The selection of Mohamud Noor to fill the seat vacated by the death of Hussein Samatar came on a 5-3 first-ballot margin Tuesday night at the school board.
The meeting was recessed for 12 minutes after the vote when some activists supporting Ubah Jama, including Al Flowers Jr., demanded to know the count.
The district later released the tally, which showed something of a gender gap among the board.members. All three of those supporting Jama, Samatar's widow, are women. They were Tracine Asberry, Carla Bates and Rebecca Gagnon.
All three of the board's guys voted for Noor, joined by two female board members, Those supporting him were Richard Mammen, Alberto Monserrate, Josh Reimnitz, Jenny Arneson and Kim Ellison.
Noor was endorsed by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers when he ran in a special election for a Senate seat in 2011. Jama's late husband voted against the last teacher contract. But the distribution of votes suggests that the views of board members on whether there's a need for greater or lesser change in the district's teacher contract wasn't determinative of the outcome.
The district lies between Interstate 35W and the Mississippi River, generally north of E. 36th Street.
(Photo above: Mohamud Noor)
