The Cities Category Archive: Education

Free museum pass program to end

Posted at 6:00 AM on May 12, 2012 by Jon Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Arts , Education, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs

(The Museum Adventure Pass display at the East Lake library in Minneapolis.)

One patron wrote about her experience at the Hennepin History Museum's historic shoe exhibit. Another wrote that she planned a Russian-themed outing around a visit to the Museum of Russian Art, stopping first at Moscow on the Hill restaurant in St. Paul.

Those are only two stories of free visits to local museums and cultural centers posted by library patrons on the Museum Adventure Pass website. But after six years of distributing free passes to local museums at about 100 libraries in the Twin Cities metro area, the Museum Adventure Pass program is ending as of Labor Day.

Sally Lederer is the community relations manager for the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA), which runs the program.

"We wanted the program to be a way to introduce library users to all these great programs in the state," Lederer said. "Fortunately for us, we have these generous cultural organizations that were willing to do this."

Lederer said many of the organizations didn't have an issue with the lack of revenue they earned from the program, but that others were hit hard by the recession. When the program started, 24 organizations took part. This year only 17 were participating.

A lot of money is at stake. In the last quarter of 2011, the program handed out 14,000 sets of free passes to the Minnesota Zoo. That's 28,000 admissions. Without the pass, an adult ticket to the zoo costs $25.75.

Hennepin History Museum Executive Director Jada Hansen said the program has been "phenomenal" for small organizations like hers.

"I know opinion really varies from small museum to large museum, but as a small institution, it literally doubled our attendance," Hansen said. "It's really improved our visibility, and now we have some people that will continue to come back."

The good news is that MELSA is working on a new program that will help library patrons explore local cultural institutions. Lederer said details of the new program should be out by the time the adventure pass program ends.

"Sometimes you get into the mode of rehashing each year the same thing you did the previous year," Lederer said. "This year we have to get a little more creative."

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Minnesota Idea Open announces semifinalists

Posted at 11:30 AM on April 18, 2012 by Laura Yuen (0 Comments)
Filed under: Arts , Education, Food, Immigration, Livability, Race

A statewide call for creativity on how to build relationships across faiths and cultures produced a staggering 600 ideas.

That set a new record for the Minnesota Idea Open, which is in its third year.

Which ideas rose to the top? An interactive food truck, a charity flash mob, multicultural barn-raisings, and a mobile app for "culturally curious Minnesotans" were among the 25 semi-finalists announced today. You can read about the individual pitches here.

An eight-judge panel of media professionals and community and faith leaders will whittle the finalists to five in May. Then the competition will open to the public for voting, "American Idol"-style. Three winners will each receive $15,000 to implement their ideas.

Created by the Minnesota Community Foundation, the challenge aims to engage the state's residents to learn about critical issues and develop new solutions. This year's challenge is working across ethnic, racial and religious lines in a state that's becoming increasingly diverse. Our three-part series "The Outsiders" grew out of this initiative.

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U of M to partner with foundation for veteran scholarships

Posted at 6:05 PM on February 10, 2012 by Jessica Mador (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Veterans

The Pat Tillman Foundation has chosen the University of Minnesota as a partner in support of the Tillman Military Scholars program, which provides educational scholarships for veterans, active service members and their spouses.

The U joins Arizona State University and Eastern Kentucky University as the new Tillman Military Scholar partners for the 2012/2013 academic year. There are eleven other university partners nationwide.

The foundation says it chose the University of Minnesota because of its campus support services for student veterans, active service members and their spouses.

The Pat Tillman Foundation established the Tillman Military Scholars program in 2008 to support educational opportunities for service members and their spouses by filling financial gaps in the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The program covers direct study-related costs like tuition and fees, housing and childcare, among other expenses. Over the past three years, the foundation has awarded more than $2.2 million in scholarship funds to 171 Tillman Military Scholars pursuing education at every level from freshmen undergraduates to doctoral degrees.

