Hope for 2008

Looking ahead to 2008 I hope for a political climate that will be friendlier to Latinos and immigrants than we have seen in the past two years. I hope that a Democratic President will be elected that will lead congress into comprehensive immigration reform. I hope that using anti-immigrant rhetoric will backfire for politicians and be looked at as negatively as the pro-segregationist anti-civil rights rhetoric that was used in the 60's.


I hope for an economy that will recover from higher gas and food prices, the real estate-sub prime crash, and immigrant bashing. I hope that if Democrats win they will still pursue economic policies that will be pro-economic growth and pro-entrepreneur. I hope that Democrats will not raise taxes on those that can afford it the least and over regulate our economy into an even worst recession. I hope for economic policies that will encourage the innovation and wealth creation that the current technological revolution is allowing. I hope for trade and immigration policies that will allow people to develop fully wherever they choose to live.


I hope that Lou Dobbs will see the biggest ratings drop in television history and that his anti-immigrant anti-trade dribble will be discredited once more. That someone will debate Lou Dobbs in 2008 the way Al Gore debated against Ross Perot during in 1993 and make him look like as much of a fool.


I hope that Democrats will finally pass comprehensive health care reform that will guarantee that every resident of the United States has affordable health Insurance. I hope that finally democrats will realize that more school choice, less bureaucracy, more school leader and teacher accountability and training, higher expectations on our kids, longer school days and school years, and more school funding tied to accountability will lead to reduce the racial learning gap. That our political leaders will truly believe that all kids can learn regardless of race or who their parents are.


I hope our political leaders will finally support policies that will protect our environment, protect our natural resources, conserve energy, and make countries energy independent.


I hope that our political leaders will finally end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope that at the same time Fascists and religious extremists won't take over the Middle East. That we will keep our young soldiers from harms way, while at the same time protect the lives of millions Muslims in the Middle East. That we keep Israel safe from harm and free, while at the same time respect the rights of millions of Palestinian innocent people.


I hope that the Social Democrat governments of Chile, Brazil, Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, Uruguay, finally produce economic growth that the majority of the people in their countries will benefit from, reform schools and health care, and show Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Bolivia that their extremist Bolivarian revolution will only lead to more poverty and misery. That hope and not despair will rain in Latin America.

I hope that voters will reject political extremists and finally the sensible silent middle will be heard.


I hope for a better year in 2008. And that 2007 remains a far, distant, bad memory.

Anti-business Republicans

It's amazing to see the "bro-business" conservative republicans bashing businesses for hiring undocumented workers. Not so pro-business now huh?

Obviously these immigrant bashers have never run a payroll or hired anyone in their lives. I've never met an employer, and I know a lot of employers, who hires undocumented workers knowingly. We are supposed by law to check documentation, and can be sued for discrimination for asking any more questions. Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't. Kind of like undocumented immigrant hiring Mitt Romney.

Just Like happened to Swift Packing in Worthington. They get fined $200,000 by the federal government for discrimination for asking their employees too many questions about immigration status. Then they get raided by the federal government and have over 2,000 of their employees arrested and their plant closed for days. And they were in the voluntary electronic program to check social security numbers.

We can only check papers, and put them in a file. Now the anti-regulation anti taxes hypocrite conservatives want to turn employers into immigration officers and over burden them with more regulation. As the head of Homeland Security recently said "Yes we can pay non-immigrants enough money so they will want to pick up lettuce in the fields, as long as we're all willing to pay $100 for a head of lettuce"

The only way to end illigal immigration is to pass comprehensive immigration reform and allow people to have a real chance to become legal immigrants.

Republicans must be real desperate. Immigration was never an issue in Minnesota before December 2005, when Pawlenty made it an issue. Now the republicans have nothing else to run on so they desperately cling to this issue. Back in the eighties when Ronald Reagan ran the Republican party they won by telling us what they were for. Now Republicans think they can only win by telling us what they are against: Gays and lesbians, immigrants, and now employers. No wonder Republican candidates are seriously lagging democrats in raising money.

Dick day and his kind will be treated by history as the segregationists in the south in the sixties. But we'll have to put up with them for a while longer. Specially now that immigrant bashing is turning to be such a cottage industry for anti-immigrant groups and anti-immigrant CNN.

I sat the other day with a Latino friend of mine who is more conservative than Ronald Reagan and Newt Ginrich combined. He is a very successful businessman He has never, ever voted for anyone other than Republicans. We both voted for Bush. We sat disgusted with the last Republican debate and seeing Gulianni and Romney out Trancedo each other. It was pathetic. The only hint of decency in that debate came from McCain. We both pledged to vote for, campaign for and raise money for only Democrats in the next election. Time to raise a lot of money for Rep Walz. Day will loose and will be forgotten into history with his segragationist brothers and sisters from the sixties.

