The May 5th Anoka Hennepin School Board meeting brought out hundreds of education advocates, upset about the Board’s overreach into the operations of the school district.
Community members, teachers, union leaders, and a student expressed their concerns to the Board. You can watch your neighbors address the Board on Youtube starting at 0:55:55.
Does showing up make a difference? By the end of the meeting, the Board approved the purchase of history books, however, the Board made the choice to base the history curriculum on OLD state standards. The new state standards require the teaching of ethnic studies and must be implemented by the 2026-2027 school year.
The Board also chose not to make a decision about the future of current social and emotional lessons.
You can read more about this meeting in today’s Mara Klecker
Together, the educational advocates at this meeting created the conditions to enact positive change and change happened. It’s also possible the activism prevented more negative change; more micromanaging and delayed decision making.
Jane Goodall was says it best “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”