The St. Cloud listening session was Feb. 23 at the Kelly Inn. Here are participants' comments:

What’s working well?

• Co-curricular activities create camaraderie.
• Schools are accepting of everyone.
• Broad, varied options exist in our public schools.
• Teacher leaders are taking the reins in a positive way in schools.
• Good graduation rates.
• Excellent professionals at all levels.
• Adequate professional development, when implemented properly, works wonders for the quality of teaching and learning.
• Educators work hard to meet goals.

What are some of the challenges schools face?

• We need positive leadership, from President Bush on down, to support education.
• One-size-fits all, old model no longer applies. Diversity, multiple needs, education gaps make a one-size-fits-all mentality obsolete.
• Discrepancy between public/private schools – mandates on public schools only is unfair.
• Mental health issues – problems of society come into schools; counseling needs are greater.
• Over-scheduling students – 10 minutes for lunch, start time should not be before 8 a.m., kids need down time – too pushed, lack of proper nutrition and fresh air and water.
• Schools have to cover too much – schedule is too crammed.
• Balance start time with parents’ need to get to work; we start lunch at 10 a.m. to accommodate 900 in one building.
• Need smaller class size!
• Funding: review and throw out mandates; eliminate NCLB – inflexible, unrealistic, designed to make schools fail.
• It’s like telling the Vikings to win every game and then do better next year.
• Need accountability-not a positive attitude.
• Skills can’t be checked off with a test.
• Mandates – under-funded, non-funded, formulas did not work.
• Economic slide – penalizing large districts because of concentration of special education cross-subsidy; can’t afford it.
• Can’t test success; size of schools and numbers of student per teacher; assembly line model; how do we measure relationships?
• Parental control and involvement – different from “tail wagging the dog;” conversations are “not pretty” about schools in restaurants and parks of Minnesota.
• Perception that schools not listening; people are angry; people not coming to support schools because they are livid.
• Meetings –nobody there; hard to get info out; wrong info gets out.
• Schools do a terrible job informing public of how to build teacher/student relationships in mega-schools.
• Need more parental responsibility/relationships (emphasizing, among other things, manners with kids); it’s a different world; nobody at home to be involved with our kids
• Discipline now seems to be “it’s not my kid’s fault.” What did teachers do to make you act that way? Parents shifting burden of upbringing to schools.
• Unrealistic environment – how do 13-year-olds socialize with 13-year-olds?  Group-think and gang mentality; no control at home or at school; “kids running the school/zoo.”

What do we want schools to do?

• Everything!
• Results – proposed for citizenship/workforce/higher ed so students can be productive citizens; should not have to “re-do” high school in college.
• Citizenship/ethics: moral issues/ability to get along and socialize; being self-sufficient.
• Not dependent on government and family, etc. Depend on “self”; kids should have goals and value education.  
• Critical thinking skills.
• Make choices appropriately.
• Being able to read/write does not guarantee a job.
• Kids need basic social goals.
• We can predict prison population by literacy scores. What does that tell you?
• Do something that brings about self-esteem (like hard work) rather than just talking about self-esteem.

How do we achieve these goals?

• Emphasis on school size; relationships; make students feel connected.
• Reduce or fully fund the mandates.
• Fully fund special education needs.
• Establish/increase number of counselors per student at elementary.
• Early Childhood support.
• Family interventions.
• Fund the institution – lots of money follows the student.
• Less government involvement – level playing field.
• Unfair handicap of public schools vs. private schools.
• Small schools – everyone needed in teams – parents know each other and teachers.
• Invite people back to the table.
• Work with universities and students; tap into college student resource; students work at schools; gain credits, knowledge and resources.
• Frustrating changes, rapid change in school; opportunities now/challenges now.
• Go beyond education majors to recruit talented students.
• Get more business people in schools. Teach mini classes/guest teach/bring them in; might prompt cambers of commerce to work harder for levy referendums and might promote valuing of community schools.