MPR released an article today, written by Elizabeth Shockman, about the Prior Lake-Savage School Board race. You can read it here.
Tag Archives: #union
Whose children are they?
Remember when you wanted to make health decisions for your own child? Remember when you had to leave your child at home, to learn alone, because you couldn’t lose your job? Remember when you pleaded with them in a public forum, were told to stop speaking because your 3 minutes was up and they moved on without acknowledging your pain? Remember when they voted unanimously, almost every single time, without debate, rather than representing the diverse views of the community? Remember when their policies allowed a high profile protest to take place on school grounds where outside agitators were allowed to be present? Remember that the Prior Lake-Savage Education Association candidates are asking for you to elect them… AGAIN. VOTE FOR PARENTAL RIGHTS. VOTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT. VOTE FOR SAFETY. VOTE FOR YOUR CHILDREN. VOTE 4 CHANGE! • ATKINSON • BULLYAN • MARKERT • ZAHN
Knock, knock… who’s there?
LAKERS4CHANGE! If you are looking for a way to make a positive impact in our phenomenal community, just answer your door when we knock! Our volunteers and the candidates have been knocking on thousands of doors since the summer to spread the word about the state our district is in and how much better it can be if we can… FLIP THE BOARD! If you are interested in helping make an even greater impact in our phenomenal community, volunteer to help! We have opportunities to knock doors, make calls, and more. Just email lakers4changevolunteer@gmail.com or call (612) 314-5248 to let us know how you would like to help. VOTE 4 CHANGE Vote ATKINSON, BULLYAN, MARKERT and ZAHN on November 8!
Thank you, KARE11!
Lakers4Change and our amazing endorsed candidates Amy Bullyan, Geoff Zahn, Lisa Atkinson and Bill Markert were featured on a KARE11 segment, that aired Monday evening, and it can also be read about on KARE11’s website. After watching the segment and reading the article that followed, there are several details, or lack thereof, to note. Screenshots of KARE11 article added for context. Source: https://www.kare11.com/article/news/politics/political-ideology-school-board-contests/89-7dc46ddc-0d30-4e0c-9a05-6bc55b183a09 The first detail worth noting is that the UNION is not clearly identified in the article as the UNION, but instead simply as Prior Lake-Savage Education Association (PLSEA). This seemingly deceptive tactic was also used by the Prior Lake-Savage UNION itself, as their own expensive mailer omitted the word UNION, and also by candidate Jessica Olstad, when large yard signs with all four UNION endorsed candidates’ names began popping up around the district, bearing the phrase “endorsed by the teachers of the Prior Lake-Savage Education Association” and again, not clarifying that PLSEA is the teachers UNION. Next, notice how the author of the article states that there are “two distinct groups of candidates” and claims that the UNION endorsed four are “endorsed by teachers” and that the Lakers4Change endorsed four are endorsed by “a statewide “parental rights” group.” What the author fails to mention is that Bullyan, Zahn, Atkinson and Markert are also endorsed by teachers, just not by the teachers’ UNION. Additionally, a top priority of the Lakers4Change endorsed candidates, if elected, is supporting parental rights in the schools, particularly when it comes to medical and/or health decisions and parents’ rights to know what their children are being taught in school. This was also one of the reasons that Lakers4Change chose to endorse these four. One of the reasons the UNION likely looks to endorse candidates like Olstad and her running mates is because of statements like hers, “I also want to make sure we trust teachers to do their jobs and get out of their way.” Trust and get out of their way? How would this be a harmonious relationship, expecting parents to hand over their children and step aside to “let them teach the way they want”? This is why parents are now demanding curriculum transparency and parental rights to be protected in public schools, because districts were trusted to teach the way they want. Parents were just unaware of WHAT they wanted to teach our children and that is why parents are now speaking out. You’ll begin to notice a common trend among the UNION endorsed candidates as well. Take note of the common use of the words INCLUSION and LOVE. Making children feel included and a sense of Laker Pride is a no brainer. Who wouldn’t want that for every student? However, the use of the word LOVE doesn’t seem to quite fit in reference to relationships between educators, administration and the students they oversee. Parents and guardians do not need educators and staff to “LOVE” their children, they need them to protect, respect and teach. In fact, the responsibility of a school board director has very little to do with feelings. The responsibility of a school board director is about policy and governance, not loving anyone. It is a director’s job to create policies that PROTECT the rights of students, parents and staff, policies that RESPECT the individuality and boundaries of those same people and policies that ensure our educators TEACH the students according to state standards. It is also that director’s job to ensure that these policies are being enforced consistently and without bias. A school board director is an elected official hired to manage the operations of a multimillion dollar entity that is in the business of PROTECTING, RESPECTING and TEACHING the children of the district it serves not enforcing ideology. Leave the LOVE and identity decisions in the hands of the families. To quote Olstad, “This is about our kids’ lives.” And lastly, transparency. Perhaps Olstad speaks the truth about her experience thus far as a parent. After all, she has said that she wants to be an “elementary voice” on the school board. Many parents will say that elementary education is quite simple in that it’s main purpose is to teach the basic elements of academics to prepare students for more in-depth and complicated subjects in middle and high school. Middle and high school seems to be where the lack of transparency becomes more apparent. Once a student enters middle school, there are a multitude of teachers and classes that become part of that student’s daily life. This is also a common age for adolescents to become less open with parents, which could be a potential problem if a curriculum lacks transparency. The details of what is being taught to students, is not readily available to parents before a lesson takes place, it is “in the fine print.” These details may include a video or slide shown in class, like the ones shared in a previous post, which will only be known to the parent after the child has watched it in class and felt the need to share it with their parent afterward. Is this when we “reach out to teachers?” Or is this an example of lack of transparency in the curriculum? The only additional things to point out are that the incumbents are absent, again and that this story feels a little bias when they disclose, at the end of the video segment, that Olstad is married to a former reporter of KARE11. Actually, maybe KARE11 should check their implicit bias. MAKE SURE TO WATCH THE VIDEO SEGMENT! VOTE 4 CHANGE!
