I was really disappointed to read the front page Southside Pride story "What is the School Board Doing Now?" (really an editorial) about the appointment of David Jennings as superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. In my opinion, it lacked depth, perspective or an appreciation of how seriously public schools are under attack by conservatives who wish to dismantle public education. Now that Mr. Jennings has signaled his intention to withdraw from the superintendency, maybe we can all take a deep breath and talk about it.

I spent six months last year helping to launch a statewide parents organization to defend funding for public schools. During that time, it became quite apparent to me that there is an all-out assault on public education in our state and nation. The agenda of the president, our governor, the current education commissioner and many conservatives is to dismantle public education as we know it, and to eventually privatize the entire system. This truly is and will be the fight of the next decade. Among many conservatives there is a visceral contempt for the Minneapolis Public Schools, for the challenges of the large urban school districts and most probably for the needs and concerns of children of color. It's a frightening scenario and requires a clear vision from those of us who care about all the kids in urban districts throughout the state. We need allies and we need to work with everyone who believes that strong public schools are the centerpiece of democracy.

During this past year I also had the opportunity to work fairly closely with David Jennings. Over time I came to appreciate what a gift he was to the Minneapolis Public Schools and how right Carol Johnson had been to hire him. David is smart, politically savvy, deeply committed to public education and very clear about the conservative agenda to privatize public education. He cares about kids and is very concerned about the achievement gap for kids of color. He knows the opposition, took them on publicly and was willing to put his neck out in defense of the needs of Minneapolis children time and again. In short he was an important advocate at a time when his voice could make a real difference.

I believe the actions that were taken to force him out of the superintendent's position were shortsighted and potentially very damaging to the city, to our public schools and most of all to the kids who we all have at the center of our concern. We need to get serious about who are enemies really are and focus on that.

Now, we can only hope the Minneapolis Public Schools will recover and be able to move forward quickly to find a good superintendent. I hope I'm wrong, but I fear that the road ahead will not be easy and we may not be able to attract the kind of leadership we need in these times.

Pam Costain
Minneapolis

Ed Felien's article "What is the School Board doing now?" is not worthy of being called news. It is simply a printed version of his racist opinion (and other opinions) and as such should have been listed as an editorial. So Mr. Jennings is white. You infer that because of that he should not oversee the Minneapolis school system since it "now counts a non-white majority." That being the case, you must then concede that no person of color should oversee a majority of white people. Where were you when Sharon Sayles Belton was mayor? Why weren't you up in arms over the fact that she was black and was overseeing a white majority? According to your thinking, she wouldn't be qualified or capable of running the city. Or St. Paul's Chief of Police William K. Finney - Chief of police in a city that's predominantly white. Or Secretary of State Colin Powell - Secretary of State to a white majority USA. Belton, Finney, and Powell are people of color, and regardless of their minority status, are or were highly qualified for the position in which they work or worked. Racism will never be overcome until the voices of those who perpetrate it are silenced. Please be silent.

I did get a good laugh while reading your article when you wrote that Jennings "went back home to run Schwan's Ice Cream." Here's the line that's really a hoot, "They had a salmonella outbreak, and it took a while to find out where it came from." What in all creation did that have to do with the rest of the story?

Sincerely,
Steve Johnson
Minneapolis