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Related Story Consultants Urge MPLS Schools to Delay Public Input

Should the Minneapolis School Board Hire these Slick Consultants? Give your opinion Yeah, Hire Them No, Don't Hire Them  Current results

District Propaganda Minneapolis Public Schools' Official Webpage on the Community Input Process

The proposed price for the slick consultants that the Minneapolis Public Schools want to hire has been released. Under the proposal now on the table, the district will pay the consulting firm $155,000-$190,000--which is about equal to the anticipated (and overly-generous) annual salary for the new Minneapolis Schools Superintendent. And what will the citizens of Minneapolis get for $155,000+? A bunch of sleazy bums who are intent on letting the School Board weazel out of their previous promises to seek public input on the new superintendent and future cost-cutting moves the district will eventually have to make.

The All-Spin Zone

Minneapolis Superintendent David Jennings claims that the consultants would be paid out of one-time money that was raised separately from normal school funds, such as "discretionary money" from the district's beverage contract with Coca-Cola, as well as a foundation's "math and literacy grant," and also funds Jennings hopes to raise in the future.

Coke for Consultants

Hmm. So Jennings is giving us his word that the funds for this project will not come out of public coffers despite the fact that he doesn't yet have enough money to pay their fee without dipping into public coffers. And even if Jennings is able to avoid using public money on this, he'll still be squandering beverage dollars which are supposedly meant to pay for additional school supplies. Students at South High have generally been told that buying beverages in school vending machines is a good thing because it funds science equipment and other learning aids that the school could not otherwise afford. But apparently, students have been lied to--and I sure hope that Minneapolis students hear about this and boycott school vending machines, because that pop is overpriced, and the district is just going to waste their hard-earned money anyway.

Misuse of Grants?

But that's not the worst of it. Jenning's plan would, in our opinion, improperly allocate grant money. Explain to me how slick consultants can be defined as "math and literacy"? How responsible of him. I bet that the people who donated to that unnamed foundation expected their money to help people, perhaps by improving education. I bet the people who awarded the grant had the same assumption. Never in their wildest dreams did they believe their money would be funneled into a sleazy consulting firm. Where in the heck does David Jennings get the nerve to allocate charitable donations in this way? Frankly, I think that this foundation ought to sue the district for the money back, with interest. And I hope that people get the message that donations to the Minneapolis schools will get wasted or misspent (or both). You know, when I last visited, the district's official website had a link on it's front page soliciting donations, and now I wonder just how many people's charitable donations have been or will be squandered. Unbelievable.

What Comes Next?

Superintendent Jennings has the sole power to hire the consultants, and the school board is apparently behind him. The Star Tribune reported that School Board members called the original schedule of seeking public input early and often as "disrespectful and nonproductive." I'm not sure what that means, but I think it's pretty disrespectful and nonproductive to spend over $155,000 to shut parents and taxpayers out of the proceedings. But, unfortunately, the decision has probably already been made--and our only recourse is in the voting booth in November. We promise to give you the most coverage of the school board campaign anywhere, and we're going to do all we can to make this a major election-day issue. Let's stop the corruption and save our schools!--Dr. Vinny, Founder & Publisher

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