After hearing from parents and students that the Climate Framework is confusing in its similar naming to other work happening in the district and is difficult to translate from English, we are unveiling our new name:  MPS Together: A Framework for Shifting our District Climate.  

The new name symbolizes the importance of every person’s contribution to a welcoming climate.  The last year and a half has us ready for the connections and relationships that build a sense of belonging and feeling valued. We can’t do this work without you!

After hearing from parents and students that the Climate Framework is confusing in its similar naming to other work happening in the district and is difficult to translate from English, we are unveiling our new name:  MPS Together: A Framework for Shifting our District Climate.  

The new name symbolizes the importance of every person’s contribution to a welcoming climate.  The last year and a half has us ready for the connections and relationships that build a sense of belonging and feeling valued. We can’t do this work without you!

Click here to go to the meeting recording.

Principals, Assistant Principals, and their teacher leadership teams attended the virtual, all-day Institute.  Participants could choose from 14 different topics ranging from Equity and School Climate, Professional Learning Communities, Engaging Families and Students, School Improvement, and Leadership.  

Additional days of staff and teacher climate professional development reached another 200+ front office and teaching staff through all the kick-off events prior to the school year starting for students.

At the board’s Committee of the Whole meeting, Senior Officer Eric Moore presented an update on the Climate Framework and the importance of shaping fall planning with student and parent voice.  Click here to go to the meeting recording. 

Spring 2021, schools invested in connecting with their existing families and students and reaching out to the families and students who would be joining them in the fall.  Ice cream socials, art activities, phone calls and visits were some of the ways they said goodbye to those who were leaving and welcome to those who would begin attending in the fall.

Achievement and Integration funding was distributed to all the schools for them to use for these climate and community building activities.  We hope you had a chance to be involved!

Focus groups met over the months of November and December to provide feedback on the draft Belief Statements.  Their feedback and the themes and common edits will be presented to Task Forces in February for their final edits.  The finalized belief statements will be a beacon for department and school planning for engagements and planning this spring and fall. 

Please check in again for next steps and further updates! If you would like to contact us, please follow this link. 

We are grateful for the groups of students, parents and staff who are providing feedback on the belief statements.  Here is a sampling of the groups who have met with us so far:

• ESPs Education Service Professionals

• Coalition of Asian American Leaders and our MPS Hmong Parent Advisory Council

• Members of the MPS EDIA Committee

• Youth Voice Advisors

• Parent Participatory Evaluators

• Equity and Engagement staff from schools (includes teachers, social workers, counselors, AEs, and more!)

• Principals and Assistant Principals

We are continuing to schedule and conduct more parent and student groups and will continue to provide updates on this webpage as they happen.

The Belief Statements version 2.0 are public after the amazing work of our Task Forces!  We are convening focus groups of parents through our community partners, students through our Youth Voice Advisors, and staff through various upcoming professional development days.  The feedback right now is still about making sure that the statements are understandable and clear, if there are any concerns, and if something might be missing.  The focus groups' feedback will go back to the Task Forces and Steering Committee for a final version.  Then the work of Phase Two begins!

On September 21,  the six Task Forces got back together to look over the feedback from the last few months and look through the places where the wording of the statements overlapped into other areas.  The REALLY interesting thing was no matter which of the six climate areas was being talked about, there were four big themes that crossed through nearly all of them:   1) Equity, Representation, and Anti-Racism, 2) Physical and Emotional Safety and Wellbeing, 3) Relationships, Trust, Communication, 4) Shared Decision Making and Voice.  The Task Forces went back in and worked on their statements with these new ideas.  On October 12, the Steering Committee will take a look at their changes and then "Belief Statements 2.0" will go out for more feedback from our students, families, and staff.

After a keynote call to Abolitionist Teaching by Dr. Bettina  Love, school staff from across the district were introduced to the Climate Framework and how the values and belief statements that are being developed will be a beacon for Curriculum Transformation and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy.  

On August 18th, Senior Officer Eric Moore presented the Climate Framework to the board in a presentation found here (the presentation begins at 15:45 in the video).  Also part of the presentation were the senior leaders who oversee implementation in each of the areas, including: Sr. Officer Fearing, Executive Officer Kelly, Sr. Officer Sullivan, Association Superintendent Cox, and Sr. Officer DeVet.