Outrageous LOVE
While the Prior Lake-Savage School District has been focusing on Equity and Inclusion, our children’s proficiency has been suffering. We know that the current school board directors have invested a lot of time, money and resources into Equity and Inclusion and the PLSAS stakeholders want to know how progress is being measured. Is this program working and what is the impact it has had on the culture of our schools and more importantly, the lives of our students? Equity consultant, Dr. Sharroky Hollie of CCRTL, was hired by the district in 2016 to coach teachers and staff on how to integrate culturally responsive teaching into the classroom. Dr. Hollie has been providing services in PLSAS through May of 2022, according to the calendar found on CCRTL’s website. It appears that his work was even involved in the Student Voices assemblies held in our schools last spring. More of Dr. Hollies teachings can be found here and links to his materials here. Additionally, the district has adopted an Equity and Inclusion Resolution, has hired a Director of Equity and Inclusion and has partnered with the Prior Lake Rotary Club to host events that support the district’s equity work. Six years of Equity and Inclusion work and what is the progress? Increased racial incidents and tension? Falling proficiency? Decreased in-district student enrollment? What is the goal? Is this working? The Union Endorsed Candidates are dedicated to continuing equity work in our schools. They have stated this in forums, on their campaign websites and in school board meetings. The incumbents even attended a professional development meeting last night to reinforce their dedication to equity and inclusion. The slideshow presented in the professional development meeting (which was found on the district website under board packet link) may have given insight into one of the reasons that proficiency is falling with the rise in equity. According to the graphic seen on slide 8 below, to be truly equitable, a person must remove the systemic barrier. Could this be why our children are no longer academically excellent? If you remove a challenge, you remove the drive to achieve. What the presenter also appeared to remove from the slide (found with a simple google search), was the descriptor of each image. Equality…Equity…Justice… (Image 1) Maybe this is why the Prior Lake-Savage schools are littered with “ERASE HATE” posters, classrooms are being made to watch videos about racism (like this one) and students are being taught that “people of color can’t be racist because they don’t have the institutional power to oppress others.” (Image 2) Maybe this is what justice looks like. Maybe we should let children focus on ACADEMICS at school and the simple act of being a child. Vote for CHANGE.
Not responsible?
Only 16 days left until election day and Lakers4Change endorsed candidates and volunteers are out meeting voters every day. We want to know what the greatest concerns about our school district are. We are not at all surprised that our well-educated voters overwhelmingly agree that the number one issue driving them to vote for school board candidates this year is ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT. Sadly, our district is not the destination district we once were due to academic excellence and this does not make parents and tax payers happy. They want CHANGE. Also not surprising is the expensive mailer (Image 1) we had predicted would be sent out to households by the teachers UNION (a.k.a. Prior Lake Savage Education Association or PLSEA) was already being handed out by their endorsed candidates Jessica Olstad, Michael Nelson and Jonathan Drewes at the City of Savage Halloween Bash last weekend (note that the disclaimer states that it is “not approved by the candidates nor are the candidates responsible for it. Which appeared to be untrue since candidates were reportedly handing out these mailers with treat bags to children). What is shocking are the priorities listed on this mailer that appear completely out of touch with the community these UNION ENDORSED CANDIDATES represent. In fact, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT is no where to be found on “These candidates” list of priorities and one may conclude that they “These candidates” do not support academics at all when reading that they “Believe there is more to student success than a test score and want to support the whole student in their learning.” While the UNION ENDORSED CANDIDATES, three of whom were given the opportunity to represent the people of Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools (PLSAS) for almost 4 years, have been busy not believing in the importance of test scores, our precious children’s ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT has been PLUMMETING. Well, we can guess what their answer will be for why PLSAS proficiency scores have been falling, the pandemic, of course. We do not deny that the pandemic has had a massive impact on ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT but what we do want to bring to light is that test scores were falling well before the pandemic (figure 1) and we expect leaders to take accountability for the impact that their failed policies have had on the wellbeing of our children. According to the most recent NAEP data, as reported by edweek.org, “Academic declines on NAEP were sweeping, spanning low-income and wealthier students, boys and girls, and most racial or ethnic groups in both subjects and grades.” Ironically, as our current school board also states that they are so focused on closing the achievement gap, it has effectively been widened which is also noted in the NAEP study. Don’t miss an opportunity to witness the current board’s priorities in action as they discuss the professional development workshop plans for our district teachers. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid to the previous consultant, Dr. Sharokky Hollie and CCRTL to coach our staff on Cultural Linguistics. Make sure to attend the open session tonight at 4:30pm at the District Services Center. So the question really is, how do we get our district back on track and help our students become academically excellent, which will ultimately “support the whole student in their learning”? Do not vote for the people who think public education is not about academics. IT IS! LAKERS4CHANGE ENDORSED CANDIDATES want to put ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT at the forefront and support the whole student feel successful and optimistic about their future. These four vow to support policies that will graduate students that are not only confident to go out into a highly competitive workforce but proud to say they grew up a PRIOR LAKE LAKER!