How would you ensure the district is financially sustainable? What do you think are the most important steps for MPS to take to respond to the existing budget deficit?

MPS didn’t arrive in this budget crisis overnight. Our current financial situation was caused by past leaders who didn’t heed the warnings of our finance department and continued to kick the can down the road. They neglected to make hard but necessary decisions. MPS is now in the regrettable position of needing to spend $55 million dollars from our “rainy day fund” just to make it through next school year. There is no more road to kick the can down and it is a disservice to our city, our schools, and our students to pretend as if there is. It is important that we have a system of great schools NOW that enable students to thrive, excel, and contribute meaningfully to our city. Therefore, we must embrace MPS’s financial challenges as an opportunity for transformation and renewal.

To make MPS financially sustainable for the long-term, I will partner with the 8 other School Board directors and Superintendent Dr. Lisa Sayles-Adams to take the following actions:

1. Right-size our district’s footprint. MPS’s enrollment has declined by nearly 20,000 students since 2000. Capacity in our school buildings is for 42,000 students, while just under 29,000 students are enrolled and it’s projected to stabilize around 23,000 students in 2027. School closures and consolidations themselves won’t solve our budget issues, but they are a key part of revitalizing MPS. School closures and consolidations save costs by reducing redundancies in administration, food service, and transportation at each site. This is the most important way for MPS to address our ongoing deficit.
2. Attract and retain MPS students with rich, effective programming and safe, supportive environments. These are the things families look for when making decisions about where to send their kids to school and right now MPS is spreading its resources too thin to guarantee a high-quality experience in every school. There are currently 11 elementary schools across the district with fewer than 300 students enrolled. In neighboring districts — the same districts in which many Minneapolis families have open-enrolled — most elementary schools maintain a healthy enrollment of about 500 students. When every MPS school has enough students, each site can support robust programming like full-time specialists, smaller class sizes, mental health supports, and more ESPs to provide support for students and teachers alike.
3. Invest in early childhood services. School closures and consolidations present an opportunity to rethink the way we use space in MPS. Imagine if we repurposed some school buildings to create early childhood hubs in each quadrant of the city! We could bring together under one roof Early Childhood Family Education, Early Childhood Special Education, Early Childhood Screenings, Child Care and other community services. This would enable us to meet the needs of Minneapolis’s youngest learners and their families in ways that are developmentally appropriate and geographically accessible. It would also provide opportunities to connect with families about their K-12 options in MPS in an ongoing way for years before they need to make school choices. Investing in early childhood education is not only good for kids and proven to reduce the need for interventions later in school, but is also a smart enrollment strategy.

Enrollment has decreased in MPS for 5+ straight years, especially among BIPOC students (see here for trends); what strategies would you use to reestablish strong enrollment in the district, particularly among families whose voices are not frequently heard?

I believe investing in Early Childhood Services is a smart enrollment strategy and, based on data about MPS’s High Five programming, is effective in getting good outcomes for BIPOC students. I have 15 years of experience as an early childhood educator and spent the past year working on Early Childhood system building for the Minnesota Department of Human Services, so I know that child care and early childhood education are huge needs in our communities right now. Families are looking for high quality, accessible options. Getting families into the MPS system early will create a sense of belonging in MPS from the youngest of ages.

Additionally, we need to adopt an evidence-based literacy curriculum and provide adequate training and support for our educators on how to use it. Once we do this, we will see immediate returns with higher rates of reading proficiency and better outcomes for BIPOC students. We have long seen an exodus of BIPOC families from MPS because we are not fulfilling one of the most basic purposes of school, teaching kids how to read. With a literacy curriculum based on the science of reading plus sufficient professional development for educators, the results will speak for themselves and families will want to come find out what’s going on in MPS.

Finally, committing to school environments that are safe and supportive for ALL kids will bring families to MPS. The diversity of our student body is a celebrated strength, but we have to do better for our BIPOC students if we want ALL students to thrive. I have heard too many stories of BIPOC families leaving MPS because their children experienced racism at school from either their peers or educators, and the situations weren’t handled to their satisfaction. We need to believe BIPOC families when they share their stories and follow their lead to determine what repair looks like.

What do you see as the role of the school board member? What skills and experience would you bring to the board that is needed? Are you open to increasing your knowledge around school board governance?

I am an early childhood educator, MPS parent, and proud MPS alum. With over 15 years of teaching experience in early childhood classrooms, I have dedicated my life to providing supportive learning environments where all children thrive. I hold a Master’s Degree in Education from St. Catherine University, an Early Childhood Montessori teaching credential from the American Montessori Society, and am working towards certificates in Early Childhood Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and School Board Finance from Georgetown University. I served as a CARE Fellow, working with a cohort of child care advocates to impact change at the state level. Most recently, I was a BUILD Initiative Fellow at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, where I focused on building equitable early childhood systems and addressing compensation for early childhood educators. As a trained racial equity facilitator, I have led community conversations while serving on my neighborhood board, school PTA, and as chair of a nonprofit preschool. In my role as Board Chair of the preschool, I led strategic planning, a leadership transition, and challenging financial decisions at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. I recently completed an Embracing Equity Leadership Residency as part of a cohort of leaders in Minnesota working to build equity into organizational climate, culture, systems and structures.
I’m clear on the role of a School Board director: a) we partner with our superintendent to ensure policies are implemented with fidelity so our strategic goals for student outcomes are met, and b) we monitor and plan for the financial health of our district. I believe an effective School Board member listens to diverse voices and centers children in every decision. As a School Board director, you can always count on me to be honest, courageous, and hopeful. When faced with hard decisions, I will work to facilitate meaningful conversations across the district and build consensus among all 9 of us on the School Board. As an educator, I pride myself on being a lifelong learner and will continuously seek to increase my knowledge and understanding of School Board governance.

