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(Thread 1/7) The last few months I have lost track of the number of K-12 students and alumni - most of them people of color - leading the charge to make anti-racist changes in MN schools. This is my attempt to capture what's happening: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/10/21/im-not-alone-minnesota-students-of-color-lead-movement-for-equity-in-schools
(2/7) Almost everyone I talked to for this story (students AND adults) said this felt like a completely new moment. One student at Minnetonka, Lena Pak said she was moved by George Floyd protests and by classmates' heart-wrenching experiences of racism:
(3/7) “It affects me, it affects my peers, it’s going to affect the students who come to this school after me. And it’s been happening for way too long. Now is the time to stop." (Minnetonka High School senior, Lena Pak)
(4/7) Of course, this is all happening in a state with a long history of deeply entrenched education inequalities; a place that outranks almost every other state in education disparities. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/10/14/mn-among-worst-achievementgap-states
(5/7) Some students/alumni said they'd had some relatively quick success in getting district leaders to make changes like getting rid of SROs, hiring diversity consultants, etc. Others said they were frustrated with how long it was taking to make changes.
(6/7) This all comes @ a moment when school leaders r overwhelmed w/ drastic pandemic changes to school operations. But Hopkins Superintendent Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed said students &adults have vastly different experiences with schools & adults need to listen to student experiences.
“I think many of us adults are asleep. I think our young people ...are awake. And what I fear is an educational revolt...What about young people who are now feeling more and more unrest about being unseen in the educational space?" -Mhiripiri-Reed (end thread)
