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Public Hearings Held on Proposed MN K-12 Standards

New standards may continue legacy of the Profile of Learning!

Related Story Is the MN Basic Skills Test Necessary?

During March 2003, 14 meetings were held on a set of new school standards crafted by Cheri Pierson-Yecke and other staff and volunteers with the MN Department of Children, Families and Learning (Editor's Note: A few months after this story was posted, the department was renamed the MN Department of Education). The standards were written to replace the Profile of Learning. Incidentally, they wouldn't have to make new happy-talk standards if the Feds hadn't passed the Bigger-Government No Child Left Behind Act, but that's another story. Anyway, these meetings were supposed to inform attendees about the standards proposals and allow people to comment on them, and like most other meetings, they made hardly any difference in the final product. If you would like to learn more about the standards, which were then sent to the 2003 legislature for review, visit the MN Dept. of Education website.--Dr. Vinny, South High Sucks.com Founder & Publisher

Los Angeles Bathrooms Finally Get Cleaned Up

This is the kind of program we should bring to Minneapolis!

According to the AP, after investigations by KCBS-TV, the Los Angeles public school system will have to hire 125 janitors and will spend over $10,000,000 on bathroom repairs. About 3,000 bathrooms will be renovated in the nation's 2^nd largest school district, and the superintendent is asking for everyone's help to "monitor bathroom conditions."

KCBS filmed restrooms with broken fixtures, no soap, toilet paper or paper towels, as well as several restrooms that were locked or "otherwise unavailable to students." The television story prompted state senators and the health department to investigate, which is what ultimately spurred the district to clean up it's act.

Commentary: It's not a big surprise to this site's staff that there are bathroom problems in LA, because the situation here in Minneapolis is much the same (except that the district hasn't yet been forced to take action). As we have reported here in the past, bathrooms at South High are frequently closed, often for extended periods of time. Most of the stalls do not have functional locks; some have been without doors from time to time. It's also not unusual for there to be empty paper towel and toilet paper dispensers. And you can't count on soap availability either. While they have gotten slightly better on this recently, it is still quite common for South High bathrooms to lack hand soap. While the conditions at South are not necessarily equal to or worse than those in LA, they are certainly far from desirable.--Mr. T Bagger, Editor at Large

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