April 20, 2023 • 33 mins
Harding High School’s 15-year-old stabbing victim was a visible sign of the decay in Minnesota public schools.
Devin Scott, who was stabbed to death in the St. Paul high school this year, was a troubled student being passed from school to school.
“A generation ago, a kid like Devin Scott would never have been in school. He would have been expelled before he ever got to Harding High. So how did he end up there?”
Alpha News journalist Sheila Qualls asked that question on the first episode of her podcast, “Trapped!: Chaos in the Classroom.”
In this limited podcast series, Qualls talks to parents, students, cops, administrators, and teachers to examine the problems in Minnesota's public education system.
In this first episode, she looks at the high stakes of setting low expectations for students.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:00):
St. Paul is in shock tonight after a student was
killed in a stabbing at HardingHigh School. Sadly, Harding is
no stranger to violence stabbinghappened Friday it was in the
hallway of Harding High School,Devon Scott died at the
hospital.
In February, Devon Scott wasstabbed to death at Harding High
School in St. Paul. He wasstabbed in the stomach and once
(00:21):
in the chest. Devon was 15. Itwas his first day at Harding
high. He just been transferredfrom another St. Paul High
School. Now one kid is dead.
Another is facing murdercharges. Devin was a troubled
kid. Sources say he was involvedin gangs and drugs. He had a
history of problems in thepublic schools. A generation ago
(00:43):
a kid like Devin Scott neverwould have been in school. He
would have been expelled beforehe ever got to Harding high. So
how did he end up there? Devon'sdeath is a visible symptom of
the decay in public schools.
from Moose Lake to Farmington,public education in Minnesota is
(01:07):
broken. What was once one of themost trusted institutions in the
state is now treacherous.
violence in schools isfunctioning much like COVID When
the pandemic hit in 2020.
Suddenly, parents all over thecountry were in their kids
classrooms, as they were taughton Zoom. Some educators are
(01:27):
blaming COVID for learninglosses,
calling it the COVID slide. Kidsare falling behind in their
academic progress because of thepandemic. Now we can see this
clearly in the data. McKinseystudy shows that already
students have lost an average of6.8 months of learning so far,
COVID didn't cause learningloss. It exposed it yanked back
(01:50):
the curtain on what is going onin classrooms across the state,
much like what violence is doingnow. With more and more reports
about school violence, parentsare taking a closer look at
what's going on when their kidsare sucked up into the vortex of
public schools. I'm Sheilaquals. I write for a Minnesota
(02:10):
based news outlet called Alphanews. I've written a series of
articles on ideologies, policiesand practices that allow
violence, misconduct and lowperformance to go unchecked. For
the past six months, we've beenexamining public education. I've
interviewed teachers, parentsand students. I've talked to
(02:31):
people who study education inMinnesota. I've looked at
curriculum and school websites.
I've contacted the Department ofEducation, the Minnesota School
Board Association, the teachers,union, and administrators. I'm
going to paint a picture of whatis going on in our schools and
why not in my words, but in thewords of teachers, students and
parents who are in or aroundpublic schools every day. 1000s
(02:55):
of Minnesota families aretrapped, held hostage by a
system that is shaped bymisguided and irresponsible
policies and practices that areat odds with traditional values.
The threat of losing ourchildren is real. Most teachers
and parents spoke with us on thepromise of anonymity. Small
(03:15):
details have been changed toprotect students identities.
They fear retaliation, dissentis not tolerated. Disagreement
is voiced only in whispers.
Throughout this series, I'mgoing to show you everything
from why kids can't read to whythey have to worry about getting
stabbed at school. This istrapped chaos in the classroom.
(03:42):
There's chaos in MinnesotaPublic Schools. Chaos that
administrators don't reportteachers and staff are afraid to
talk about and parents don'tknow about the murder at St.
Paul's Harding high didn'thappen in a vacuum. Violence and
low academic performance arerampant in schools across the
state.
I would see on kids a snapshotstories, children just brawling
(04:05):
in the middle of the hallways,punching each other over and
over. Teachers standing therewatching and teachers too afraid
to stop it.
Why now? It hasn't always beenthis way. Kids are not learning
the skills they need to becomefunctioning adults, because the
focus of our schools is noteducation. What's happening in
(04:27):
public schools looks a lot likeeducation, but it's not. schools
are failing kids. But theeducation establishment
continues to lower expectations.
Accountability has disappeared.
This creates conditions ripe forpoor performance and disrespect.
And that's exactly what'shappening. Kids swear at
(04:49):
teachers refuse to turn inassignments, texts during class
time. Play games on theirphones. hold conversations while
teachers are talking and thendare them to discipline,
families are taking note andsome of them are taking action.
Minnesota Department ofEducation reports public school
enrollment has declined for athird consecutive year.
(05:13):
I don't know I don't have ananswer you would think data like
that would force us to shiftback.
Reading math and science scoresare in a freefall, and show no
signs of improving.
It's really hard to be an olderteacher. Today, we see our
numbers of our kids math scores,and our kids reading scores and
science scores that aren't evenon par. And Minnesota had one of
(05:37):
the biggest drops, I think, inthe entire country, when we used
to be the mark key of whatpeople strove for in education,
right. And now we're we had oneof the biggest drops.
Our kids getting dumber, quitethe opposite. Kids are as
intelligent and inquisitive asthey've always been. Public
(05:57):
School is not what it used tobe, things have changed so
dramatically, so quickly. It's acrazy time. I mean, I just, I
can tell you story after story.
officer Mark Ross is presidentof the St. Paul Police
Federation. He is also a formerschool resource officer or SRO.
He grew up in St. Paul andgraduated from St. Paul Public
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Schools. He said schools arefailing in more ways than one.
That was an SRO from 2010 to2014. Fortunately, I was in a
great building, a lot of reallygood teachers that actually
helped me break up fights, andit was required. I mean, let's
be honest, these are kids andand part of being an adult, is
(06:42):
intervening when kids are doingor doing things they should not
be doing. And so when you havepeople in the building, willing
and capable of intervening whenthere's a physical fight, I
mean, I think that's somethingthat should have I could tell
you that if my student was in afight, and there was, you know,
somebody, staff member, schoolstaff member who's capable of at
(07:02):
least attempting to break it upand break it up. I mean, I would
take exception to that. Notintervening in those situations
can get really dangerous reallyfast.
I've heard stories from parentsin Burnsville, moose, Lake,
Delano, Farmington, SouthWashington County. So tell I,
Santee and many more, not justone, but dozens of stories from
(07:24):
angry, frustrated parents allover the state, who are not
quite sure of what to do.
