May 20, 2014

Dr. Bernadeia H. Johnson

Minneapolis Schools Superintendent
Minneapolis Public Schools
1250 W Broadway Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55411

HAND-DELIVERED: May 20, 2014


Dear Superintendent Johnson,

As we approach the end of the academic year, and you enter the final stage of budget negotiations,
we respectfully request an urgent meeting with you, CEO Goar, and CAO Griffin-Ziebart, to
discuss concerns related to the education of Latino/Hispanic, ELL students attending Minneapolis
Public Schools (MPS).
There are approximately 6,775 ELL children attending MPS, generating over $80,000,000 of
revenue to the district every year. Despite this large allocation of resources to the district, we see
that our students are not being properly served. Consistently poor test results and low graduation
rates attest to this.
The district currently allocates about $2,000,000 to the Multilingual Department, to develop and
implement strategies to better serve ELL students. We believe that this allocation is grossly
inadequate to address the needs of this large group of students, and that the manner in which this
allocation is being currently utilized is unclear and flawed.
Three years ago, Latino, Somali and Hmong leaders representing the largest ELL communities in
Minneapolis met with you to encourage you to develop a comprehensive ELL plan before hiring
new staff. That recommendation came from expert advice from people who knew that MPS
previous attempts at hiring an ELL Director had failed time and time again; three ELL Directors
had been hired and fired within a period of two years. Staff and families were unclear about the
Districts expectations and vision, and the District itself had no clear idea of what direction to take.
At the time you stated that you needed staff to develop a plan, and that you could not accept our
recommendation to develop a plan before you hired new staff. Three years later we continue to
hear similar complaints from parents, students, staff, teachers, principals and community leaders.
Significant money has been invested by the Multilingual Department in hiring staff and consultants
that propose strategies that seldom result in sustainable practices yielding long term/positive results.



We hear multiple complaints, such as:
- The NLL program was discontinued because the Multilingual Department found that MPS
was unable to administer this program with fidelity.
- There is no transparent information about how ELL dollars are being utilized by the District
to properly serve the needs of these students.
- There is no senior leadership at MPS that is Latino, Somali or Hmong. MPS has made
minimal or no effort to empower Latino, Hmong or Somali staff, and to ensure that our
communities have equitable representation at the leadership level.
- There has been no follow through with the recommendations provided by the ELL
commission proposed by Board Directors Alberto Monserrate and the late Hussein Samatar
years ago.
- Many ELL teachers report that they are being bullied and harassed in their schools. They are
being asked to perform responsibilities outside of their current contracts, such as holding
regular meetings with the community, translating and attending meetings that are not related
to their work. This has been brought up to MPS and MFT leadership multiple times with no
results.
- Many effective ELL and Latino teachers face licensure challenges. They previously brought
this to the attention of their supervisors, but they have not received any counsel on how to
approach the issue.
- Parents, teachers, staff often complain about ineffective and inconsistent leadership at
schools with large Latino student enrollment. One pressing example of this is Wellstone
International High School. This school is in crisis. School leadership has not been effective
at addressing the needs of a school that is 100% ELL and serves some of our most
vulnerable students.
Another example of lack of follow-through by leadership occurred in Whittier International
School where parents, teachers and the Principal worked incredibly hard to develop a
Heritage Language Program but MPS leadership made no effort to include the program in
the districts budget.
- Families dont feel welcome at the MPS Welcome Center and many of the schools.
Translation services are often not provided and parents are questioned about their
immigration status; both practices violate federal law.
These are just a few of the complaints we hear, but they are the most blatant. We believe that we
can find effective solutions to solve these problems through effective communication and
committed leadership, but we need your support. All of these complaints are very alarming to us
and we need an answer from the district.

We respectfully request to meet with you this week to discuss these problems, and to help you find
a more effective way to serve our children. We have gathered advice from teachers, education
experts, parents, students and community supporters, and we want to share that advice with you.


Our students cannot wait. Our families cannot wait. Our staff cannot wait. Our community cannot
wait.

Please let us know about your availability, we would like to discuss these ideas with you before you
reach your preliminary budget and administrative decisions.


Signed,


Patricia Torres Ray Carlos Mariani
Chair, Senate Education Policy Com. Chair, House of Rep. Education Policy Com.



Melisa Franzen Alberto Monserrate
Minnesota State Senator Minneapolis School Board Director


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Ruby Lee Ramon Leon
President, CLUES President and Chief Executive Officer
Latino Economic Development Center

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Mario A. Hernandez !"#$%" '( !#)*+' ,-%.#)'/0

Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Latino Economic Development Center



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Jennifer Godinez Norma Garcs
Associate Director, MMEP Executive Director, El Colegio








cc. Michael Goar, MPS Chief Executive Officer
Susanne Griffin-Ziebart, MPS Chief Academic Officer

Richard Mammen, MPS Board of Education, Chair
Jenny Arneson, MPS Board of Education, Vice Chair
Kim Ellison, MPS Board of Education, Clerk
Rebecca Gagnon, MPS Board of Education, Treasurer
Alberto Monserrate, MPS Board of Education, Director
Tracine Asberry, MPS Board of Education, Director
Carla Bates, MPS Board of Education, Director
Josh Reimnitz, MPS Board of Education, Director
Mohamud Noor, MPS Board of Education, Director

Alberto Fierro Garza, Honorable Consul of Mexico, St Paul, Minnesota
Luz Maria Frias, Vice President, Community Impact
Sandra Vargas, President and CEEO, Minneapolis Foundation
Lynn Nordgren, President, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers
Iris Altamirano, MPS School Board Candidate
Javier Morillo, President Local 26, SEIU