On Tuesday, April 17, the Minneapolis Board of Education approved a new two-year labor contract with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) that supports and advances student achievement. The teachers' union and MPS reached agreement on key issues such as providing students with more time to learn, allowing teachers more time to effectively prepare for classes each day and establishing a more collaborative and focused professional development plan.
This contract is only one cornerstone of our reform efforts to turn around underperforming schools and improve academic outcomes for all students. We take the challenge of educational improvement seriously and are launching some substantial revisions to our structure and practice to build momentum for increasing success in our most struggling schools. This work includes focused instruction - what we teach, how we teach and how we measure student progress; teacher evaluation that is both supportive and meaningful; partnering with successful charter schools like Harvest Preparatory; and utilizing instructional time, including summer school, more effectively.
While the labor contract is not the only way for us to achieve improvements in these schools, it is a vital part of the overall equation. We must continue to align contracts to support school district reform efforts. This contract is not an end in itself; it is a foundation to help build future success. This contract continues to change the way we do business.

Thru May 26
Artist Exhibit:?Wendy Red Star
The Bockley Gallery presents two recent print publications: The Four Seasons series, 2006 comprised of four prints, Fall, Winter, Spring, and Indian Summer and the Thunder Up Above series, 2011 comprised of 6 prints, Hoop in the Cloud, Medicine Rock Child, Sits with the Stars, Stirs Up the Dust, and Walks in the Dark. Wendy Red Star's work explores the intersection between life on the Crow Indian reservation and the world outside of that environment. Gallery Hours: Wed. through Sat., noon to 5 pm. Bockley Gallery, 2123 W. 21st St., Minneapolis.

The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board's (NPAIHB) suicide prevention project called THRIVE has recently created an AI/AN specific suicide prevention media campaign and with the support of the Indian Health Service.  It wanted to expand the campaign nationally to include youth bullying preventionRe by partnering with a few Tribal communities.

A program that gives federal tax credits to investors who build homes on the White Earth Indian Reservation will make a small but important dent in the chronic housing shortage there.
 
Thirty families on the reservation are living in new homes this spring thanks to the program, through which the tribe hires contractors to build two- and three-bedroom homes with money from private investors. The investors will receive a 10-year tax break for investing in low-income housing.