But the reality is, from asafety perspective, they just
have to know that that thesekids are generally speaking, not
being dealt with. And there area lot of dangerous kids in these
schools. They're engaged to killbehavior on a regular basis.
They're not being heldaccountable for the behavior,
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and the behaviors being allowedto being allowed to continue.
And so that makes for a verydangerous experience for people
that don't even know they're indanger. And that's really the
sad part. I mean, it was amazingto me, how oblivious a lot of
the students were to us. I mean,obviously, they don't want to
fight occurs, you know, you seethat. And I don't know, I don't
even know how prevalent physicalfighting is in the schools now,
because I don't think they'rereporting it very often. More. I
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can't tell you how many timesover the last several years,
parents have called and said,you know, my student was
assaulted in school today, andnobody called the police, they
got home and Toy Story, and nowI'm calling the police. There's
no way there's no way I wouldsell my children, all schools.
Most problems are not as visibleas violence. They're much less
(08:29):
obvious and emerge over time.
But issues have been quietlybrewing beneath the surface for
decades.
That's like you want to jumpinto something might get shot
and kill him. It's like crazy,giving each other it's not
normal.
In some high schools, kids don'tgo to class and rove the
hallways instead, teachers andstudents are afraid to go to the
(08:50):
bathroom while class is insession.
Recently, I talked to a teacherthat said that for over a year,
she didn't feel safe going toschool, she felt safer in her
room with the door shot. Shesaid to me that I wouldn't want
to even go to the bathroombecause I knew that there were
(09:11):
going to be students out in thehallways that weren't supposed
to be doing the stuff that theywere doing.
Fights are common in thelunchroom. Some parents report
kids threatened to murder otherkids. Instead of expulsion.
Violent kids now getadministratively transferred.
It's like a bad game of musicalchairs. Violent kids rotate from
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school to school until theyeventually graduate or just stop
going. That's how Devon ended upat Harding high. Ross said
there's no control in the highschools. And what happened at
Harding was predictable. Butthose
administrative transfers are theare the root of the problem.
So administrative transferreally means a bad kid,
(09:54):
typically, or kid that hasn'tbeen able to function at another
school. What they'll do isthey'll say The okay things
aren't working at work, they'renot working for you anymore,
we're going to transfer you overto another high school. Well,
that creates another problembecause for every kid you
transfer all that administrativetransfer, you get one back end.
So it's like this game ofmusical chairs. These kids go
from school to school to school,and they don't function at any
(10:15):
of them. And the problem is, allthese kids know one another,
especially the kids that are inthe mix, whether it be they're
in a gang, or somewhere from theneighborhood or another
neighborhood or their relativesat another school, but everyone
knows everyone, whether it's agang issue or something on
social media. And I can tellyou, there were times that Como
Park High School when I was aschool resource officer, where
we get to a point where wefinally got a couple kids are
(10:37):
recruiting tons of problems forus out. Next week. We get new,
two new kids in that were justas bad or worse because the way
that they administrativelytransfer kids.
Violence has surged since schoolboards removed cops from
schools. After the death ofGeorge Floyd. They said the
presence of a gun and a badgemade some kids uneasy.
(10:58):
I used to keep my car parked tothe front of Cole Park I school
right the front main entrancethat was parked my car at the
time superintendent ValeriaSilva came one day and said, Why
is your car parked there? I'mlike, Well, I have a lot of
equipment in there. And I neededaccess to it. There's an
emergency and I don't have towalk, you know, three blocks to
the parking lot. And to behonest, it's the turn to crap
people see the squad car,they're less likely to commit a
(11:19):
crime here. And a lot of peoplein the community telling me that
make makes them feel reallysafe. Just because well, I'm
hearing just the opposite. I'mhearing that makes people feel
comfortable. That's That's true.
So can you find me and this isme, a police officers I'm at the
time I'm not in a managementrole in the police department.
I'm just the lowly schoolresource officers, you know,
these administrators would wouldview it. And so I pushed back on
(11:39):
the superintendent of schoolsthat I would push back on her,
some kids may feel uneasy aboutpolice presence, but many more
are uneasy about the lack ofdiscipline and accountability.
Those students are paying theprice for bad policy,
rather than actually put somemeaningful work forward and try
(12:02):
and change those things. Theychange the way that they dealt
with discipline. So they wouldallow the same behaviors.
Previously, those behaviorswould result discipline but no
longer. So they would say, youknow, look at this, we've had
this massive reduction andsuspensions and dismissals and
arrests and we're doing sogreat. In fact, they actually
tied building principals bonusesto those numbers. So those folks
(12:27):
that were dismissing suspendingleast amount of students were
being rewarded financially,slightly, I mean, through a
financial incentive, theyactually kind of started to
create this. But we're at apoint now where there's just no
control in the high schools, andthey have kids wandering the
halls. There, it's I will saydisrespectful things if anyone
tries to hold them accountable,and they basically do what they
(12:49):
want to do all day long anddon't contribute at all, to the
well being of the of the cultureof the school and actually
detract from it.
Kids used to take books and gymbags to school. Now, an
increasing number of them takeweapons, and administrators find
some, but not all of them. Kids,faculty and staff are no longer
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safe.
I would hate to even know howmany guns there are in the
schools on any given day.
So do you honestly think thereare quite a few?
Yes, impossible to know thenumber but I know that they you
know, they recover a few gunsevery year. Those are just the
guns that are recovered. Whetherit be a lot of times is a tip
from another student or maybesomething that's posted on
(13:31):
social media. But yeah, thoseare just the ones that have
recovered. So you know, how canwe if a kid brings a gun to
school in a backpack? How wouldyou how would you know?
In January, a 15 year old kidwas arrested with a gun at
Harding, where administratorshad found at least three guns
the year before. Hurting isn'tthe only St. Paul School dealing
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with violence. A kid wasseriously wounded in a shooting
outside of rec center nearCentral High and a bullet grazed
a staff members ear during anafter school shooting at a St.
Paul magnet school. Ross saidhis children would have been
fourth generation graduates fromSt. Paul Public Schools. He
moves his family because he doesnot want his kids in the
(14:15):
district.
That's sad. I'm saddened bywhat's happened in the St. Paul
Public Schools. It'sheartbreaking to me like I said,
I was a third generation from myfamily to graduate from St. Paul
Public High School andunfortunately, we weren't able
to continue that tradition in myfamily. But we started a new
better tradition, I think.
Brilliant going,can you tell me your name and
(14:39):
which school you go to?
My name is Anthony and I go toWhite Bear Lake North Campus.
And what grade are you in?