Apply to become a Tillman Military Scholar beginning Monday, Feb. 13th.

Pat Tillman died in 2004 while serving with the U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan. Family and friends established the Pat Tillman Foundation in his honor.

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U of M seeks more families for military study

Posted at 2:42 PM on February 8, 2012 by Jessica Mador (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Veterans

University of Minnesota researchers are recruiting more than 300 Minnesota National Guard and Reserve families for an ongoing study, called Project ADAPT (After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools) , of parenting during and after deployment. Researchers are hoping to learn how best to support military families.

So far, nearly 100 families have participated since the project launched last year. More groups will follow with the next wave of returning military parents, who are expected back in Minnesota in May.

"What impresses me about this program is that it offers parents proven and practical strategies for managing family life," said Col. Greg Haase, commander of the 133rd Airlift Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard. "It accomplishes this by demonstrating simple but effective skills."

Military families with children between the ages of 4 and 12 who have experienced deployment since 2001 and live in the Twin Cities, Mankato and St. Cloud are eligible to join the study. All participating families are offered parenting resources. Families are paid up to $595 over the course of the study.

The study's principal investigator is Abi Gewirtz, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development's Department of Family Social Science. The research team includes Melissa Polusny at the Minneapolis VA.

Check out my story on this ongoing study.

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New video game aims to scare young drivers safe

Posted at 5:15 PM on February 1, 2012 by Jessica Mador (2 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Livability, Transportation

A new Internet video game may help teens and young adults understand how easily they can get distracted behind the wheel. The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute at the University of Minnesota is calling the game it developed "Distraction Dodger."

Players drive a virtual pizza delivery vehicle in the imaginary pizza-loving city of Little Moots. To help build a successful pizza business, players are tempted to use a smart phone, social media, and GPS while driving. If they choose to distract themselves, they must do so while avoiding obstacles, traffic tickets, and of course, an accident.

As Distraction Dodger players progress through the game's levels, they get feedback about their driving performance and level of distraction. Michael Manser, director of the HumanFIRST Program at the ITS Institute, says the feedback can be an eye opener.

For young drivers who believe they can do it all and not negatively affect driving, the Distraction Dodger game offers a reality check.

According to the National Safety Council, distractions are the leading cause of motor vehicle crashes. Texting or talking on the phone are particularly well-documented dangers, significantly slowing a driver's reaction time and increasing the likelihood of a crash. Other driving distractions include talking with passengers, eating and drinking, using a navigation system, putting on makeup, shaving and adjusting the radio or music players.

Distraction Dodger will premiere at the Teen Safe Driving Summit on Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Rosemount Community Center, 13885 S. Robert Trail, Rosemount.

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St. Paul library sets eBook lending record

Posted at 7:05 PM on December 28, 2011 by Madeleine Baran (1 Comments)
Filed under: Education, St. Paul

The day after Christmas was a busy one for the St. Paul public library's eBook program. The library set a new record for the most eBook downloads in one day - "nearly 200," according to a library news release Wednesday.

Since the library began the eBook lending program this spring, monthly downloads have increased from 467 in April to nearly 3,500 in December.

How does it work? From the news release:

After library users check out an eBook with a valid library card, it can be sent to a Kindle or downloaded to a PC or Mac computer and then transferred to a variety of eReaders including the Barnes & Noble NOOK, Sony Reader, and many others. eBooks can also be downloaded on mobile devices such as Android, BlackBerry, iPhone/iPad, and Windows Mobile devices. Links to free apps and software are available on the Library's website. Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period. There are no late fees.

You may wonder which is the most popular eBook since the program began. Right now, Kathryn Stockett's The Help is at the top of the list.

The Hennepin County Library also offers eBook lending. And, as it turns out, The Help is the most popular eBook there, too.