Reducing the racial learning gap

I think the Star Tribune was right on in its editorial and the MPS Board has shown courage and real leadership in perusing interview and select.

Interview and select will not by itself reduce the learning gap or solve the financial and enrollment problems the district faces. But it is one important component of several others that are necessary to get MPS back on the road to recovery. I haven't seen any direct evidence that interview and select reduces by itself the learning gap. I've heard from members of the Minneapolis teachers union that it doesn't and that there is no evidence that it does. I have no reason to doubt them. Maybe someone better informed than me can help us with better data. But I can see how it can help improve student retention in the district and building community trust. I've heard from many parents upset when some of their favorite MPS teachers were replaced by teachers just because of seniority after layoffs. One way to retain students and the trust of parents is if the teachers they are happy with are kept in their kids schools.

The Minneapolis school board will face on Tuesday one of the most important votes it has faced in many years. It will vote on a proposed strategicplan that the board has been working on with Mckinsey for several months. The preparation of this plan has included intense listening and extensive research of best practices that have been observed in schools around the country that have been successful in reducing the racial achievement gap.

When we look at successful schools around the country in reducing the racial learning gap we see several common themes:We see well trained and very strong school principals. We see longer school days and school years. We see strong teacher training on how to educate at risk kids of color. We see high expectations for students. We see principals that set clear expectations to their teachers and who have the power to hire and fire the as they see necessary to achieve school goals. We see schools that demand, expect and enforce high levels of discipline from their students. These schools also find ways to make school enjoyable to teachers and students. They usually involve a cooperative rather than confrontative relationship between principals and teachers.

The strategic plan that the board will vote for on Tuesday addresses many of these issues. None of the factors listed above will reduce the learning gap by itself. It will be a combination of ALL these factors. Probably the most significant recommendation of the strategic plan and the one that will have the biggest impact in reducing the learning gap is:

"Restart or replace the lowest-performing 25 percent of Minneapolis public schools to dramatically improve their performance by 2012. All schools in this segment would be strengthened regardless of type. Each would require a different strategy, and an Office of New Schools would be created to launch sponsored charters, self-governed schools, and internal restart models. Restarted schools may include enhancements such as all-day Kindergarten, pre-K program or partnership, longer school day or year and/or more staffing. In addition, the highest-performing schools would be given more autonomy to innovate in order to further improve their achievement."

It has been shown that new schools are more effective at making the necessary changes than existing schools. If this recommendation is not approved I have serious doubts that the rest of the plan will be effective. It would be great for MPS to have schools that will attract parents back to MPS rather than feeling they have to go to independent charters or other school districts. Not only does MPS need the per pupil funding but Minneapolis needs to keep its tax base. The office of new schools would also make sure effective innovation is not trampled by bureaucracy.

The board is looking from teachers for some flexibility in allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on the school needs and not just seniority. This would not be an issue if many of MPS students weren't leaving the district and teachers were not being laid off. But as schools close and less teachers are needed, many staffing decisions of teachers are not based on their talents, effectiveness, or how they fit the schools they teach at. They are decided by seniority. This is what the board is trying to do. It also seeks more flexibility from the union so that schools that require longer school days (not all MPs schools need this) that teachers will be allowed to work the necessary hours.

The Minneapolis teachers union MFT has to be commended for presenting a plan to improve the education of all our kids. They have demonstrated this is an important issue to them. Unfortunately their plan falls short. Its proposal on reducing class size that has not been proven to have a big enough effect in reducing the learning gap and the current MPS budget shortfalls would not allow it. I do agree with their recommendations of increasing funding of early childhood education. This would have a significant effect on achievement. I also support their proposal to bring more decision making to the school level and that will show a cooperative decision making model between staff and management. They also propose more cooperation between other government agencies that will intervene with the lives of students at risk. Good recommendations but the School board plan is more complete and will have a bigger impact in reducing the gap and retaining students in MPS.I see and understand the concern from teachers about principal quality.

It needs to be part of the plan that good principals are hired and rewarded when succesful and fired when not. They should receive effective training. Principals have a very very tough job, and they need to be equiped with the necessary skills and tools to be succesful.I urge the board to aprove THE ENTIRE strategic plan on Tuesday and then do ALL they need to to make sure it is implemented.