Letters to the Editor - Who decides - Who decides where teachers should go?

    The school board recently approved a strategic plan and at the same time has been sending out a number of “Communicators” about their contract negotiations with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. You need to take both of them with a grain of salt.  In both cases the district, in so many words, says instead of teachers deciding where they prefer to teach, that the district wants principals and the superintendent to decide where teachers will go.

    Think about this in relationship to Northside schools. The school district already chooses where principals will go; yet only two of the current Northside principals have been at their schools for more than two years. One principal is on her second year at her building and the rest are new to their schools. In most of our Northside schools, it’s the teachers and educational assistants who are the stable factors for our children. And don’t believe the rhetoric about how experienced teachers don’t choose to teach in Northside schools. Go into any Northside school and you will find teachers with many years of experience. These teachers chose to teach at our Northside schools! Support our schools, and the hard working teachers and other staff in them - they deserve and need your help. However, be cautious of believing everything you hear from the school board and its administration.

Buzzy Bohn

Folwell