鈥淭hese support systems are what students really rely on,鈥� one girl told the board. 鈥淎s someone who struggles a lot with being overwhelmed and anxious, sometimes I just need someone to talk to.鈥�

The layoffs will help reduce an $8.6 million budget deficit, due in part to the loss of 350 students. 

Sarah Neville, a board member in the Boston-area district, knows one reason enrollment is down. Under federal law, districts can鈥檛 ask whether students are U.S. citizens, but almost 90% of the 5,700-students are Latino and 47% are English learners. The state education agency estimates that the population of English learners in Massachusetts schools has since 2024. Officials from Chelsea and other metro-area districts say as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted raids in last fall.

鈥淲e’re low hanging fruit for ICE because so many of our folks are undocumented,鈥� Neville said. 鈥淲hen they say, 鈥榃e’re going to go target Boston,鈥� you find the vans actually hanging out in Chelsea.鈥�

The district is among several across the country now confronting the financial impact of the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration enforcement efforts. Whether students are absent from school, families have been detained, or they鈥檝e left the district or the country on their own, the empty desks add up.

Districts no longer have federal COVID relief funds to fall back on, and many already saw steep enrollment declines during the pandemic. The Chelsea board is one of asking the legislature for one-time grants to help address the shortfall. With fixed costs like payroll and contracts with vendors, a sharp drop in enrollment 鈥渃reates chaos,鈥� Neville said.

In Texas, officials from , and several districts in the are among those who say the immigration crackdown has contributed to further enrollment loss and, with it, potential drops in state funding. 

Districts鈥� heightened concerns over finances come as conservatives increasingly argue that American taxpayers shouldn鈥檛 be footing the bill to educate undocumented students in the first place. 

During a heated , members of a House judiciary subcommittee argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn , a landmark 1982 ruling in a Texas case that guaranteed children a right to a public education, regardless of citizenship status.

鈥淭he financial costs of Plyler are undoubtedly staggering, clearly representing a significant burden on localities,鈥� said Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, who chaired the hearing. 鈥淏ut it isn’t just fiscal costs we should be worried about. Our nation’s classrooms routinely deal with illegal alien students, many of whom know little to no English and may struggle with other learning disabilities.鈥�

Pointing to Census Bureau figures, a from the subcommittee estimated that educating non-citizen students in U.S. schools costs about $68 billion a year. But during the hearing, Democrats highlighted of providing students access to education, like $633 billion paid in state and local income taxes and contributions to the U.S. economy worth more than $2.7 trillion.

The witnesses included James Rogers, senior counselor with the conservative America First Legal Foundation, who called the Plyler opinion 鈥漞gregiously wrong from the start鈥� and an example of judicial overreach. He predicted that the current conservative majority on the court would overturn it if given the opportunity. Republicans in like have proposed legislation to collect students鈥� immigration status. If one of those bills passes, opponents are expected to challenge it in court.

But Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said that excluding undocumented students from school or charging tuition would mean 鈥渙nly certain classes of children whose parents can afford to pay are entitled to the blessings of liberty and the hope of a better future.鈥� 

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, warned that at a time when chronic absenteeism remains above pre-pandemic levels, non-citizen children wouldn鈥檛 be the only ones out of school if the court overturned Plyler.

鈥淚t will extend beyond the families to peers and ultimately it will be impossible to enforce truancy laws,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ny child who doesn’t want to be in school will know to simply say 鈥業’m undocumented.鈥� 鈥�

The 鈥榖ottom line鈥�

For now, most Texas districts want to hang on to as many students as possible.

鈥淲hen you’re a rural school district, every kid has a big impact on your bottom line,鈥� said Kevin Brown, executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators. 鈥淲hen you lose five or 10 kids, you have to cut programming. You can’t cut teachers, so you have to start looking for other ways to do it.鈥�

He expects to see a request during next year鈥檚 legislative session to allow for some 鈥渢ransition period鈥� before funding drops, but 鈥渨hether something passes is another question.鈥�

In California, where state funding is based on districts鈥� average daily attendance, Gov. Gavin Newsom last October that would have added immigration enforcement as one of the emergencies that triggers a waiver of the funding rule. The change was unnecessary, he said.