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Northside tornado photography exhibit at the U

Posted at 2:48 PM on December 28, 2011 by Jessica Mador (0 Comments)
Filed under: Arts , Education, Minneapolis

Of Sadness and Hope: Images from the Northside Tornado is a youth-produced photography exhibit aimed at raising awareness and money to support those still affected by the May 22 tornado.

Many of the young people, who attend elementary and middle school at Nellie Stone Johnson and Jefferson Schools, live in north Minneapolis and were directly affected by the disaster.

The show presents their photos of the devastation at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center Gallery on Jan. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m.

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Brooklyn Park gets Legacy funding for traveling potato farm

Posted at 7:00 AM on December 21, 2011 by Madeleine Baran (1 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Suburbs

What do you do when you can't convince your community to visit a historic 1900-era potato farm? You bring the potato farm to them.

That's the idea behind the city of Brooklyn Park's "traveling trunk" project. The city found out this week that they'll be receiving $7,000 in state Legacy funding to kickstart their efforts to assemble a trunk full of historical artifacts -- tools, toys, clothing, photos, and other items -- that can be delivered to schools and community groups to tell the story of life on Eidem Homestead.

The farm sits on ten acres of city-owned land. The city's website explains:

Today, the farm is like a time machine, transporting you back to the turn of the twentieth century, a time when Brooklyn Park was one of the nation's top potato growing areas. Step through our gates into a world in which a bushel of potatoes cost twenty-five cents and a pound of butter cost fifteen cents. Split logs fueled the wood burning stove, which kept the kitchen warm and was used for cooking meals and heating water. Farmers plowed the fields with a team of horses or oxen. Wives churned butter, made the family clothing and pumped the water to wash it.

Despite all this historical farm activity, it's been tough to attract visitors. The city's grant application says that school tours have declined in recent years. It adds:

According to many educators, one reason for the decline is the cost of obtaining a bus and driver for field trips. And while we have had visitors in wheelchairs, some parts of the site, such as the upstairs bedrooms and the tool shed, are not fully accessible. Also, here in Brooklyn Park, we have a large ethnically diverse population, yet, despite our best efforts, our visitor demographic does not reflect that.

The farm is also closed from December to May each year. Jon Oyanagi, Brooklyn Park's director of recreation and parks, said the year-round traveling trunk program will help the city make better use of its historical resources. Most of the grant money will go toward staff time.

Similar trunks programs are in place across the country. There are Grand Canyon trunks and Winston Churchill trunks. There's even an aquatic invasive species trunk

The city of Brooklyn Park hopes to have its trunk ready to travel by April 2012.

Photo of Eidem Homestead courtesy of the city of Brooklyn Park.

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St. Paul libraries win MacArthur grant

Posted at 5:30 PM on November 17, 2011 by Tim Nelson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, St. Paul

Okay, it's not the MacArthur Fellows program -- the famed genius grants. But it's a pretty good chunk of change, nonetheless: $100,000 for a digital media lab to get kids up to speed on the 21st century.

Library director Kit Hadley said the city is hoping to use the money to bolster digital media for programs outside the school day.

The money will fund three initiatives

1. A digital media lab in the joint library and recreation center space the city is building at Payne and Maryland to replace the Arlington Heights library. It'll feature some of the space and hardware kids will need to create and use internet-based content.
2. Mobile hardware to take some of that same effort to non-city facilities, like a YMCA or other out-of-school programs
3. A dedicated social media network based in the library, for kids in St. Paul to communicate, share their stuff and learn from each other. It's based on the You Media program at the Chicago Public Library that teaches kids radio and podcasting, graphic design, digital publishing, music and video.

"Kids live in virtual space now, in addition to physical space," Hadley said. "In terms of a virtual network, we can create an environment that supports quality learning, gives kids an opportunity to publish, present their work, get feedback."

St. Paul is one of 12 cities in the country to win such grants. The city's parks and recreation department will match the grant with in-kind aid of $65,000.

