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Related Story MPLS Wants to Pay Consultants $155,000+ to Delay Public Input

Back in February 2004, when the Minneapolis School Board rejected Interim Superintendent David Jennings' school closing plan, the board also decided to seek public input on what else they could do to control costs and provide better education. They planned to hold public meetings in April and May of 2004 to solicit that input.

But now, a bunch of slick consultants that the district is considering hiring have proposed a much slower two-step process. The consultants want to first assemble a "targeted" (aka "politically connected") group of people to draft by June a rough draft of what the community thinks that the schools ought to be like. That rough draft would be used to interview Superintendent candidates in late May or June. Then, the politically connected committee's wish list (I mean, the rough draft) would be used to start a "broader community discussion" of "values" which could be used to create a "vision" for the Minneapolis Public Schools. Those "discussions" would happen between May and October of 2004.

Then, after everyone is sick of taking meetings, the consultants propose arranging yet another round of mind-numbing meetings, specifically on the topic of school closings. This may or may not delay the final school-closing decisions until after the November 2004 election, when 3 of 7 school board seats are up for grabs. But it is definately possible that the meetings will bore people so much that they'll stop paying attention by the time the decision is made--which is a real risky thing...for the public at least. SouthHighSucks.com contributor Doug Mann summed it up best when he told the Star Tribune that "Basically, they don't want any public input...I think they're afraid of encountering opposition to the proposals."

David Jennings' Unlimited Consultant Budget

As if all this mumbo-jumbo wasn't bad enough, according to the Star Tribune, "[David Jennings] has not put a budget limit on what the district is willing to pay because the district can't afford for the process not to work." Of course, that means he probably wants to pay them way more than the district can afford. So much for fiscal discipline. Listen, if Mr. Jennings goes ahead and hires these worthless consultants, he'd really better shut up about how the district has no money. Honest people don't go around hiring consultants instead of paying for teachers and school supplies and then whine to the taxpayers that they need more money to replace the money that they squandered. Of course, this district isn't particularly honest.--Dr. Vinny, Founder & Publisher

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