On August 13th, 520+ Teachers, Associate Educators, School Social Workers, and Principals from 61 of our schools heard about the Climate Framework draft Belief Statements and had an opportunity to dig into the values, wording and meaning behind the six areas.  This round of feedback will assist in making the statements clearer and more accessible.

As of 7.15.20, The draft belief statements for all six areas are complete.  Please go to this page to see the drafts.

Currently, Task Forces made up of students, parents and community members, teachers, ESPs, unions representing other staff, principals, and district staff are looking through the current climate data and will be recommending Belief Statements for the public to comment on.

This third meeting of our Task Forces moved from the data to beginning to form the belief statements. 

Our Task Forces members met on 6/10 and 6/17, bringing their perspectives of families and community, teachers, ESPs, school social workers, custodians, nutrition services, and district staff.  Session one involved sharing and getting to know each member's perspective and vision for the work with the group.  Session two was a data dive, understanding the current climate of the district in order to build an understanding of what we all need to see.

The Steering Committee has asked for another session on July 8th so that they can have the opportunity to look over the Task Forces' work and provide any feedback or questions they have.  The Task Forces would then have the opportunity to refine the statements before they go out to the public for feedback.

Our need for changing Minneapolis Public Schools’ climate was already important. After Mr. Floyd’s death and this week of grief, community action, and unrest there is a heightened level of impact required from our collective work.  

Task Force Requests for Consideration are currently being reviewed by Steering Committee members.  Notification will go out on Monday, June 8th to all who applied. If placed on a Task Force, the first meeting that participants should be prepared to attend is on Wednesday, June 10th.

We are currently accepting the form for people to be a part of one of the Task Forces.   There are six in all, one for each Climate Area.  If you are interested in submitting a Request for Consideration, please click here to go to the form!  The deadline for the form is Tuesday, May 26 at 11:59pm.

We are seeking the following representation for each of the six Task Forces:

• 3 Students

• 4 Parent/Community Members

• 3 Teachers

• 3 ESPs

• 3 Other Union Members

• 3 Principals

• 4 District Staff

Last evening, the Steering Committee convened for their first meeting.  Our topics included:

• Introductions and meeting norms

• Group dynamics in decision making and a common understanding of our experience as a member

• The six areas of the Climate Framework

• Providing input on the Climate Framework Survey that will be sent out to our MPS communities.

• Providing input on the process for selecting Task Force members

Beginning today, the link to the Task Force Request for Participation form link will be sent out again through Steering Committee members and list servs/email contacts for employee, student, family and community groups.  The deadline for submission is May 26, 2020.

We are grateful for the participation and commitment of these members,

• Victoria Balko

• Jessica Burton

• Greta Callahan

• Rochelle Cox

• Karen DeVet

• Basilio Diaz

• Aimee Fearing

• Cheryl Flugaur-Leavitt

• Our Board's Student Representative

• Martin Goff

• Asia Givens

• Julie Goldsmith (Facilitator)

• Sarah Hunter (Facilitator)

• Aaron Janson

• Suzanne Kelly

• Shaun Laden

• Sherrill Lindsey

• Michael Luseni

• Harry Malone-Polvolny

• Candace Miller Lopez

• Eric Moore

• Monica Shockency

• Ellen Shulman

• Emily Sowell

• Maggie Sullivan

5/7/20

The Climate Framework process for developing belief statements is outlined.  Steering Committee invitations have been sent and outreach to task force members, schools, and departments will begin.  Principals will receive information via their daily News and Notes update.

Steering Committee Members will include representatives from:

• Senior District Leadership

• MFT and ESP, AFSCME, AMP, Teamsters, SEIU, Principal's Forum

• Citywide Youth Leadership Board Chair

• Student School Board Representative

• Chairs of our Parent Action Committees

• World's Best Workforce Chair

• Member of the EDIA Committee

We are in the process of planning the invitations to the Steering Committee Members who will serve monthly as the oversight group in this process.  We are also preparing to make  the form for Task Force consideration public.    

Due to the COVID-19 closure, March has been laser focused on getting distance learning set up for our students.  While that has delayed the work currently, the Climate Framework is imperative to the changes we know we need in our climate as well as implementing the anticipated shifts of the CDD process.

We have been planning the structures to bring together voices for the steering committee and task forces.  So far, we have been speaking with schools and departments, collecting the current climate practices that are succeeding around the district.