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MPR youth reporters bring home medal from DC

Posted at 5:20 PM on October 24, 2011 by Sasha Aslanian (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Immigration, Livability

Four of MPR's youth reporters (from left: Antonio Gonzalez, Iman Fears, Tiara Bellaphant and Roy Spearman Jones) headed to DC last week to pick up their Casey Medal from the Journalism Center on Children and Families at the University of Maryland.

If you'll permit a little horn-tooting in this modest state of ours, MPR's youth series took the top prize in the audio category in this national journalism competition.

The kids beat the grown-ups.

The judges wrote:

The chance to slip into the lives of young people whom the majority of listeners might never have encountered otherwise is so powerful and important. Most impressive was the honest, well-thought-out manner in which each of the six youth reporters in this series told their stories. Some of those stories were heart-breaking: Brenda's experience as an undocumented 19-year-old fearing her family could be separated; Roy Lee Spearman Jones' account of leaving home and sleeping behind trash cans because he is gay; and Antonio Gonzalez's portrait of six children grieving after their mother's sudden and mysterious death. If what we do is about helping each other understand each other, then this is as good as it gets.

We'd love for you to check out their stories.

If you'd like to tell a future story, contact series producer Toni Randolph (trandolph@mpr.org).

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Volunteers rule, and do lots of unpaid work.

Posted at 2:55 PM on August 26, 2011 by Dan Olson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Livability, Suburbs

Every week during the school year Aimee Willoz and Steve Ferris show up at a Hennepin county library and help kids with homework.

Mostly math.

Aimee works at a Hopkins library and Steve at a north Minneapolis branch.

Steve remembers one kid showing up with forty math worksheets due the next day.

The teacher handed the homework to students during the term, and the young man had completed none of them.

Steve says two hours later the work was done, ready to be handed in, and in theory, one student's academic career was, at least in math, back on track.

Aimee remembers a mom of one of the students she helped telling her how thankful she and her son were for the help.

Both Aimee and Steve report the volunteer tutoring experience repays them more richly than the couple hours a week they invest.

Hennepin county has a continuing need for volunteers and some of the work looks pretty interesting.

The world would keep spinning without volunteers.

Maybe.

But the fallout would not be pretty. Along with millions of math work sheets going uncompleted, there'd be lots of phones unanswered, countless teens not mentored, families not befriended, ex-cons left to their own wits upon release, scads of litter not picked up.

Volunteerism - some call it community service - is not without controversy. Here's a nifty NYTimes piece about planting the seed for volunteerism.

Then there's the point, 'Hey, if a job is worth doing, it's worth being paid for.'

Well, yes.

We all know of instances where (sometimes fairly well-off) organizations rely on volunteers to fill gaps when they could probably afford to pay them.

Back down at the grass roots and real people level both Aimee Willoz and Steve Ferris say they see a need for their tutoring, and on the payback front they're getting lots of personal satisfaction from helping.

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Pan-African Women's Action Summit underway in Minneapolis

Posted at 3:58 PM on August 11, 2011 by Jessica Mador (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Immigration, Livability, Minneapolis, Race, St. Paul

Organizers of the Pan African Women's Action Summit in downtown Minneapolis say the event is part of their mission to increase philanthropy in the Pan-African women's community here and globally.

Some of the event's proceeds will go to The Minneapolis Foundation's North Minneapolis Tornado Recovery Fund as well as East African famine relief efforts.

From the summit's press materials:

In keeping with the United Nations' Declaration of 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent, PAWPNet has taken the bold step of declaring every August as Black Philanthropy Month. Thanks for making this a historic gathering. We hope that together we will change the face of philanthropy and our community for years to come.

The summit also features a film and food festival and an oral history project.

Speakers include:

Dr. Jackie Copeland-Carson, PAWPNet and PAWAS Chair; Karen Kelley-Ariwoola, Vice President of Community Philanthropy, The Minneapolis Foundation; Grace Stanislaus, Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora; Judge (ret.) LaJune Lange, former Minnesota state trial judge, senior fellow with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and founding president of The International Leadership Institute.

