What is the School Board doing now?

Just a few weeks ago the School Board was planning to tear down Sanford Middle School (where they just spent $6 million in renovation) and build a new school on the site of the second oldest community garden in the country—dating back to the Victory Gardens of World War II.

After a huge public outcry, they’re thinking about re-thinking that move.
Now, they have appointed Dave Jennings as Superintendent of Public Schools for Minneapolis.

Why would they appoint a former head of the Republican Party to lead the schools in a heavily Democratic city?

Why would they appoint a white male to lead a school system that that now counts a non-white majority and furthermore a person who voted against making Martin Luther King Day a State holiday and who voted against sanctions for South Africa when it was practicing apartheid?

Why would they appoint someone with no education experience and no education credentials to run an education system

School Board Member Denny Schapiro, normally a sensible guy, describes Jennings as “a good, experienced, savvy political leader when the Minneapolis schools—and the very idea of public education as we know it—are under extreme pressure.”

It’s true. We are under extremist pressure.

The Minneapolis school system is under attack from the Republican governor and the Republican-controlled House at the State Legislature. So is Hennepin County Medical Center. So is the Park System. So is City government. The governor and the House hate the City. And it’s a mean hatred. They hate the City like a younger brother hates an older brother who’s always made fun of him. They hate the City because they have a nagging inferiority complex. They hate the City because they think it gets too much money (even though it’s been pointed out to them that the City actually pays more in state taxes than it gets back). It’s a mean, irrational hatred. It’s the younger brother getting even for being younger.

So, it makes sense to appoint someone who could talk to those people in St. Paul. Doesn’t it?

Leaving aside the tactical question of whether it makes sense to appoint a general from the opposing army in the middle of a battle, let’s look at an even more basic question: Do the Republicans consider Dave Jennings a good Republican? He was head of the Republican Party at one time. He was the Republican Speaker of the House in 1985. Surely, those are good enough credentials, aren’t they?

Let’s go back to 1985. The State House was evenly divided because one representative was an Independent and he wanted to hold out until he could milk both sides for whatever was possible. Jennings was the highest bidder, so the Independent joined the Republicans in electing him speaker. But nothing else got done in that session. In fact, it was probably the most do-nothing Legislature in Minnesota’s history. State Senator Linda Berglin, who was serving in the House at that time, says, “It was crazy. It was hard to get anything done. Jennings wasn’t a very good Speaker. He was supposed to keep order, and the House almost broke into a riot at one point. He left the Legislature soon after that. Went back home to run Schwan’s Ice Cream. They had a salmonella outbreak, and it took a while to find out where it came from. I was shocked to see him get the job as superintendent. When I knew him he never struck me as being a great advocate for Minneapolis kids.”

But has he maintained good contacts with the Republican Party?

The Republican Party has denounced him. They protested to Almanac that Jennings was being chosen to represent Republicans when the party felt he was way out of line. During the last election he supported Roger Moe for governor, not Tim Pawlenty. How much love and kindness does that buy from the man in charge of drawing up your budget?

So, it seems, the reason the School Board appointed Jennings is his political credibility with the governor and the State House, which turns out to be his major liability.

The School Board hates him more than they hate us.

But the School Board didn’t want public input on this one. They went off on a retreat and talked to each other, and they came up with the brilliant idea of appointing the man who was making them feel good at the retreat.

Ordinary people might think that was being arrogant and elitist.