I'm in ninth grade my freshman.
This is Anthony. He's a freshmanat White Bear Lake North Campus.
Anthony's a BS student. He likesbaseball and is kind to his
(15:00):
little sister, I spoke withAnthony and his mom and at their
home,therefore, it was just a big
shock. I feel like everyone inninth grade now can say that
high schools, nothing like thattell us it's going to be because
they prepare us for things thatdon't actually happen are going
to happen.
So what did they prepare youfor? That didn't happen? Um,
(15:21):
well,they prepare us for things just
like the atmosphere and theteachers like the grading in the
school. And just like howeverything is going to be, and
just like how high school setsyou out for the rest of your
life, and college and thingslike that. But really, what they
should have been preparing usfor is just the atmosphere of
the students. And out of thestudents all treat each other.
(15:41):
And the things that go on therethat you just see, and that they
just tell you to not look at.
So what types of things do yousee that they would say don't
look at,we see fights pretty frequently,
two to three weekends. And thenevery time we ask something
about them, they just say it'sbeing handled, it's being
handled, and to just blind diet,look away from it. And I think
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it never happened. And I don'tthink that's good. And I feel
like we should definitely talkabout it. Definitely speak out.
Because we can't just ignoresomeone getting punched in the
face on the ground. At noon, athigh school, I just don't think
that's not how things should behandled.
When and learned Anthony wasbeing assaulted by another
student on the school bus. Shecontacted the school.
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It started about last winter. Myboys rode the bus to and from
school together. And my youngerson said, Anthony got hit on the
bus today. So I didn't think toomuch about it. Because they
asked me as a kid to stand upfor himself and he wouldn't hold
me. And then it happened again.
And he said, Anthony got hitagain. Anyway. So I told him,
I'm going he said, Well, youneed to go and call the office.
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He's an eighth grader. So Isaid, You need to tell the
school, you know, it's time foryou to talk the school song.
He's and he repeatedly will getoff the bus, go into the office
at the school and tell them,hey, there's an issue on the bus
and you talk to somebody andthey'd say, Oh, hurry on the
class. And they wouldn't evenlisten, hurry on the class. He
said it went on for a whole weekabout hold on the bus, he'd go
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into the school and follow him.
And he just would say, Oh,periana class,
White Bear Lake administratorstold and they were handling it.
So I sent an email to theprincipal after a week. And she
responded and said she wouldtake care of it. But then I
didn't hear any follow up. So Iasked her a follow up. And the
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boy was never removed from thebus. I then followed up myself
and called the principal andsaid, I would like to know that
he was disciplined, I would likehim off the bus, I would like
him, not near my boys. And thenshe told me she couldn't
discipline talk about anotherkids discipline with me. So I
never got any follow up. I don'tknow where I went with this boy,
(17:52):
but he never was removed fromthe boss or the classroom,
like many parents, and isfrustrated.
As a mom, it makes me feelpretty helpless. Because at
first I told him, you know,you're gonna be in high school
next year, and you can stand upfor yourself, you can report
this to the office, and then thefact that I then had to go and
report it, and it still went ondeaf ears, it made me as an arm
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feel very helpless. They have tobe in school every day, they
have to ride the bus to getthere and I couldn't protect
him.
Anthony is frustrated too.
It just makes me feel doesn'tfeel good to just see someone
getting pummeled in the face. Orjust like getting thrown against
a lock or something or beingcalled names. It just just
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doesn't feel good.
So what happens to the kids whoare the perpetrators?
We don't know, because theydon't tell us anything. And
we're not allowed to askanything. And if we did ask,
then we get questioned by likethe teachers and things there.
So we're not really sure. It'slike, I'm trapped. Like
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everything's trapped inside mebecause I can't talk about it.
The high school seems to bepretty tough. You're just
supposed to not talk to, youknow, not talk to people you
don't know and just stay in yourown lane. And it seems to be a
lot of fights. I mean, with theo's and cameras around, the kids
often will share videos with me.
I mean, I'm seeing new videos.
(19:17):
It's almost a joke because theboys coming to my house after
school. There's a group of highschoolers that ride the bus
together and they come hereafter school and I can just
overhear them talking about it,but it's almost daily. And then
there doesn't seem to be muchdiscipline or any thing for the
students that are causing theseissues.
When I talk to parents aboutwhat I've learned in schools,
(19:38):
they say one of two things. Theyeither say I had no idea or
that's not happening in my kidsschool. It's happening in most
schools all over the state. Thequestion is why? You are
recording today with I'm talkingto Becky about her daughter who
goes tocentral One Middle School
(19:59):
Central Middle School inin White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
So I had a child that was inmiddle school. And while she was
there, she just had been doingsome light horseplay in class
with some of her friends. Sheended up being suspended for
that incident.
Her daughter was routinelyassaulted by another student.
(20:22):
After repeatedly asking theadministration to intercede,
Becky said she got no results,she transferred her daughter out
of the district.
So when we went to the school,we did ask why there wasn't any
fear of punishment being done.
Because our daughter hadreceived such harsh punishment,
we thought for something thatseemed to be very minor. So when
we went to the school and asked,they didn't have any response
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for us, they told us not toworry about it, that it was
getting taken care of, that theycan't give us any information.
And that was essentially the endof it. My student says that
she's afraid to go to school,she feels like she's going to be
jumped. She's worried about theboss, she's worried about even
entering the school she'sworried about walking in, she's
(21:06):
worried about being in thebathrooms alone. That's
something that just isn't doneanymore. It's not a safe place
for students. So from what thegirls have said, they really do
have to gather in groups to evenuse the restroom safely. They do
see a lot of things like vapingand drug use within the
bathrooms. And it just doesn'tseem like the school is doing a
(21:29):
lot to handle those things.
There was a group of us that didunite and go into principle and
try to talk to her about thisand say we want something done.
When there was nothing done andthe incident continued to occur.
That was when we just decided itwas no longer a safe place for
our child to be and we felt likeit would be best if we move her
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to a different district.
Hopkins High School is in theWest Metro. The situation there
is similar. Last fall during afight in the girls bathroom.
Students watched as one girlkicked another in the head until
she was unconscious. Hopkins wasMinnesota's first school of
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excellence. Parents say fightsthere occur almost daily.
Violence and poor academicperformance are chasing parents
out of the district. Cell phonerecordings of fights dominate
Snapchat and Instagram. inLittle Falls, a special ed
student was sexually assaultedduring the lunch hour. One
student recorded while the otherassaulted him. They released it
(22:37):
on social media.
I wanted to file assaultcharges. And they told me that I
couldn't because it was a fight.