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Group accuses Anoka-Hennepin of manipulating website info

Posted at 1:10 PM on August 4, 2011 by Tom Weber (2 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Suburbs

The latest dust-up in the Anoka-Hennepin school district is over a website the district created last month to address issues related to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) students.

That website was first publicized in an email to media on July 29, eight days after two national civil rights groups (Southern Poverty Law Center & National Center for Lesbian Rights) filed a federal lawsuit against Anoka-Hennepin over a policy they say contributes to a hostile environment for gay students.

The goal of the website, according to district officials, is to offer a place for the public to seek out information and "answer questions about actions taken by the district in the areas of training and support." The site includes links to various district policies, including the sexual orientation curriculum policy. That's the policy the lawsuit seeks to have thrown out.

This morning, a group called the Gay Equity Team accused the district of posting several "misrepresentations" and "falsified information" on that site. Their issues were outlined in a ten-page document. The Gay Equity Team is a group of families, students, staff and other community members that has spoken publicly in opposition to the neutrality policy.

One example they cite is that the Anoka LGBT site links to a transcript of a recorded message sent to staff by superintendent Dennis Carlson on Sept. 24, 2010. Carlson discusses suicides of students in the district during that call. The audio of the message varies from the transcript that's posted on the LGBT site. "Disturbingly, they have taken twisting the truth to an even lower level of deceit: documents have been manipulated to deceptively improve the district's image," reads the statement from the Gay Equity Team.

But the district refutes any claim that it's posting misleading information. Spokesman Brett Johnson said any difference between the audio recording and the text stems from the fact that Carlson often edits the final script before recording the message, and sometimes those changes don't get changed in the written version.

There's no effort to mislead the public, Johnson added. "We deal with the truth and the facts, and if something is inaccurate and it's brought to our attention, we'll correct it," he said. "But in no way does anything we're trying to do stray from known facts."

The lawsuit, which has put national media attention on the state's largest district, seeks the removal of the sexual orientation curriculum policy, as well as monetary awards for the five current and former students named in the suit, who claim the district failed to address harassment and bullying they were enduring.

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Contest to design logo for nuclear sub U.S.S. Minnesota

Posted at 10:10 AM on August 4, 2011 by Tim Nelson (1 Comments)
Filed under: Education

A new Virginia-class submarine is under construction in Newport News, Va., to be named the U.S.S. Minnesota.

It's been a long time coming - the Navy signed a contract for the boat eight years ago and the sub was designated the Minnesota in 2008. At right is a picture of the keel laying in May, courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries, the company building the boat.

Nuclear powered fast attack subs generally don't visit the Great Lakes or come up the Mississippi. But the boat is coming to Minnesota -- after a fashion, The Navy League is kicking off a contest next week to design a logo for the sub.

The ship's commander and some crew are coming to the Twin Cities on Monday to launch the logo contest. College and high school students will be eligible to design the symbol for the boat, to take to the water in 2013.

The logo contest is open to students 16 to 22 years old, and runs until Nov. 1, 2011. It will be part of the ship for its career, usually decades. The winning designer -- selected by crew members -- will win a free trip to the ship's commissioning, as well as a $1,500 college scholarship.

You can find out more about it at www.ussminnesota.org.

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Covering the Greek debt crisis with a Minnesota accent...sort of

Posted at 10:13 AM on July 22, 2011 by Tim Nelson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education

Regular Marketplace and NPR listeners have been hearing a lot about the Greek debt crisis and the social unrest it has spawned.

With a Minnesota accent. Sort of.

Correspondent Joanna Kakissis actually grew up in North and South Dakota. But she started her journalism career in Minneapolis at the U's Minnesota Daily -- that scourge of the East Bank's Murphy Hall when the paper was still in the basement. She got her B.A. at the U.

