June 4, 1997 - Midday examines the future of the Minneapolis Public School system with guests Bill Green, chairman of the Minneapolis School Board; and Gary Sudduth, president of the Minneapolis Urban League. Green and Sudduth discuss Public Strategies Group termination, test scores, superintendent search, concerns on infrastructure of school district, and answer listener call-in questions.
June 4, 1997 - DFL legislative leaders, along with school officials at St. Paul's Central High School, stayed on course with their message for the governor to support the K-12 Education Bill that passed the legislative session. Carlson vetoed the bill yesterday setting the stage for a special session. As Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports, both legislative leaders and the governor are trying to drum up support for their own positions on the bill.
June 6, 1997 - The political standoff over education tax credits has put school districts around the state in a bind. Earlier this week the governor vetoed the K-12 spending bill because it didn't contain credits for families' non-public school expenditures. The issue is expected to get resolved sometime this summer during a special legislative session, but in the meantime school administrators are having trouble planning for the 97-98 school year. Minnesota Public Radio's Holly Nelson reports.
June 9, 1997 - A Voices of Minnesota interview with Mary Beth Blegen for Mon, June 9, 1997. Mary Beth Blegen spent her school year traveling as the National Education Association's teacher of the year. In July, the Worthington educator takes a new job as a consultant in Washington D. C. at the Department of Education. Today on our Voices of Minnesota interview we'll hear Blegen talk about her life. She's been a writing, history and literature teacher for 30 years at Worthington High School. The 52-year-old South Dakota native is also well known to Worthington-area readers through her weekly newspaper column. Blegen told Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Steil her column often became a public expression of personal struggles.
June 9, 1997 - MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with guitarist Steve Tibbetts about his recent work. Tibbetts, whose work is primarily instrumental, is trying something new…but also very old, with his latest album "Cho." He adds music to a 900-year-old acapella song cycle performed by Buddhist nuns in Nepal.
June 9, 1997 - Governor Carlson says he plans to call a special legislative session in September to deal with the Minnesota Twins request for a publicly-funded ballpark. Carlson says he bellieves the Twins will leave if lawmakers don't approve funding before October...when the team can opt out of its Metrodome lease. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Wareham reports: When the regular legislative session ended without a floor vote on a stadium plan legislative leaders pledged to study the issue over the summer and vote on it early in the '98 session. The governor says that's too late. Carlson says he came away from a meeting with members of the Pohlad family last week convinced the t
June 9, 1997 - Two Voices of Minnesota interviews: Mary Beth Blegen, National Teacher of the Year from Worthington, Minnesota. And a conversation with Minnesota School Psychologist of the Year, Sally Gotelaere. She works for the Hermantown School District.
June 10, 1997 - It was fun and games at the Minnesota Children's Museum today as "Sesame Street" characters Rosita and Maria entertained a group of children from Hennepin County Head Start. But interspersed between the songs and dances was a very serious message about lead poisoning. More than 4,000 Minnesota children have elevated levels of lead in their blood. At least 439 of those kids have levels so high they're at risk of brain damage and even death. The "Sesame Street" tour is the first "all-out" lead awareness campaign in the state. But as Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports, for years a Minneapolis neighborhood has waged it's own quiet war against lead.
June 10, 1997 - The Willmar School District has settled a class action lawsuit brought by Hispanic and Latino families last year. The families claimed the district discriminated against their children, putting them in inappropriate classes and disciplining them more harshly than other students. The central Minnesota district won't have to pay any monetary damages but it will have to make a number of policy changes. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Wareham reports.
June 11, 1997 - It's become a matter of conventional wisdom that a high school diploma won't cut it anymore -- especially in the high-tech job market of the 21st century. But college isn't cheap: The cost of attending a public institution has doubled in the last fifteen years, and tuitions at PRIVATE colleges have tripled. As Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports, there may be an alternative on the way for undergrads who don't have the money -- or the time -- for life on campus.