Minneapolis school board raises the bar

Before a standing-room-only crowd, the Minneapolis school board on Tuesday unanimously approved a sweeping strategic-planning initiative aimed at improving student achievement and winning students back to the district.

The reform plan is the district's first since the 1980s. Among its recommendations:

• Restructuring the lowest-performing 25 percent of schools.

• Raising the performance of all students while eliminating the achievement gap between minority and white students and the perceived institutional racism in the district.

• Setting clear expectations for all employees, rewarding success and removing low performers if necessary.

State Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said she and Gov. Tim Pawlenty believe that the district can "blaze a new path," while Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak added that "the stakes are high."

Long after they left the meeting, Board Member Peggy Flanagan called Pawlenty and legislators to task, stating that the plan can't work without more funding.

The plan's goal is to change the district's course over the next five years so 80 percent of students will be at or above proficiency levels on state math and reading tests.

It arrives at a time when the district is facing declining enrollment, financial shortcomings and heightened labor negotiations with its teachers.

Board Member Chris Stewart said that while he supports the plan, he felt the recommendations' language was watered down compared with a more specific earlier version. The current recommendations all but ensure support, but he added "this is Pleasantville material, and I'm afraid it's too vague."

Next month, the board will begin discussions on how the plan will be implemented during the 2008-09 school year.

An emotional Sharon Henry-Blythe said she had never seen such a detailed plan in her seven years on the school board. "We have put a stake in the ground and if [the plan] doesn't happen, then we are perpetuating institutional racism," she said. "It's going to be hard for all of us, and we're going to get scratched and scarred in the process. I pray that we are able to accomplish this." Other goals include:

• The achievement gaps lower-income and upper-income students will be cut by 75 percent.

Also Tuesday, board members voted 4 to 3 against a plan to allow expansion of the seven-member school board to nine by election of six members by district and three citywide.

All members are now citywide.

Voters will now decide next year whether to adopt a district system. If approved, the change would be phased in with the 2010 and 2012 elections.