September 4, 2003 - St. Paul public schools will follow a new statewide Pledge of Allegiance mandate. School board members met in special session last Wednesday night to consider waiving the requirement this year. But the board quickly adjourned without taking action. The move means individual St. Paul schools will no longer have a choice to not recite the pledge. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports...
September 5, 2003 - In the near future, the first responders to a disaster in Minneapolis who are trained to handle emergency response may not be fire fighters or police officers, but citizens in the neighborhood. The City's Office of Emergency Preparedness is launching a program that would train citizens across the city to be able to respond to disasters like tornados... fires... and even terror attacks. It's called the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. Richard Turner is Director of Emergency Preparedness for the city of Minneapolis. He says that the program originated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
September 8, 2003 - Declining enrollment is a fact of life for rural schools across the state. But this year, the tiny Glenville-Emmons school district in southern Minnesota took a major hit. Almost 60 students left and are now attending school in Iowa. Mainstreet Radio's Erin Galbally reports.
September 10, 2003 - Two money-saving initiatives in the Minneapolis school district are drawing criticism. Hundreds of teachers demonstrated at Tuesday's school board meeting and accused district officials of illegally withholding pay increases. School board member are also facing tough questions from some parents, who are upset over a plan to close or realign several schools. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports...
September 11, 2003 -
September 12, 2003 - Tomorrow, the Mill City Museum will open near the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, on the banks of the Mississippi. The museum will tell the story of how Minneapolis came to be the milling capital of the world in the 1880s. The museum is built in the old Washburn A mill, which was almost completely destroyed in a 1991 fire. The mill was once the most technologically advanced and the largest in the world. At peak production, it ground enough flour to make 12 million loaves of bread a day. Tom Meyer was one of the principle architects for the museum, and I met him in the museum courtyard. He says the 1991 fire first seemed like a huge setback to everyone trying to develop the old mill site.
September 12, 2003 - Robert Klaus, an alumnus, is giving Hamline University a gift of seven million dollars to go towards the creation of an athletic facility.
September 17, 2003 - After months of work, a group of parents, staff, and students at an international school in Minneapolis will get their wish later today when the school officially changes its name. It will be named after the late Senator Paul Wellstone, and become known as the Wellstone International School. The school serves a group of older immigrant students... usually between the ages of 17 and 21, who have little or no previous education before coming to Minnesota. Joining us on the line is Luis Ortega (loo-EES or-TAY-ga), principal of the school.
September 17, 2003 - Minneapolis school district officials are hearing lots of complaints about a plan to build a new kindergarten through eighth school to serve neighborhoods near the Mississippi River. Parents and community activists are particularly concerned about the proposed closing of the area's current middle school. Following a public hearing on the school realignment plan Tuesday night, several school board members said they'll probably need more time to study their options. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports...
September 17, 2003 - Over the next five weeks, the public will have a chance to weigh in on what students in Minnesota should learn in social studies class. Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke is touring the state to hear public comment on the new proposed social studies standards. Those standards emphasize names, places events, and other facts. The final version will replace the more process-oriented Profile of Learning. That is Bill Walsh, a spokesman with the Minnesota Department of Education. We also spoke with Marc Doepner-Hove (DEP ner HOE vee), chair of the social studies department at Mound Westonka High School.