In Minnesota, districts are still hoping for some relief. On their behalf, a national nonprofit to temporarily suspend a state law that requires districts to drop students from the rolls if they鈥檝e been absent for 15 straight days. The legislation allows exemptions for emergencies.

, in which the Trump administration deployed roughly 4,000 ICE agents to the Minneapolis area, 鈥渘o doubt qualifies as a calamity that would trigger application of the exemption,鈥� leaders of the National Center for Youth Law wrote to state House and Senate leaders last month. 

Fridley Public Schools, outside Minneapolis, has lost 20 students because of the 15-day rule.聽

鈥淪ome of our children have been in an apartment for 14 weeks and haven’t been able to leave,鈥� Superintendent Brenda Lewis said on a recent webinar. 

Roughly 100 more have left since the surge, possibly taking advantage of the state鈥檚 open enrollment policy to relocate to other districts. The loss means a $1 million hit to the district鈥檚 $51 million budget. The district also missed out on $131,000 in meal reimbursements from the federal government because low-income students weren鈥檛 in school to eat breakfast and lunch, Lewis said. 

Fridley鈥檚 enrollment would have been down another 400 students if the district hadn鈥檛 quickly implemented a virtual learning program, Lewis said. But federal agents used the device distribution process to apprehend those they suspected to be undocumented, she said. 

鈥淲e had ICE agents arresting people because they knew they were coming for the Chromebooks,鈥� said Lewis, whose district is part of against the Trump administration over its policy of allowing immigration enforcement near schools and other 鈥渟ensitive鈥� locations. 鈥淚CE agents will board your buses. They’ll board your vans. They’ll pull the vehicle over and start interviewing children about immigration status. By interviewing, I mean interrogating.鈥�

鈥業n-your-face presence鈥�

The Trump administration recently such actions in an effort to end a government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security. Julie Sugarman, who studies immigration policy affecting K-12 schools at the Migration Policy Institute, said a 鈥渓ess-aggressive鈥� approach near school grounds would likely lead some missing students to return. 

鈥淭he in-your-face presence absolutely is causing people to stay home,鈥� she said.

The Chicago Public Schools last fall saw steep declines in attendance that coincided with , according to by Kids First Chicago, an advocacy group, and the Coalition for Authentic Community Engagement, representing multiple nonprofits. On Sept. 29, the Monday after enforcement activity began, nearly 14,000 students at schools serving high percentages of Latino students were absent, the report showed. 

The district uses enrollment counts from the early part of the school year to make budget and staffing decisions. If students missed school on those days, or if the district eventually dropped students out for extended periods, those absences could affect funding, explained Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago.

District leaders can only estimate how many undocumented students are entering, or leaving, their schools, and that鈥檚 a problem, Mandy Drogin, a senior fellow at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, said in testimony before the House subcommittee. She blamed that warned districts against asking for students鈥� or parents鈥� citizenship status for enrollment purposes. 

While many English learners are U.S. citizens, she called out districts under state takeover, like and nearby , which have English learner populations above 30%, according to the state. 鈥淚llegal students,鈥� she said, are impacting schools as a whole. 

鈥淭eachers are being forced to 鈥� do Google Translate on their phones,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ll of these things obviously impact the total education system, and the taxpayers are left holding the bag.鈥�

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said immigration enforcement affects all students. He pointed to Willmar, Minnesota, about 150 miles west of the Twin Cities and the site of a Jennie-O turkey plant that employs many . It鈥檚 the town where ICE agents in a Mexican restaurant and then returned to detain the owners and a dishwasher. 

In December, as rumors of an ICE raid spread, hundreds of kids, including white students, stayed out of school, Superintendent Bill Adams . 

鈥淚 remember walking in the hallways going, 鈥楬oly God, where are all the kids?鈥欌�� said a district employee who declined to speak for attribution due to the sensitivity of the topic. 鈥淚t was eerie.鈥�

In October, Adams said enrollment in the 4,400-student district was down by over 170 students, amounting to a loss of more than $4 million. To make up for some of that gap, the district is it used to teach independent living skills, like cooking and doing the laundry, to older students with disabilities. 

鈥淚t’s just hit our community really bad,鈥� the employee said.  

Written in response to the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good during federal immigration operations, the song offered more than commentary. It interpreted a national crisis, asking listeners to confront what state power looks like when it arrives in neighborhoods, on sidewalks and in the lives of ordinary families. 

