Surprising facts I learned while in Minnesota

1) Even though MN passed the first charter law (back in 1991), there are still major tensions between school districts and charters. One school leader told me that in an effort to discourage charter schools from using district-provided tranpsortation, the Mpls school district announced that district buses will tranpsort CS kids at 10 a.m. What parent is going to wait until 10 a.m. to put their kid on the school bus? I guess it's better than this.

2) The MN system of having multiple charter authorizers, much touted by these people, creates some really interesting quirks, especially since religious organizations can "sponsor" charter schools.

3) Twin Cities area charter schools seem, on the whole, MUCH less stressed out about test scores than do their counterparts in New York. Again, a quirk I think that comes from the system of multiple authorizers.

4) There are very, very precious few secondary social studies positions available in the Twin Cities.

5) Anything you can possibly want to do in the Twin Cities, you can do at a co-op.

6) Sometimes it snows in April. Really.