Jennings makes suggestions on way out the door

On his way out the door, David Jennings made three long-range proposals to the Minneapolis School Board to try to stop the downward spiral of performance that has characterized students for the past generation.

He proposes turning over the responsibility for hiring teachers to the teachers union. This intriguing proposal has one obvious drawback. The union would be motivated to place teachers according to their seniority, possibly in conflict with the more specialized needs of the district or individual school. It is unlikely the district would want to surrender their authority to hire teachers.

He proposes decentralizing district administration to three sub-districts that would have more direct contact with schools and classrooms. This was tried 30 years ago. It created yet another layer of bureaucracy between the schools and the administration. It made them more remote and a lot more expensive. In times of budget crisis, the solution is less bureaucracy, not more.

Finally, he proposes expanding the potential for the development of charter schools. This is the lone proposal of the three that could actually improve student performance. Charter schools are popular because they allow curriculum to be shaped by cultural values and economic realities. The Minnesota Transitions School focuses students on learning marketable skills. Heart of the Earth Survival School emphasizes Native American culture. These can be powerful motivators for improving students’ performances. The teachers union suggests that often teachers in those systems do not have the same rights, wages and benefits as teachers in district schools. Perhaps a better proposal might be to try to integrate successful charter schools back into the district. But any proposal that expands the potential of charter schools is probably going to improve performance.

The problems with the Minneapolis Public Schools are not going to be solved by quick solutions. We know that poor school performance is directly related to:

1. Transiency. The more a student moves around the less they learn.
2. Poverty. A student doesn't learn if they are hungry or anxious.
3. Racism. A teacher's insensitivity to cultural differences can be an insurmountable barrier to learning.
4. Violence. The more a child is hit, the more that child wants to perpetuate the cycle of violence.

We need school programs that address these problems. We need programs that understand the whole child.