LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Tim Walz is running on a theme of “One Minnesota”. I do not believe we in rural Minnesota (or “Mostly Rocks and Cows” as he described those who live in our outstate area) want his big city values or mandates forced upon us. I for one have experienced Walz’s “one Minnesota” and his heavy-handed mandates.
I will never forget the frustration I felt when Walz held our school and students hostage during COVID. He refused to allow us to bring our students back to full in-person learning. You may recall that after Thanksgiving of 2020, due to an increase in our COVID cases, we moved to having half of our high school students in the building at a time. Our plan was to keep half in person and half in distance learning until Christmas break, assess the COVID levels in our school and make a decision for their return after Christmas. On January 4, we had exactly ONE COVID case in our entire district. We wanted to bring all the high school students back. But the Governor had changed the rules mid-stream and would NOT allow it. He forced us to follow his “one Minnesota” thinking and slow-walk their return. Due to his one-size-fits all mandates, we were not able to get everyone back until February 1, thus we lost yet another month of in-person instruction with our students.
Another a concern for education, is that the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB), appointed by Walz, is trying to shove through new requirements for educators. Teachers will now have to “demonstrate” ideologically driven content in their coursework to obtain their teaching license, or for current teachers to renew theirs. Similar to the proposed social studies standards changes, these are very controversial. They will affect even teachers in private schools who wish to have a Minnesota teaching license. These changes were slipped in without wide-spread public knowledge by an appointed board, and circumvented those who represent us in the legislature.
Even people in education leadership knew nothing about these new and significant requirements proposed by PELSB. It is just one more example, like the social studies standards, which push an agenda on our teachers and students. These ideological changes are driven from the top of our state.
We are dealing with a severe teacher shortage. I have talked with teachers who do not agree with the ideology being pushed upon them. If young people elect not to go into teaching or teachers simply decide to leave the profession, this shortage will only get worse.
We do not have to wonder what Tim Walz will do because we can see his record and what he has already done. Because Walz has failed us in so many ways, I support Dr. Scott Jensen for Governor. We have seen how Walz manages the state and it is clear, we must take Minnesota in a different direction. Dr. Jensen has detailed plans he calls his prescription for our state. Negative and misleading ads are everywhere, so I encourage you to learn more by visiting Jensen’s website www.drscottjensen.com.