By Rashad Turner Education, as currently structured, is deeply flawed. Students spend six to eight hours in a classroom five days a week, but still struggle to read, write and perform math at grade level. On a national level, only 4 in 10 high school graduates feel ready for college education and almost 60% don’t even feel their schools have helped them develop solid career skills. Students finish high school feeling unprepared for college. Then, they finish college only to feel unprepared to enter the real world and struggle to get a job to pay off the debt they accrued while in college. Min ..read more

By Rashad Turner Summer might be a slower-paced, more relaxed period for most teachers and school administration, but for Minnesota Parent Union, it’s been a busy few months filled with advocacy, community events, meetings with parents and a heightened focus on the most pressing issues our students face in our state’s school system. We’re continuing the fight for quality education because with another school year underway, many of our students are settling back into classrooms where they will not receive a quality academic experience. There’s no time to relax. We have to keep demanding our p ..read more

By Rashad Turner The search for a new superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools has been extended to July 2024. I applaud District 2 Minneapolis Board Chair Sharon El-Amin for playing a major role in this. She has helped extend the timeline because she understands the need for adequate parent involvement and will ensure the process of selecting a new superintendent is carried out with the utmost integrity and diligence. I also give props to Rochelle Cox, who has done a great job as interim superintendent. She has taken community engagement seriously and has focused on boosting academic achi ..read more

REFLECTING ON BLACK HISTORY WHILE WORKING TOWARD A BRIGHTER FUTURE By Rashad Turner Another Black History Month has come and gone, but the continued education and awareness around historical events and issues that impact the Black community should never stop. It’s a year-long engagement my friends, and there is still much more to learn. I’ve been doing quite a bit of reflecting, and it strikes me that Black students are no better off today than fifty years ago.  Many will argue that the Civil Rights Movement made everything better for Black people, and we should just be happy with the pr ..read more

By Rashad Turner, Minnesota Parent Union President and Executive Director Don’t let your zip code dictate where your child goes to school. District lines should not keep you from seeking the best education possible. As a parent, you have a choice when it comes to your child’s school, and it is your responsibility to ensure they are receiving a quality education. More than 86,000 Minnesota students open-enrolled in 2020-2021. That’s thousands of parents taking a stand and saying their children deserve better. And while you may think open enrollment or enrolling in a private or charter school ..read more

  By Rashad Turner, Minnesota Parent Union President and Executive Director Access to quality education should not just be for the rich. Quality education is a liberty every child should have. But here in Minneapolis and St. Paul, it isn’t.   Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts spend over $18,000 a year per student. What do we get for those dollars? Uneducated students and children with unfulfilled potential!  Some organizations and lawmakers want to throw billions of dollars at our public schools to try to fix the problem, but why? We’ve done that in the past, and we ..read more

By Rashad Turner, Minnesota Parent Union President and Executive Director Minnesota educators know how to teach white students. We see these kids graduating, going to college and having very successful lives and careers all the time. It’s Black, Brown, Indigenous and low-income students who our state’s schools are failing to educate. If you don’t believe me, check out the section below titled “The Reality” for a glimpse at the future our children are facing. Now, we can all agree children shouldn’t have to suffer because of a teacher or school’s inability to educate them or relate to their s ..read more