I spoke with Kathy Johnson inthe playroom of her daycare
center. And she told me about anassault on her grandson. She
refers to him as her son.
Kathy's kid attended Blaine HighSchool where she said three boys
(23:01):
walked into her son's classroomand attacked him during class.
It all started on March 24 2022.
I received a call from theassistant principal at the high
school, read boys had enteredthe classroom from the hallway.
While the class was in session,surrounded his desk and beat
(23:24):
him. They just kept on beatinghim and pounding his head up
against the desk. And he's gotbraces. So as braces were
broken, he had all kinds of cutsand welts inside of his mouth.
He had glasses that were broken,they were they flew. The teacher
yelled and screamed and tried topull the boys off of them.
(23:45):
The boys then posted the assaulton the Blaine Fight Club
Instagram page. The page hassince been taken down.
One of the boys had videotapedthe assault and was passing it
around the rest of the schoolbody. These boys had gone into
that classroom, knowing thatthey were going to get in
trouble and put the kids in theclassroom at risk as long as as
(24:10):
well as the teacher.
Although her son had to be takento the hospital and treated for
his injuries. He was expelledfrom school. He's never gone
back.
I called the School Board. Andthey just thanked me for
bringing it to their attentionfive times in about five minutes
and I knew that they weren'tgoing to do anything. And so
when I had talked to a policeofficer again telling him I
(24:33):
wanted to press charges. He saidhe couldn't because the school
wouldn't allow it. We've hadmultiple assaults occurring at
the school.
The attack was traumatizing andleft Kathy feeling angry and
helpless.
So he left his friends. He wasthe victim. But yet he was
treated more harshly than thekids that assaulted him. And I
(24:57):
don't I don't get it.
What kind of a boy is your son?
Good students. Tell your story.
My grandson was he's my grandsonis the word of the court which
(25:18):
came in we got legal custody ofyou. And the day that we had the
final papers signed, the churchtold us you keep them safe.
Because he was in such an unsafeenvironment where he was. Do you
(25:43):
think that makes me feel?
I sent him to school where hethought he was safe. It hurts
could No kid should ever gothrough that. And for adults to
(26:03):
be the problem, or at least partof the problem, and not even try
and train to even be part of thesolution. I'm appalled.
absolutely appalled.
Though the assault took place onschool grounds, school officials
(26:26):
and the school board took noaction. So Cathy press charges.
her grandson's assailants wereconvicted of a fifth degree
assault and placed on probation.
If schools don't report or keeprecords of an assault, Officer
Ross said the only way todocument an incident is if
parents go to police. Eventslike the murder of Devon Scott
(26:49):
are waking parents up to thefact that there's a problem.
What's changed a lack ofconsequences. officer Mark Ross,
but when these kids never haveto face the negative
consequence, it gives them thiskind of false sense of, you
know, they feel like Supermanwhen they can do anything and
(27:12):
they're not going to be hurt,it's not going to hurt them. And
there's going to be any headadversary, you know, adverse
consequences to their behavior.
So, yeah, I, again, a lot ofthese kids just being prepared
for failure from day one, neverany consequences. And that's
part of it. It's, you know,again, as a society, I don't
know why things have gotten soviolent.
(27:32):
Everything from swearing atteachers to fighting to doing or
selling drugs and bathrooms goesunpunished. Teachers and staff
have no control because thereare no consequences for
anything. But inaction producesresults. Teachers like families
are exiting the profession indroves, and those who can't
(27:52):
afford to are abandoning publiceducation. This is Steve
severance. He's a former teacherin St. Paul Public Schools.
I substituted a lot of districtsbefore I got a job in 1980. And
then I ended up at St. Paul St.
Paul Public School System andstayed there for 37 years.
(28:14):
He retired in 2014. After anincident in his classroom.
We have one kid, he was expelledfrom Central. His brother got in
a fight at lunchtime. Teacherstried to break it up. This kid
almost killed John. He was ateacher at math teacher, strong
(28:34):
built guy you know, the kidrammed his head into the cement
post two or three times. Johnends up now with the brain
concussion I disjointed walkingissues because the brain injury
with it all. Got nothing out ofthe district other than fired.
(28:55):
interference.
He said the profession haschanged. Seven said no one
should be surprised by whathappened at Harding,
the gang boy that got killedit's unfortunate I'm here
visiting game one child shouldlose their lives. However, I
feel that the district from thesuperintendent from the Ministry
(29:21):
of Chief Academic Officer andthe school board are responsible
that there was a actions toprotect these kids. They kicked
out the police officers in St.
Paul. They said it intimidatesand Tory torturous the kid kids
(29:47):
seen them in uniform. Principalsthought this again to please our
schools already and Central,particularly, teachers were not
happy. So now we don't havecops. However, if you go to the
administration building fullsecurity everywhere, you can't
(30:11):
get into any office, you had totalk to the people check in. And
so this is interesting that theadministration protects
themselves, that they don'tprotect the students in the
building.
Millions and millions of dollarsare being poured into the public
school system. But Minnesotakids are being cheated out of a
(30:34):
basic education. And mostparents don't know. How did
schools get so out of control?
Why are so many teachersstruggling to control their
classrooms? If public schoolsaren't teaching kids how to
read? What are they doing?
Administrators in many districtsin this state are pushing a
(30:54):
single agenda? It's not acoincidence. And it's not a
parent led agenda. The violence,lack of discipline, and lacks
academic standards are merelytools to reach a larger
objective. And it's harmingkids. I wanted to do this
podcast because I discoveredkids are being robbed of a basic
(31:15):
education. And I thought parentsdeserve to know. And our kids
deserve better. I believe I knowthe key to fixing this problem.
But first, we need to know whereit came from, what is wrong with
it, and why? Families need toknow they are not trapped. They
hold the key to education,freedom.
(31:37):
The whole thing is so upsettingthat it continues to go on and
everybody looks the other way.
Why do you think that is?
Because I think it's such a holethat nobody? What are they going
to do? They can't depend onanybody in Minnesota Department
of Education or Minnesota,Minnesota Department of Human
(31:58):
Services or the MinnesotaDepartment of Child Safety.
Where do you start? But we haveso many highly educated people
in Minnesota and in our schooldistrict. And they can't figure
(32:18):
it out.
This is Sheila Qualls and youare listening to trapped chaos
in the classroom. Listen toepisode two to find out what
teachers are saying and the keyto fixing our education system.