That is precisely why this moment belongs not only on playlists and opinion pages, but in civic education.

Since then, the political terrain has shifted, but not in ways that make the issue less urgent for schools. President Donald Trump Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after months of political fallout surrounding the administration鈥檚 immigration crackdown. 

Around the same time, reporting showed that the administration had scaled back the most visible ICE tactics in Minneapolis, there from roughly 3,000 agents to about 650, and shifted toward more targeted operations after the public backlash. Arrests declined in February, but ICE remains active, and the economic and civic damage in Minneapolis continues.

The retreat matters. It suggests that public protest, documentation by witnesses, investigative reporting and political pressure forced a tactical recalibration. But it also underscores a deeper lesson for educators: Students are living through a period in which official narratives, video evidence, journalism, protest and art are colliding in real time. 

Schools cannot pretend these are merely political controversies happening somewhere else. They are contemporary case studies in how democracy works, how it fails and how citizens push back.

The arrest earlier this month of , a Nashville-based reporter for a Spanish-language news outlet, makes that lesson even harder to ignore. Rodriguez Florez had been covering immigration arrests in Tennessee. Then ICE detained her, despite her pending asylum case, valid work permit and marriage to a U.S. citizen. 

Moments like this one shed light on why protest music is produced in response to government actions to silence individuals, raising essential civic questions for students to consider: Who gets to document state power? What happens when the people telling a community鈥檚 story become vulnerable themselves? And how should a democracy respond when journalism, immigration status, and political retaliation appear to converge?

Springsteen鈥檚 song is not a lone artistic response. Recent in Rolling Stone traces a broader wave of anti-ICE protest music released in the wake of the Minneapolis operations. Billy Bragg wrote 鈥淐ity of Heroes.鈥� NOFX released 鈥淢innesota Nazis.鈥� My Morning Jacket put out a benefit project, Peacelands, in solidarity with communities affected by ICE brutality. Bon Iver shared a live track to raise money for immigrant legal defense. Low Cut Connie and Dropkick Murphys have added their own contributions to this growing soundtrack of dissent.

Another Rolling Stone  places Springsteen鈥檚 song in a longer tradition of 鈥渋nstant protest songs,鈥� linking it to works such as Woody Guthrie鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� written in response to a 1948 plane crash that killed 28 Mexican migrant farmworkers being deported; Nina Simone鈥檚 鈥溾�� and Bob Dylan鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� written after the 1963 assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers; and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� about the Ohio National Guard鈥檚 killing of four Kent State University students protesting the Vietnam War.

This history is what makes this such a consequential educational moment. Protest songs are not simply cultural accessories to political events. They are historical artifacts, rhetorical arguments and emotional archives. They help listeners name what has happened, assign meaning to it and imagine what moral response is required. In classrooms, they can help students examine competing claims about law, order, belonging and dissent without reducing complex issues to partisan slogans. 

Analyzing protest music asks students to interpret voice, perspective, evidence, omission and historical context. These are not ideological activities designed to indoctrinate youth. They are learning opportunities to build critical thinking and civic literacy skills.

The question is not whether teachers should tell students what to think about Bruce Springsteen, ICE, Kristi Noem or the Trump administration. The question is whether students should have the chance to grapple with how democracies narrate force, how communities contest official accounts, and how music, journalism, and protest shape public understanding. 

In elementary school, that might mean introducing age-appropriate examples of peaceful protest and the role of songs in movements for fairness. In middle school, it could mean comparing lyrics with speeches or media accounts and asking what each includes, emphasizes, or leaves out. In high school, it could mean examining how protest music enters political life as argument, memory, and civic witness.

The broader lesson is that protest is not alien to American history; it is one of the ways people have always argued about freedom. From abolitionist songs to civil-rights anthems to Springsteen鈥檚 Minneapolis lament, music has carried democratic conflict across generations. 

It has helped individuals feel the stakes of policies they might otherwise encounter only as abstractions. It has translated public tragedy into public argument. And that argument, however uncomfortable, is not something schools should avoid. It is something students should be prepared to enter with the skills of engaging in productive and divergent thinking on complex civic issues.

At a moment when federal officials are trying to soften the optics of immigration enforcement without abandoning its underlying machinery, and when a journalist covering immigration can herself be detained, schools should resist the temptation to retreat into silence. Young people need more opportunities, not fewer, to interpret the music, reporting, speeches and images shaping public life around them.

