impact. However, it would be money well spent, in my opinion. -Doug Mann, Minneapolis School Board candidate, King Field neighborhood
Hi Doug:
Thanks for responding. It sounds like you and I agree more than we disagree on
the busing and deseg. There was too much busing. And the real long-term answer
is to desegregate the neighborhoods. You're also right about enforcing the open
housing laws we have on the books. I'm sorry I misrepresented your position
and I'm glad you posted your response.
All the best,
Lynnell Mickelsen
Linden Hills, Ward 13