In the next episode, I want totell you why public education is
failing our kids and puttingeveryone who participates at
(32:39):
risk. Trapped is a podcast fromAlpha news is reported by me and
produced by Kendall Johnson ofunderdog films, editing by Karen
Sullivan. Back to checking byAnthony co kowski and Greg
Poulos. Our theme music is byKendall Johnson. We have four
more episodes coming. You'll beable to find them on our
(33:00):
website, subscribe at alphanews.org
St. Paul is in shock tonight after a student was
killed in a stabbing at HardingHigh School. Sadly, Harding is
no stranger to violence stabbinghappened Friday it was in the
hallway of Harding High School,Devon Scott died at the
hospital.
In February, Devon Scott wasstabbed to death at Harding High
School in St. Paul. He wasstabbed in the stomach and once
(00:21):
in the chest. Devon was 15. Itwas his first day at Harding
high. He just been transferredfrom another St. Paul High
School. Now one kid is dead.
Another is facing murdercharges. Devin was a troubled
kid. Sources say he was involvedin gangs and drugs. He had a
history of problems in thepublic schools. A generation ago
(00:43):
a kid like Devin Scott neverwould have been in school. He
would have been expelled beforehe ever got to Harding high. So
how did he end up there? Devon'sdeath is a visible symptom of
the decay in public schools.
from Moose Lake to Farmington,public education in Minnesota is
(01:07):
broken. What was once one of themost trusted institutions in the
state is now treacherous.
violence in schools isfunctioning much like COVID When
the pandemic hit in 2020.
Suddenly, parents all over thecountry were in their kids
classrooms, as they were taughton Zoom. Some educators are
(01:27):
blaming COVID for learninglosses,
calling it the COVID slide. Kidsare falling behind in their
academic progress because of thepandemic. Now we can see this
clearly in the data. McKinseystudy shows that already
students have lost an average of6.8 months of learning so far,
COVID didn't cause learningloss. It exposed it yanked back
(01:50):
the curtain on what is going onin classrooms across the state,
much like what violence is doingnow. With more and more reports
about school violence, parentsare taking a closer look at
what's going on when their kidsare sucked up into the vortex of
public schools. I'm Sheilaquals. I write for a Minnesota
(02:10):
based news outlet called Alphanews. I've written a series of
articles on ideologies, policiesand practices that allow
violence, misconduct and lowperformance to go unchecked. For
the past six months, we've beenexamining public education. I've
interviewed teachers, parentsand students. I've talked to
(02:31):
people who study education inMinnesota. I've looked at
curriculum and school websites.
I've contacted the Department ofEducation, the Minnesota School
Board Association, the teachers,union, and administrators. I'm
going to paint a picture of whatis going on in our schools and
why not in my words, but in thewords of teachers, students and
parents who are in or aroundpublic schools every day. 1000s
(02:55):
of Minnesota families aretrapped, held hostage by a
system that is shaped bymisguided and irresponsible
policies and practices that areat odds with traditional values.
The threat of losing ourchildren is real. Most teachers
and parents spoke with us on thepromise of anonymity. Small
(03:15):
details have been changed toprotect students identities.
They fear retaliation, dissentis not tolerated. Disagreement
is voiced only in whispers.
Throughout this series, I'mgoing to show you everything
from why kids can't read to whythey have to worry about getting
stabbed at school. This istrapped chaos in the classroom.
(03:42):
There's chaos in MinnesotaPublic Schools. Chaos that
administrators don't reportteachers and staff are afraid to
talk about and parents don'tknow about the murder at St.
Paul's Harding high didn'thappen in a vacuum. Violence and
low academic performance arerampant in schools across the
state.
I would see on kids a snapshotstories, children just brawling
(04:05):
in the middle of the hallways,punching each other over and
over. Teachers standing therewatching and teachers too afraid
to stop it.
Why now? It hasn't always beenthis way. Kids are not learning
the skills they need to becomefunctioning adults, because the
focus of our schools is noteducation. What's happening in
(04:27):
public schools looks a lot likeeducation, but it's not. schools
are failing kids. But theeducation establishment
continues to lower expectations.
Accountability has disappeared.
This creates conditions ripe forpoor performance and disrespect.
And that's exactly what'shappening. Kids swear at
(04:49):
teachers refuse to turn inassignments, texts during class
time. Play games on theirphones. hold conversations while
teachers are talking and thendare them to discipline,
families are taking note andsome of them are taking action.
Minnesota Department ofEducation reports public school
enrollment has declined for athird consecutive year.
(05:13):
I don't know I don't have ananswer you would think data like
that would force us to shiftback.
Reading math and science scoresare in a freefall, and show no
signs of improving.
It's really hard to be an olderteacher. Today, we see our
numbers of our kids math scores,and our kids reading scores and
science scores that aren't evenon par. And Minnesota had one of
(05:37):
the biggest drops, I think, inthe entire country, when we used
to be the mark key of whatpeople strove for in education,
right. And now we're we had oneof the biggest drops.
Our kids getting dumber, quitethe opposite. Kids are as
intelligent and inquisitive asthey've always been. Public
(05:57):
School is not what it used tobe, things have changed so
dramatically, so quickly. It's acrazy time. I mean, I just, I
can tell you story after story.
officer Mark Ross is presidentof the St. Paul Police
Federation. He is also a formerschool resource officer or SRO.
He grew up in St. Paul andgraduated from St. Paul Public
(06:20):
Schools. He said schools arefailing in more ways than one.
That was an SRO from 2010 to2014. Fortunately, I was in a
great building, a lot of reallygood teachers that actually
helped me break up fights, andit was required. I mean, let's
be honest, these are kids andand part of being an adult, is
(06:42):
intervening when kids are doingor doing things they should not
be doing. And so when you havepeople in the building, willing
and capable of intervening whenthere's a physical fight, I
mean, I think that's somethingthat should have I could tell
you that if my student was in afight, and there was, you know,
somebody, staff member, schoolstaff member who's capable of at
(07:02):
least attempting to break it upand break it up. I mean, I would
take exception to that. Notintervening in those situations
can get really dangerous reallyfast.
I've heard stories from parentsin Burnsville, moose, Lake,
Delano, Farmington, SouthWashington County. So tell I,
Santee and many more, not justone, but dozens of stories from
(07:24):
angry, frustrated parents allover the state, who are not
quite sure of what to do.
But the reality is, from asafety perspective, they just
have to know that that thesekids are generally speaking, not
being dealt with. And there area lot of dangerous kids in these
schools. They're engaged to killbehavior on a regular basis.
They're not being heldaccountable for the behavior,
(07:46):
and the behaviors being allowedto being allowed to continue.