What strategies would you advocate for to hire, retain, support, and develop educators of color?

My role at the Minnesota Department of Human Services as a BUILD Initiative Fellow looked closely at building equitable early childhood systems so the issue of hiring, retaining, supporting, and developing a diverse early childhood workforce was central to my work. We can address this by:

1. Removing barriers to higher education and licensure for people of color who are interested in pursuing the profession. This includes advocating in support of the North Star Promise Scholarship Program, paid student teaching, and tiered licensure that supports folks entering the field.
2. Investing in the educators of color already in our buildings. Over half of the ESPs that work in MPS are people of color. They are critical to making our schools run and getting our students the support they need. As a district, we need to support them by providing them with wages and benefits that make working for MPS a sustainable choice, as well as offering opportunities to “Grow Your Own” that support those staff in becoming full-time licensed educators if they desire.
3. Creating a culture within MPS that makes it a destination district for educators of color. Right now, MPS is home to a majority of students of color and research shows that having educators of color has a positive impact on a student’s ability to succeed. Therefore, it is critical we have supportive, culturally affirming environments in every MPS building so that we are able to retain our teachers of color. I am supportive of the district’s work with the Anti-Bias and Anti-racist(ABAR) program and mentorship as well as policies that prioritize retaining educators of color when the excess of staff is required.

What are your views on the science of reading? What priorities would you advance to ensure the district is improving literacy for students?

My number one priority when elected to the School Board will be to address reading achievement in MPS with the urgency it requires, aiming to drastically increase the proficiency levels for BIPOC students. Literacy is liberation, and the 50%+ of MPS students who cannot read at grade level are being denied their freedom. Access to high-quality, evidence-based instruction that teaches kids how to read by 3rd grade is critical if we expect them to be successful later in school and in life. We advance that by:

1. Investing in an evidence-based literacy curriculum across the district and utilizing all resources made available by the READ Act. Our kids, particularly our students of color, cannot wait any longer.
2. Supporting teachers with coaches, professional development, and sufficient prep time so that the literacy curriculum is integrated into every classroom with fidelity.
3. Tracking student progress regularly so that individualized needs can be identified early and met with additional support from school staff as well as utilizing community partners and volunteer reading tutors.

We also need to address the reality that we have thousands of students in grades 4-12 who cannot read and write proficiently. Some of those students made significant gains in the 2023-24 school year thanks to intervention teams funded by federal ESSER money. MPS scaled back this program in the coming year due to budget constraints. It is vital that we find creative ways to invest in literacy for all MPS kids, regardless of their age and school. Some ideas include partnering with community groups, redesigning summer school, and making hard decisions to discontinue funding for other initiatives so that we can properly invest in teaching every kid to read.

What do you see as the role of youth voice and opinion in decisions affecting Minneapolis Public Schools? How would you work to ensure that students have the opportunity to shape and influence their own learning?

My background is in Montessori education, and we have a saying: “follow the child.” I believe that children’s work is to master themselves and our job as adults is to create environments where they can do so. To ensure that our youth have a voice in their own learning, I commit to:

1. Seek input from the CityWide Student Leadership Board in MPS and advocate that it is expanded into the lower grades, particularly middle schools.
2. Coordinate the implementation of surveys and listening sessions with students so we can better understand the impact of our policies and practices on their experiences as MPS students.
3. Encourage principals to establish a student council so that each school is working to elevate student voice in the culture and climate of the building.

How do you plan to prioritize and resource the new ethnic studies standards, and ensure the associated curriculum, and related staff training create acceptance and celebration of every student’s background, such as race/ethnicity, gender identity, religion, and sexual orientation?

It is critical to the future of MPS that students can show up as their whole selves and that their complex, multifaceted identities are affirmed and celebrated. To do this, we need to:

1. Adopt a social studies curriculum that adheres to the new ethnic studies standards, includes the untold stories of marginalized people throughout history and creates space for questioning and critical thinking. I firmly believe that the purpose of school is not to teach children what to think, but how to think, by creating environments where materials, resources, and training are rooted in rich, accurate language and educators are skilled in cultivating respectful discourse.
2. Utilize community resources and partner with local experts to bring learning to life. We have an abundance of community organizations that can speak firsthand to the contemporary and historical issues facing our city, state, and world. MPS needs to partner with those folks in educating our students.
3. Create policies, such as the recent gender inclusion policy, that are clear about our expectations of inclusion and safety. We must make it clear that discrimination and harm will not be tolerated in MPS and our students, staff, and families have the proactive support in making our buildings safe – both physically and emotionally.

As a school board director, what does accountability look like to you?

Accountability to me, first and foremost, looks like improving student outcomes across MPS. Accountability is also listening to diverse stakeholders voices to inform my decision-making and engaging in clear, honest, and proactive communication with constituents and other stakeholders. My campaign is built on a foundation of relationship and trust by “showing up, listening deeply, and following through.”