the Board
is faced with some serious issues regarding implementation of the Racial Equity
Initiative
adopted by the Board and the St. Paul Public School Administration.
This issue is much to complicated to cover in a forum post but for those who
are interested
a good source of background information is on the SPPS website at:
More than 350 Attend May 20 Board of Education Meeting
More than 350 Attend May 20 Board of Education Meeting
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You can watch a clip of the hour long public comment period at the beginning of
the meeting where 26 people spoke for two minuteseach.
There are also links to last week's media coverage of the meeting.
In the Pioneer Press article it was reported that "immediately after the
meeting Superintendent Valeria Silva angrily berated one of the dissenting
teachers for saying a student with consistent behavioral issues had "infected"
his classroom.
"You said they are 'infecting' other children. I almost fell out of my chair,"
Silva said.
"I didn't mean it ...," Capitol Hill Gifted and Talented Magnet science teacher
David McGill began, before Silva cut him off.
"Doesn't matter. You said it," Silva said, then walked away. Later, Silva
commented, "That, to me ... it breaks my heart."
Silva refused additional comment on the teachers' proposals, saying only that
she had not had time to review them.
You can view for yourself Mr. McGill's statement at about the 55.00 mark of the
video. For the record the teacher said the student "infected the class" (not
other children) and while it was an unwise term to use considering thesensitive
nature of the subject I don't think the teacher intended his description to be
inflammatory.
I found Superintendent Silva's reaction to be more troubling than the teacher's
comment considering she is suppose to be leading the community in having a
"courageous conversation" about racial equity in our public schools. We need to
be supportive of people willing to stick their necks out by speaking publicly
on the subject of race and not be so quick to castigate them should they fail
to frame their remarks perfectly. There were others who made some questionable
comments also during the meeting in my opinion but that is to be expected in
this type of setting. Most of us have very little formal training or experience
in public speaking.
These are serious issues that deserve the attention of the entire community and
I would hope the School Board and the administration does not let this
situation go unaddressed all summer long now that the school year is coming to
an end.
All the citizens of St. Paul need to pay attention to this courageous
conversation if we are going to close the achievement gap in our schools.
Dennis Hill
St. Paul
Former student of Mechanic Arts, Washington, and Johnson High Schools.