And so that makes for a verydangerous experience for people
that don't even know they're indanger. And that's really the
sad part. I mean, it was amazingto me, how oblivious a lot of
the students were to us. I mean,obviously, they don't want to
fight occurs, you know, you seethat. And I don't know, I don't
even know how prevalent physicalfighting is in the schools now,
because I don't think they'rereporting it very often. More. I
(08:09):
can't tell you how many timesover the last several years,
parents have called and said,you know, my student was
assaulted in school today, andnobody called the police, they
got home and Toy Story, and nowI'm calling the police. There's
no way there's no way I wouldsell my children, all schools.
Most problems are not as visibleas violence. They're much less
(08:29):
obvious and emerge over time.
But issues have been quietlybrewing beneath the surface for
decades.
That's like you want to jumpinto something might get shot
and kill him. It's like crazy,giving each other it's not
normal.
In some high schools, kids don'tgo to class and rove the
hallways instead, teachers andstudents are afraid to go to the
(08:50):
bathroom while class is insession.
Recently, I talked to a teacherthat said that for over a year,
she didn't feel safe going toschool, she felt safer in her
room with the door shot. Shesaid to me that I wouldn't want
to even go to the bathroombecause I knew that there were
(09:11):
going to be students out in thehallways that weren't supposed
to be doing the stuff that theywere doing.
Fights are common in thelunchroom. Some parents report
kids threatened to murder otherkids. Instead of expulsion.
Violent kids now getadministratively transferred.
It's like a bad game of musicalchairs. Violent kids rotate from
(09:33):
school to school until theyeventually graduate or just stop
going. That's how Devon ended upat Harding high. Ross said
there's no control in the highschools. And what happened at
Harding was predictable. Butthose
administrative transfers are theare the root of the problem.
So administrative transferreally means a bad kid,
(09:54):
typically, or kid that hasn'tbeen able to function at another
school. What they'll do isthey'll say The okay things
aren't working at work, they'renot working for you anymore,
we're going to transfer you overto another high school. Well,
that creates another problembecause for every kid you
transfer all that administrativetransfer, you get one back end.
So it's like this game ofmusical chairs. These kids go
from school to school to school,and they don't function at any
(10:15):
of them. And the problem is, allthese kids know one another,
especially the kids that are inthe mix, whether it be they're
in a gang, or somewhere from theneighborhood or another
neighborhood or their relativesat another school, but everyone
knows everyone, whether it's agang issue or something on
social media. And I can tellyou, there were times that Como
Park High School when I was aschool resource officer, where
we get to a point where wefinally got a couple kids are
(10:37):
recruiting tons of problems forus out. Next week. We get new,
two new kids in that were justas bad or worse because the way
that they administrativelytransfer kids.
Violence has surged since schoolboards removed cops from
schools. After the death ofGeorge Floyd. They said the
presence of a gun and a badgemade some kids uneasy.
(10:58):
I used to keep my car parked tothe front of Cole Park I school
right the front main entrancethat was parked my car at the
time superintendent ValeriaSilva came one day and said, Why
is your car parked there? I'mlike, Well, I have a lot of
equipment in there. And I neededaccess to it. There's an
emergency and I don't have towalk, you know, three blocks to
the parking lot. And to behonest, it's the turn to crap
people see the squad car,they're less likely to commit a
(11:19):
crime here. And a lot of peoplein the community telling me that
make makes them feel reallysafe. Just because well, I'm
hearing just the opposite. I'mhearing that makes people feel
comfortable. That's That's true.
So can you find me and this isme, a police officers I'm at the
time I'm not in a managementrole in the police department.
I'm just the lowly schoolresource officers, you know,
these administrators would wouldview it. And so I pushed back on
(11:39):
the superintendent of schoolsthat I would push back on her,
some kids may feel uneasy aboutpolice presence, but many more
are uneasy about the lack ofdiscipline and accountability.
Those students are paying theprice for bad policy,
rather than actually put somemeaningful work forward and try
(12:02):
and change those things. Theychange the way that they dealt
with discipline. So they wouldallow the same behaviors.
Previously, those behaviorswould result discipline but no
longer. So they would say, youknow, look at this, we've had
this massive reduction andsuspensions and dismissals and
arrests and we're doing sogreat. In fact, they actually
tied building principals bonusesto those numbers. So those folks
(12:27):
that were dismissing suspendingleast amount of students were
being rewarded financially,slightly, I mean, through a
financial incentive, theyactually kind of started to
create this. But we're at apoint now where there's just no
control in the high schools, andthey have kids wandering the
halls. There, it's I will saydisrespectful things if anyone
tries to hold them accountable,and they basically do what they
(12:49):
want to do all day long anddon't contribute at all, to the
well being of the of the cultureof the school and actually
detract from it.
Kids used to take books and gymbags to school. Now, an
increasing number of them takeweapons, and administrators find
some, but not all of them. Kids,faculty and staff are no longer
(13:09):
safe.
I would hate to even know howmany guns there are in the
schools on any given day.
So do you honestly think thereare quite a few?
Yes, impossible to know thenumber but I know that they you
know, they recover a few gunsevery year. Those are just the
guns that are recovered. Whetherit be a lot of times is a tip
from another student or maybesomething that's posted on
(13:31):
social media. But yeah, thoseare just the ones that have
recovered. So you know, how canwe if a kid brings a gun to
school in a backpack? How wouldyou how would you know?
In January, a 15 year old kidwas arrested with a gun at
Harding, where administratorshad found at least three guns
the year before. Hurting isn'tthe only St. Paul School dealing
(13:54):
with violence. A kid wasseriously wounded in a shooting
outside of rec center nearCentral High and a bullet grazed
a staff members ear during anafter school shooting at a St.
Paul magnet school. Ross saidhis children would have been
fourth generation graduates fromSt. Paul Public Schools. He
moves his family because he doesnot want his kids in the
(14:15):
district.
That's sad. I'm saddened bywhat's happened in the St. Paul
Public Schools. It'sheartbreaking to me like I said,
I was a third generation from myfamily to graduate from St. Paul
Public High School andunfortunately, we weren't able
to continue that tradition in myfamily. But we started a new
better tradition, I think.
Brilliant going,can you tell me your name and
(14:39):
which school you go to?
My name is Anthony and I go toWhite Bear Lake North Campus.
And what grade are you in?
I'm in ninth grade my freshman.
This is Anthony. He's a freshmanat White Bear Lake North Campus.
Anthony's a BS student. He likesbaseball and is kind to his
(15:00):
little sister, I spoke withAnthony and his mom and at their
home,therefore, it was just a big
shock. I feel like everyone inninth grade now can say that
high schools, nothing like thattell us it's going to be because
they prepare us for things thatdon't actually happen are going
to happen.
So what did they prepare youfor? That didn't happen? Um,
(15:21):
well,they prepare us for things just
like the atmosphere and theteachers like the grading in the
school. And just like howeverything is going to be, and
just like how high school setsyou out for the rest of your
life, and college and thingslike that. But really, what they
should have been preparing usfor is just the atmosphere of
the students. And out of thestudents all treat each other.
(15:41):
And the things that go on therethat you just see, and that they
just tell you to not look at.
So what types of things do yousee that they would say don't
look at,we see fights pretty frequently,
two to three weekends. And thenevery time we ask something
about them, they just say it'sbeing handled, it's being
handled, and to just blind diet,look away from it. And I think
(16:02):
it never happened. And I don'tthink that's good. And I feel
like we should definitely talkabout it. Definitely speak out.
Because we can't just ignoresomeone getting punched in the
face on the ground. At noon, athigh school, I just don't think
that's not how things should behandled.
When and learned Anthony wasbeing assaulted by another
student on the school bus. Shecontacted the school.
(16:25):
It started about last winter. Myboys rode the bus to and from
school together. And my youngerson said, Anthony got hit on the
bus today. So I didn't think toomuch about it. Because they
asked me as a kid to stand upfor himself and he wouldn't hold
me. And then it happened again.
And he said, Anthony got hitagain. Anyway. So I told him,
I'm going he said, Well, youneed to go and call the office.
(16:48):
He's an eighth grader. So Isaid, You need to tell the
school, you know, it's time foryou to talk the school song.
He's and he repeatedly will getoff the bus, go into the office
at the school and tell them,hey, there's an issue on the bus
and you talk to somebody andthey'd say, Oh, hurry on the
class. And they wouldn't evenlisten, hurry on the class. He
said it went on for a whole weekabout hold on the bus, he'd go
(17:09):
into the school and follow him.
And he just would say, Oh,periana class,
White Bear Lake administratorstold and they were handling it.
So I sent an email to theprincipal after a week. And she
responded and said she wouldtake care of it. But then I
didn't hear any follow up. So Iasked her a follow up. And the
(17:31):
boy was never removed from thebus. I then followed up myself
and called the principal andsaid, I would like to know that
he was disciplined, I would likehim off the bus, I would like
him, not near my boys. And thenshe told me she couldn't
discipline talk about anotherkids discipline with me. So I
never got any follow up. I don'tknow where I went with this boy,
(17:52):
but he never was removed fromthe boss or the classroom,
like many parents, and isfrustrated.
As a mom, it makes me feelpretty helpless. Because at
first I told him, you know,you're gonna be in high school
next year, and you can stand upfor yourself, you can report
this to the office, and then thefact that I then had to go and
report it, and it still went ondeaf ears, it made me as an arm
(18:15):
feel very helpless. They have tobe in school every day, they
have to ride the bus to getthere and I couldn't protect
him.
Anthony is frustrated too.
It just makes me feel doesn'tfeel good to just see someone
getting pummeled in the face. Orjust like getting thrown against
a lock or something or beingcalled names. It just just
(18:35):
doesn't feel good.
So what happens to the kids whoare the perpetrators?
We don't know, because theydon't tell us anything. And
we're not allowed to askanything. And if we did ask,
then we get questioned by likethe teachers and things there.
So we're not really sure. It'slike, I'm trapped. Like
(18:56):
everything's trapped inside mebecause I can't talk about it.
The high school seems to bepretty tough. You're just
supposed to not talk to, youknow, not talk to people you
don't know and just stay in yourown lane. And it seems to be a
lot of fights. I mean, with theo's and cameras around, the kids
often will share videos with me.
I mean, I'm seeing new videos.
(19:17):
It's almost a joke because theboys coming to my house after
school. There's a group of highschoolers that ride the bus
together and they come hereafter school and I can just
overhear them talking about it,but it's almost daily. And then
there doesn't seem to be muchdiscipline or any thing for the
students that are causing theseissues.
When I talk to parents aboutwhat I've learned in schools,
(19:38):
they say one of two things. Theyeither say I had no idea or
that's not happening in my kidsschool. It's happening in most
schools all over the state. Thequestion is why? You are
recording today with I'm talkingto Becky about her daughter who
goes tocentral One Middle School
(19:59):
Central Middle School inin White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
So I had a child that was inmiddle school. And while she was
there, she just had been doingsome light horseplay in class
with some of her friends. Sheended up being suspended for
that incident.
Her daughter was routinelyassaulted by another student.
(20:22):
After repeatedly asking theadministration to intercede,
Becky said she got no results,she transferred her daughter out
of the district.
So when we went to the school,we did ask why there wasn't any
fear of punishment being done.
Because our daughter hadreceived such harsh punishment,
we thought for something thatseemed to be very minor. So when
we went to the school and asked,they didn't have any response
(20:45):
for us, they told us not toworry about it, that it was
getting taken care of, that theycan't give us any information.
And that was essentially the endof it. My student says that
she's afraid to go to school,she feels like she's going to be
jumped. She's worried about theboss, she's worried about even
entering the school she'sworried about walking in, she's
(21:06):
worried about being in thebathrooms alone. That's
something that just isn't doneanymore. It's not a safe place
for students. So from what thegirls have said, they really do
have to gather in groups to evenuse the restroom safely. They do
see a lot of things like vapingand drug use within the
bathrooms. And it just doesn'tseem like the school is doing a
(21:29):
lot to handle those things.
There was a group of us that didunite and go into principle and
try to talk to her about thisand say we want something done.
When there was nothing done andthe incident continued to occur.
That was when we just decided itwas no longer a safe place for
our child to be and we felt likeit would be best if we move her
(21:49):
to a different district.
Hopkins High School is in theWest Metro. The situation there
is similar. Last fall during afight in the girls bathroom.
Students watched as one girlkicked another in the head until
she was unconscious. Hopkins wasMinnesota's first school of
(22:14):
excellence. Parents say fightsthere occur almost daily.
Violence and poor academicperformance are chasing parents
out of the district. Cell phonerecordings of fights dominate
Snapchat and Instagram. inLittle Falls, a special ed
student was sexually assaultedduring the lunch hour. One
student recorded while the otherassaulted him. They released it
(22:37):
on social media.
I wanted to file assaultcharges. And they told me that I
couldn't because it was a fight.
I spoke with Kathy Johnson inthe playroom of her daycare
center. And she told me about anassault on her grandson. She
refers to him as her son.
Kathy's kid attended Blaine HighSchool where she said three boys
(23:01):
walked into her son's classroomand attacked him during class.
It all started on March 24 2022.
I received a call from theassistant principal at the high
school, read boys had enteredthe classroom from the hallway.
While the class was in session,surrounded his desk and beat
(23:24):
him. They just kept on beatinghim and pounding his head up
against the desk. And he's gotbraces. So as braces were
broken, he had all kinds of cutsand welts inside of his mouth.
He had glasses that were broken,they were they flew. The teacher
yelled and screamed and tried topull the boys off of them.
(23:45):
The boys then posted the assaulton the Blaine Fight Club
Instagram page. The page hassince been taken down.
One of the boys had videotapedthe assault and was passing it
around the rest of the schoolbody. These boys had gone into
that classroom, knowing thatthey were going to get in
trouble and put the kids in theclassroom at risk as long as as
(24:10):
well as the teacher.
Although her son had to be takento the hospital and treated for
his injuries. He was expelledfrom school. He's never gone
back.
I called the School Board. Andthey just thanked me for
bringing it to their attentionfive times in about five minutes
and I knew that they weren'tgoing to do anything. And so
when I had talked to a policeofficer again telling him I
(24:33):
wanted to press charges. He saidhe couldn't because the school
wouldn't allow it. We've hadmultiple assaults occurring at
the school.
The attack was traumatizing andleft Kathy feeling angry and
helpless.
So he left his friends. He wasthe victim. But yet he was
treated more harshly than thekids that assaulted him. And I
(24:57):
don't I don't get it.
What kind of a boy is your son?
Good students. Tell your story.
My grandson was he's my grandsonis the word of the court which
(25:18):
came in we got legal custody ofyou. And the day that we had the
final papers signed, the churchtold us you keep them safe.
Because he was in such an unsafeenvironment where he was. Do you
(25:43):
think that makes me feel?
I sent him to school where hethought he was safe. It hurts
could No kid should ever gothrough that. And for adults to
(26:03):
be the problem, or at least partof the problem, and not even try
and train to even be part of thesolution. I'm appalled.
absolutely appalled.
Though the assault took place onschool grounds, school officials
(26:26):
and the school board took noaction. So Cathy press charges.
her grandson's assailants wereconvicted of a fifth degree
assault and placed on probation.
If schools don't report or keeprecords of an assault, Officer
Ross said the only way todocument an incident is if
parents go to police. Eventslike the murder of Devon Scott
(26:49):
are waking parents up to thefact that there's a problem.
What's changed a lack ofconsequences. officer Mark Ross,
but when these kids never haveto face the negative
consequence, it gives them thiskind of false sense of, you
know, they feel like Supermanwhen they can do anything and
(27:12):
they're not going to be hurt,it's not going to hurt them. And
there's going to be any headadversary, you know, adverse
consequences to their behavior.
So, yeah, I, again, a lot ofthese kids just being prepared
for failure from day one, neverany consequences. And that's
part of it. It's, you know,again, as a society, I don't
know why things have gotten soviolent.
(27:32):
Everything from swearing atteachers to fighting to doing or
selling drugs and bathrooms goesunpunished. Teachers and staff
have no control because thereare no consequences for
anything. But inaction producesresults. Teachers like families
are exiting the profession indroves, and those who can't
(27:52):
afford to are abandoning publiceducation. This is Steve
severance. He's a former teacherin St. Paul Public Schools.
I substituted a lot of districtsbefore I got a job in 1980. And
then I ended up at St. Paul St.
Paul Public School System andstayed there for 37 years.
(28:14):
He retired in 2014. After anincident in his classroom.
We have one kid, he was expelledfrom Central. His brother got in
a fight at lunchtime. Teacherstried to break it up. This kid
almost killed John. He was ateacher at math teacher, strong
(28:34):
built guy you know, the kidrammed his head into the cement
post two or three times. Johnends up now with the brain
concussion I disjointed walkingissues because the brain injury
with it all. Got nothing out ofthe district other than fired.
(28:55):
interference.
He said the profession haschanged. Seven said no one
should be surprised by whathappened at Harding,
the gang boy that got killedit's unfortunate I'm here
visiting game one child shouldlose their lives. However, I
feel that the district from thesuperintendent from the Ministry
(29:21):
of Chief Academic Officer andthe school board are responsible
that there was a actions toprotect these kids. They kicked
out the police officers in St.
Paul. They said it intimidatesand Tory torturous the kid kids
(29:47):
seen them in uniform. Principalsthought this again to please our
schools already and Central,particularly, teachers were not
happy. So now we don't havecops. However, if you go to the
administration building fullsecurity everywhere, you can't
(30:11):
get into any office, you had totalk to the people check in. And
so this is interesting that theadministration protects
themselves, that they don'tprotect the students in the
building.
Millions and millions of dollarsare being poured into the public
school system. But Minnesotakids are being cheated out of a
(30:34):
basic education. And mostparents don't know. How did
schools get so out of control?
Why are so many teachersstruggling to control their
classrooms? If public schoolsaren't teaching kids how to
read? What are they doing?
Administrators in many districtsin this state are pushing a
(30:54):
single agenda? It's not acoincidence. And it's not a
parent led agenda. The violence,lack of discipline, and lacks
academic standards are merelytools to reach a larger
objective. And it's harmingkids. I wanted to do this
podcast because I discoveredkids are being robbed of a basic
(31:15):
education. And I thought parentsdeserve to know. And our kids
deserve better. I believe I knowthe key to fixing this problem.
But first, we need to know whereit came from, what is wrong with
it, and why? Families need toknow they are not trapped. They
hold the key to education,freedom.
(31:37):
The whole thing is so upsettingthat it continues to go on and
everybody looks the other way.
Why do you think that is?
Because I think it's such a holethat nobody? What are they going
to do? They can't depend onanybody in Minnesota Department
of Education or Minnesota,Minnesota Department of Human
(31:58):
Services or the MinnesotaDepartment of Child Safety.
Where do you start? But we haveso many highly educated people
in Minnesota and in our schooldistrict. And they can't figure
(32:18):
it out.
This is Sheila Qualls and youare listening to trapped chaos
in the classroom. Listen toepisode two to find out what
teachers are saying and the keyto fixing our education system.
In the next episode, I want totell you why public education is
failing our kids and puttingeveryone who participates at
(32:39):
risk. Trapped is a podcast fromAlpha news is reported by me and
produced by Kendall Johnson ofunderdog films, editing by Karen
Sullivan. Back to checking byAnthony co kowski and Greg
Poulos. Our theme music is byKendall Johnson. We have four
more episodes coming. You'll beable to find them on our
(33:00):
website, subscribe at alphanews.org
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