That's her in the red shirt and the black shawl, below.

Kakissis also interned for the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune in their Washington, D.C., bureau. She eventually went to graduate school in Missouri, and to a staff writer job with the Raleigh News and Observer.

But she was born in Greece, and she's back there now. Besides NPR and Marketplace, she's also the Athens correspondent for TIME magazine, and works occasionally for the New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Financial Times Magazine, and PRI/BBC's The World, among others.

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Shutdown headaches: child care

Posted at 12:18 PM on July 5, 2011 by Sasha Aslanian (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Suburbs

Gretchen Raymer, the adult in this photo, wrote to MPR two weeks ago, worried about the 27 children in the Creative Kids Academy child care center she runs whose families rely on state subsidies to attend. Twenty-six thousand families got letters from the state warning their child care subsidies would disappear in the event of a government shutdown.

I produced a story looking at what would happen to these families and the people who care for their children.

Today, I called Raymer to see how it's going on the second work day of the shutdown. Raymer was off. I remembered she talked about burning vacation time so other employees could get more hours. The toddler teacher answered the phone and confirmed that a third of the children aren't attending today. Raymer had to lay off four staffers.

The center backs up against a mobile home park in the Twin Cities suburb of Lexington, where some of the children live. "Sometimes this is most structured environment they have," said Raymer. Parents told Raymer they would be unable to afford the full cost of care for their children even for a week, so they were improvising arrangements with friends, grandparents and older siblings for the duration of the shutdown. Many of these parents are part of Minnesota's welfare to work program, and can't risk losing these jobs -- their ladder out of poverty.

After the interview, as we were chatting in her office, Raymer talked about the struggles these families are up against, holding down their jobs as PCAs and hotel and restaurant workers. But Raymer's concern went beyond that of a day care manager concerned about $4000 in weekly lost revenue.

She used to be one of these parents getting a subsidy. Eight years ago, she needed help as a single mother. By receiving the subsidy to care for her daughter, she was able to work her way up from child care aide to center director.

It's the kind of detail that gets squeezed out of a 4 minute story but makes all the difference.

We'll keep following the child care angle. Annie Baxter reported on a center that's closed due to the shutdown. Tell us at The Cities what you're seeing.

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Government shutdown forces girls rock camp to relocate

Posted at 3:55 PM on July 1, 2011 by Jessica Mador (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Suburbs

Organizers relocated the 5th annual rock-n-roll day camp for girls in the wake of the state government shutdown, which began today.

The camp is usually held at the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley, a school run by the state. A judge this week ruled only 3 Perpich Center staff can stay on the job during a shutdown to do minimal building and grounds maintenance and security.

The camp moved to Main Street School for Performing Arts in Hopkins. Rock camp staff say they would have been forced to cancel without the last minute help from Main Street school.

The day camp , which I did a story on last year, is open to girls ages 9 - 17 and runs July 11-15 & July 18-22. More information here.

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Minneapolis 8th grader tops History Day honors

Posted at 7:54 AM on June 21, 2011 by Tim Nelson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Minneapolis

Nathaniel Larson, who just finished 8th grade at Lake Harriet Community School, has taken top honors at National History Day in College Park, MD.

His website, "Debate and Diplomacy: The Panama Canal Treaties" follows the history of the canal and the historic political battle over the US decision to turn the waterway over to Panama in 1977.

Reaction to the treaty and its approval in the U.S. is widely credited with helping launch Ronald Reagan's presidency and bolster what was then called the New Right.

"I'm interested in history," Larson said in an interview Monday night -- after a day of summer study at Macalester College, no less. "Things like foreign policy, different countries working together diplomatically, especially the relationship between a small country and a superpower."

Larson built a website outlining the history of the canal, starting with the 1903 treaty giving the U.S. control of the canal zone, through the 1964 riots in Panama started by a sovereignty dispute along the canal and into the roiling debate that continued even past the 1980 election.

Larson also interviewed then Vice President Walter Mondale, and included a personal letter from former President Jimmy Carter - the president who pushed the treaty through.

Disco-era Central American history might seem a little obscure for an 8th grader. But the competition focused on diplomacy and debate this year, and the Panama Canal was one of the issues organizers suggested as a topic.

"At first I thought I was going to focus on Theodore Roosevelt and building the canal," Larson said. "Then I realized it actually started this 60 year relationship." He said the 1977 treaty fit better into the contest's parameters.

Minnesota's History Day activities are sponsored by the Minnesota Historical Society and the University of Minnesota.

"You know, the Panama Canal treaties isn't necessarily a sexy topic for, you know, a 14 year old kid," said Tim Hoogland the Minnesota History Day coordinator for the society. "But i think what stands out is the kids take something and get into a layer of depth. Plus, if they don't take a topic that's one of the usual things that kids do - that really stands out."

Larson's parents are Karin Larson and Douglas Erickson, and they live in the Linden Hills neighborhood. Nathaniel won $1,000 and a medal for topping the Junior Individual Website category at National History Day. He says he'll put the money in his college fund and hopes to become an engineer some day.

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From Webster Magnet to Obama Prep: a tale of race & achievement

Posted at 6:00 AM on June 13, 2011 by Sasha Aslanian (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Race, St. Paul

One of the things I learned while covering the new St. Paul schools plan was that Obama Elementary (more formally known as Michelle and Barack Obama Service Learning Elementary) is planning to revamp along the lines of a Minneapolis charter school with an Afrocentric focus. Obama Elementary is 75 percent black, and 4 percent white.

For anyone who knows St. Paul history, this is an amazing story.

St. Paulites will recognize Obama Elementary as the old Webster Magnet, an integrated, enrichment magnet that was wildly popular in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

What happened?

I spent a few months scouring the history of Webster Magnet, finding people like 1991 Teacher of the Year Rhoda Stroud, who knew it well and could describe what happened from the inside.

(There's also delicious tape from the MPR Archives when Garrision Keillor did a live 2-hour broadcast from the school in 1981)

I also spent time with Obama Principal Adrain Pendelton as she works to redesign her school and zero in on what her students -- largely African American -- need to succeed.

Before Webster became a magnet, it was 75 percent black, the same as Obama Elementary is today. But the solutions for best serving these students couldn't be more different.

Check out the story for an interesting tale of St. Paul's four-decade struggle over race and achievement through the lens of one school.

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Some St. Paul public schools changing starting times

Posted at 11:16 AM on June 3, 2011 by Jennifer Ehrlich (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, St. Paul

Some parents whose children attend St. Paul public schools are complaining that the district should have given them more notice about changes to school starting times before they had to choose a school.

Some schools will start as much as an hour later, and others will begin earlier.

Maxfield Magnet, above, is one of the schools starting 30 minutes earlier.

The complete list of school starting times is here.

"We understand that this change may be inconvenient for some families, which is why we wanted to give them as much time as possible before school begins in the fall to plan for any needed adjustments to their schedules," said Superintendent Valeria Silva, in a written statement in a press release.

The schedule change is aimed at saving the district $1.9 million, according to the press release.

Many parents have not received letters or emails about the changes to the starting time, which were sent out this week.

The district is recommending that if a school's new start time is unworkable with a family's schedule, they should contact the district's student placement center at 651-632-3700 to review other available school options.

Do you feel you got enough notice about the schedule changes? Will it affect your family? Tell us at The Cities.

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Minneapolis school district gets graded

Posted at 4:54 PM on April 13, 2011 by Brandt Williams (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Minneapolis

A recent analysis of operations at Minneapolis Public School headquarters found Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson needs help, and should hire a second in command. The 87-page report, authored by Robert Schiller, offers observations and recommendations for all the district's departments.

The report also reflects on the organizational culture at the District, and some of the observations are not flattering:

Another challenge is to address the perceptions that during the past few years that "silver bullet /band-aid" or "flavor of the month" approach is used whenever a new initiative is thought to be needed at the schools. In fact, a major perception of the interviewees is that the initiatives are not systemic, but inconsistent. Further, there is a "one-size fits all" mentality and not whether the school needs it or not. It is perceived by the interviewees that too much direction is top-down and with not enough input from the staff regarding new initiatives. It has become very prescriptive and teachers/principals (even some department directors and managers) feel excluded.

You can find the full report here. Ignore the annoying boxes at the top of each page, we were unable to remove them from the report sent to us by the district.

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2010 census shows big changes in the Twin Cities metro

Posted at 6:00 AM on April 9, 2011 by Jessica Mador (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Housing, Immigration, Livability, Race, Suburbs

Census Bureau data confirm what many researchers already knew: some second and third ring suburbs made big gains between 2000 and 2010, while some older and first-ring suburbs saw declines. And the state as a whole got more racially diverse.

Here's my story about it.

One big winner in the suburbs was Shakopee, which added more than 16,500 new residents. The schools there are brimming with new children and the local hospital continues to expand to keep pace with demand.

Officials at St. Francis Regional Medical Center say since 1996, in-patient admissions are up 125 percent, and surgeries are up more than 90 percent. Births doubled from 600 to 1,200, emergency admissions went from 10,000 to 30,000 and urgent care visits went from 1,200 to 9,000 -- a 550 percent increase. The hospital has also doubled its staff and added additional language translators.

Check out these stats from the Met Council on the last decade's demographic shifts.

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Girls rock again this summer

Posted at 5:00 PM on March 1, 2011 by Jessica Mador (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education

It's that time again. Time to register your daughters for Minnesota's first rock camp for girls only.

The Girls Rock N Roll Retreat was founded by Minnesota rockers Jenny Case and Amy VanPatten. It's now in its fourth summer at the Perpich Center For Arts Education in Golden Valley.

Case and VanPatten see a problem with the way women and girls are treated by the music industry. Here's their vision:

...to help change the stereotypes of women in the music industry and in society in general. To help girls, at an early age, increase their self-confidence, take pride in work well done, ask for what they want, and gain tools that will help them to achieve their dreams.

Check out this story I did on the camp.

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African American Parent Involvement Day is more than a name

Posted at 6:37 PM on February 13, 2011 by Rupa Shenoy (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Minneapolis, St. Paul

Monday is African American Parent Involvement Day -- and right there, you probably wonder what I have to say about it, because it's all there in the name. People want black parents to get more involved in their kids' lives. There's a big disparity in Minnesota between the academic performance of white kids and minority kids. Experts figure more parent involvement can only improve the picture.

But it'd be nice to take a minute to recognize that the Twin Cities has a very active group of African American parents who take their children's education seriously. That became pretty clear during the uproar following Minneapolis Public School's decision to close North High School. Apart from that, local black parents have put on several events lately that sought to teach kids about African American history and their own emerging identity.

Among those active parents is Kristin Morris, who was at Ames/Sheridan Elementary School in St. Paul, getting stuff done as co-chair of the PTA when I talked to her last week. Morris is at her sons' school so often that they no longer get embarrassed about it. Morris said her older son, fourth-grader Kencale, told her his friends think she's cool. It's a compliment she's pretty proud of.

Morris said a straightforward thing like African American Parent Involvement Day can actually have a sophisticated effect - it gets parents and students together with other parents and students. What they have in common is all around them - the school.

"Parents get together, we become friends, and our kids get together and they're comfortable with one another, they can do homework together," Morris said. "You build a cohort of kids who want to do well together and you just want to foster that hunger for learning."

She said creating a community focused on kids who want to learn is an incredibly effective way of reinforcing the importance of education on children. And that makes African American Parent Involvement Day sound pretty important.

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