Never a dull moment at which was once one of Minnesota’s premier educational systems – the Edina Public Schools. The system appears to be in the middle of a political firestorm moving to a leftist machine. The Edina School state rankings, national rankings, and student scores are dropping.
The basic function of a public school is education; the three “R’s” and other subjects that prepare students with life skills and on-going learning. Edina schools seem to have imploded and the mission for some of its administrators and teachers has shifted to ingraining political ideology, indoctrination and identity politics, e.g., All for All Plan.
Should they be considering balance? These topics should be discussed and analyzed in a high school political science or social studies class, where both left-wing and right-wing philosophies are equally presented. For more background on what is happening in the Edina schools see the Fall 2017 edition of Thinking Minnesota (available at www.americanexperiment.org) that was presented by the Center of the American Experiment, a Golden Valley-based think-tank. This issue appears to have been mailed to all addresses in the Edina school district.
The seriousness of what is going on politically within the school district halls raises another question: Should this type of monopolistic “education” be allowed to stand alone? Is there an opening for competitive alternatives? The district is the beneficiary of a major bond issue. Maybe some of that money should go towards establishing a charter school alternative. Parents should have a choice. Do they want real education versus political indoctrination for their children?
These questions ought to be fiercely debated in the school board elections.
Where does your school board candidate stand on this issue? Is the Edina school system a taxpayer forum for liberal elitism or should it be a public education system free from ideology, indoctrination and identity politics? This is not a time to sit back, the voices of Edina citizens need to be heard. It affects not only parents but the standing and many facets of the whole community. Where is their leadership? Will Edina continue to be the place to live in and educate your children?
Robert “Bob” Smith, 3rd
Gopher State Politics Institute
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