Legalectric

Attention fellow Maggots! And everyone else who cares about education, the Minneapolis Public Schools, and preserving diversity in teaching:

Trump admin sues Minneapolis schools over layoff protections for teachers of color

DOJ’s Press Release

Here’s the Complaint:

Dept. of “Justice,” just how does this policy affect the public? Are there applicants standing in line applying to teach in Minneapolis Public Schools, and not being hired? If so, I’d imagine they’d be Plaintiffs. Do tell, specifically how is your lawsuit in the public interest?

The thought of this lawsuit makes my head explode. What can we do about it? Spread the word, and ?? I’m at a loss…

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Those of us who were there way back when — remember the beginnings of Central’s Magnet School?

Remember the lawsuit against the school district at that time, and remember the Consent Agreement hearings?

Booker v. SPECIAL SCHOOL DIST. NO. 1, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., 351 F. Supp. 799 (D. Minn. 1972)

From that decision:

It’s interesting to read some of that history with 50+ years of hindsight. This history means a lot to me, it’s very personal and I get pretty worked up about it, because experience at Central opened doors for me and changed my idea of “education.” Central worked for both my brother and I, and I wonder if I would have even graduated if I hadn’t had the Magnet School option.

During that time, I learned a lot about Minneapolis that I’d not have learned otherwise. My first hearing testimony ever was at a federal Consent Agreement hearing. I went to the one at Bryant, and I know a group of Central students went to one elsewhere. We had a dog in this fight and experience to draw on (I can vividly remember the mimeo of the Agreement with graphs of various school racial mixes). My main comment, OBJECTION, was that schools more than 35% minority were deemed “segregated,” and schools 100% or close were NOT deemed segregated. That framing was bizarre. I’d attended Armatage elementary, Susan B. Anthony Jr. High, and then Southwest High School for just a few months, all 100% white, and the environment was so oppressive (I’d also taken classes at South High for summer school, and Vocational for drafting, and Community Ed ? at Southwest or Washburn for photography). In SW’s AP History, I vocally objected to the teacher’s racist presentation of historical U.S. treatment of natives, and I had to go to counselor about it. I learned about option to transfer out, to Central, and also had to go to that counselor to get that process moving, with my mother in tow, and the counselor said, “Why would you want to go there, you’ll get beat up in the halls.” I wish I could remember more of that interaction! So I transferred to Central. In homeroom, I met Rick Davis (didn’t know him other than that) and learned his father, Harry Davis, school Superintendent, was running for Mayor, and that was the first campaign I worked on, stuffing envelopes, trying to get neighbors to post Harry Davis signs (no one would… and ours was stolen a couple of times… sigh…), and lit dropping. The Mayoral “debate” at Mayflower Church was unnerving, such vocal ugliness and even spitting at Harry Davis, eye opening for this kid from the Richfield edge of southwest Minneapolis. At Central, I think I got the best high school education that Minneapolis had to offer, and even finished requirements in December, 6 months ahead of my class thanks to summer school and night school.

To the current Department of “Justice” a simple message:

Now it’s time to ferret out what would be helpful. Watching this slowly wind through the courts will be excruciating. How dare they!?!