School in Minnesota this week

I know we're all tuned into different things at different amounts, so I thought I'd share a few things that perhaps you may have missed about school in Minnesota this week.

• The school attended by Renee Good's son Southside Family Charter School had to switch to online learning after threats. It's a teeny little school:
  

  The school was founded in the 1970s as a community initiative to help families, briefly served as an alternative school in Minneapolis Public Schools, and became a charter school in 2006.

  As it focuses on social justice, which was the focus of a New York Post article, it drew attention from...this isn't even a right wing thing. People who don't think children should work towards a more just world, I guess.
  
  

• St. Paul's schools have cancelled school for Tuesday and Wednesday this coming week (Monday is a holiday) to give time to prepare for a remote option for students which will start on Thursday the 22nd.

On Friday, Jan. 9, amid the federal enforcement crackdown following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, 51% of students whose home language is Spanish did not show up to school. That compares to absence rates around 20% during comparable days a year ago, in January 2025.
Students whose home language is Somali saw an absence rate of about 24% on Jan. 9, up from about 18% a year ago. Others, including Hmong and Karen speakers, saw small but noticeable increases in absences as well.

• As you may have seen, among the places Minneapolis residents have been keeping watch is around schools: 
  

  People who normally might be organizing parent-teacher association meetings are arranging security patrols at their kids' schools to watch for immigration agents. 

  Some parents not on patrol are escorting foreign-born teachers or staff members, driving them to and from their homes and schools to make them feel safer. Others are delivering groceries and prescription medicines to immigrant families who are too afraid to leave their homes or send their kids to class.
  

  You can read more about their work in this Minnesota Public Radio piece. 

If you're looking for ways to support those resisting ICE occupation of Minneapolis and the surrounding area, you can find ways to Stand with Minnesota here.

I was really struck this week by Jenny B. Potter's "I want to write about what it's like in Minnesota right now," which I saw on her Instagram. She also has links in her bio on ways to help.

Not about school specifically, but don't miss the Minneapolis Art Sled Rally, which was yesterday: