Minnesota Parent Union director confronts school board on proficiency: 'The Titanic has sunk'

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A Minnesota parent spoke with Fox News Digital about a new proposal he believes can help alleviate brutal statistics in a recent state report card and save a sinking ship. 

Rashad Turner, president and executive director of Minnesota Parent Union, a nonprofit parental rights advocacy organization, presented a resolution that asks schools to start posting data for math and reading proficiency online, calling it a "game changer" in a teaser on Twitter. 

Turner, a father to a teenage daughter who started high school this fall, previously worked in K-12 education for eight years before moving into higher education. He founded a Black Lives Matter chapter in St. Paul, MN., in 2015, but backtracked from the group, he told Fox News Digital, after seeing its resistance to charter schools. 

"Parents deserve to know how schools are doing," Turner said at the Minneapolis Public Schools meeting on Tuesday before handing over his proposal. 

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Kid wearing yellow school bag when crossing the street on her way to school (iStock)

"My grandma always says, ‘If you knew better, you do better,’" Turner said of his philosophy, calling it the "spirit" of his campaign.

Turner confronted the board with recent statistics from Minnesota Report Card, which showed around 92 percent of Minneapolis' Black students aren't performing math at grade level and about 80 percent of those students can't read at grade level.

"I know it's hard to stomach," Turner said of the numbers. "It hurts, thinking about the fact that this district is on track to leave a whole generation of children behind. A generation that will be more prepared to stand outside of Merwin's than to be productive members of our community."

Merwin is a liquor store in Minneapolis which has been the scene of violent crime and drug deals, according to local reports.

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"The Titanic has sunk," Turner continued. "Give parents transparency so we can help get our children off the life rafts that Superintendent Graff left them on." 

Ellen Phillips virtually teaches a second grade class for students who are either at home or in a separate classroom as in-person learning resumes with restrictions in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Rover Elementary School in Tempe, Arizona, U.S., August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Cheney Orr (REUTERS/Cheney Orr)

Superintendent Ed Graff stepped down in March after the resolution to a heated educators' strike. Interim superintendent Rochelle Cox has served in his departure.

Many parents are not aware of the poor state report card, Turner told Fox News Digital. He credited it as a driving factor for the campaign.

"I would say a lot of the families that we partner with around the state, especially in the Twin Cities here, they're not really aware of what the resources schools have, how the schools are spending those resources," Turner said. "Definitely not aware of the data."

Having access to the data can better help parents partner with schools, he added.

"We've got a lot of schools here that say they are good schools," Turner said. "And if parents had access to the data, two things. They would realize that most of the schools that are saying they're good aren't educating our children. And the other thing that they might realize is that they have a responsibility, a role to play in partnering with their school, assuming that they want to stay at that school." 

"They have a role to play in making it better," he continued. "So, the impetus for this campaign is really just the information gaps that we see with parents, whether that's in Minneapolis and St. Paul. We've got a chapter down in Rochester, Minnesota. We've got a chapter up in St. Cloud. And that information gap is very prevalent no matter where you're at in the state."

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The Minnesota Parent Union, founded in 2019, has 10 chapters statewide, from Rochester to the Twin Cities to St. Cloud. It is one of several parent-led groups that have recently formed to help parents become more involved in their children's education. Some have formed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic after parents were given never-before-seen looks into what their kids were learning in class. COVID-related school closings were reported to have led to the decline in academic success.

Minneapolis teachers gather in front of the Davis Center to picket on the 10th day of the teachers strike in Minneapolis, Monday, March 21, 2022. (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via AP) (AP)

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Academics have faced a national slump according to recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, particularly in math and reading.

"Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined 5 points in reading and 7 points in mathematics compared to 2020," the Department of Education said. "This is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first ever score decline in mathematics." 

"Information is power and parents have to step up," Turner said of his group's effort. "And this is a transparency campaign. But once the data is up, then more parents have to get that information and figure out what's best for their child and then take action. And that's really what we hope to see, whether that action is finding a new school or that action is becoming a stronger partner at their current school. We know that information is power."