A democracy worthy of the next generation depends on an informed citizenry capable of productive disagreement. Protest songs do not threaten that project. They give students one of the essential ways to practice it.

New of these schools, shared exclusively with 社区黑料, was published Thursday by Education Reimagined, a national nonprofit that helps schools implement . It鈥檚 an approach where young people have ownership of their education, learn in their communities and show their knowledge through multiple ways, not just tests, according to the nonprofit. 

Over the 2024-25 school year, Education Reimagined studied in St. Paul, Minnesota; in LaFayette, New York; and in Mukwonago, Wisconsin 鈥�  a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities that enrolled a total of 388 K-12 students. More than 45% had individualized education programs or 504 plans 鈥� documents that spell out how needs will be met under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

鈥淚n all the sites we studied, the systems are designed to fit the learner and their needs, not the other way around,鈥� said Khara Schonfeld, one of the organization鈥檚 researchers. 鈥淭hey’re seeing differences as the norm as opposed to the exception. That means learners are showing up.鈥�

That included mindsets that shifted how staff understood learning differences and student potential; different organizational structures; and key daily practices for student support and success.

The approach has produced positive academic results. At Norris School District, students with IEPs increase reading performance by an average of 8 percentage points and math by 4 percentage points per trimester. Avalon students with IEPs consistently for students with IEPs on math and reading tests. 

In the LaFayette Central School District, the opening of LaFayette Big Picture in 2008 correlated with graduation rates for students with IEPs in the district rising from a range of 50% to 70% to a scale of 95% to 100%.

Students who enrolled in these schools also experienced a decline in behavioral incidents and became more engaged in their education, according to the research.

鈥淎 lot of the learners came with past trauma, including education trauma 鈥� they had a hard time in previous schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o it all really focused on this idea of healing and making sure that they felt safe and cared for. We had a couple of alumni say, 鈥業 went to the school. I can talk to anyone about anything that I want to get or find out because the school taught me how to do that.鈥�

Schonfeld said common accommodations students with disabilities need in traditional classroom settings are provided to everyone 鈥� a key factor in the learner-centered system鈥檚 success.

In Minnesota鈥檚 Avalon School, staff begin each day with a session where students and their advisors connect in a sensory-friendly setting  鈥� an environment that reduces stimuli like harsh lighting and loud noises. Norris School District鈥檚 single campus, where 75% of the students have IEPs, celebrates small accomplishments that might go unnoticed, such as a student鈥檚 ability to hold an entire conversation, the case study said.

Leadership structures are also different at these schools. Avalon, a charter school, has a teacher-majority board that allows educators to redesign schedules and positions. LaFayette Big Picture School pairs students with mentors, while Norris School District has staff meetings every day.

Some daily practices include offering internships onsite to ensure students don鈥檛 have to be 鈥渞eady鈥� to travel outside the building to experience career education. The schools also interpret disruptive behavior as communication about unmet needs rather than misconduct, according to the research. For example, Avalon School uses a strategy called relational repair, where educators ask reflective questions after a disruptive behavior to build trust with students. At Norris, students are taught to name feelings to help staff find the right support during a behavioral incident.

This learner-centered framework has a positive ripple effect with families and educators, Schonfeld said. Parents of students at all three schools have shared they no longer have to fight for their child鈥檚 special education accommodations. 

Teachers also feel more supported and satisfied with their jobs, the researchers found. Avalon School has maintained a 90% year-to-year retention rate over two decades, with current teachers averaging 10 years of experience. At LaFayette, more than half of the staff have been at the school for at least nine years.

More than 50 Minnesota school districts continue to use so-called seclusion rooms, according to data obtained by the . Districts use seclusion rooms for children with a disability and who are at risk of harming themselves or others.

This practice is banned or extremely limited in 21 states.

The 50 school districts maintain 194 registered seclusion rooms across 100 school buildings across the state, according to the records.

For the first time, the Minnesota Disability Law Center set out to document the state鈥檚 seclusion rooms, photographing more than 80 of them and documenting their locations in a report titled 鈥�.鈥�

鈥淚 think the average person does not know this is happening in their schools. When they see the rooms and they find out how they鈥檙e used, the average person is appalled and is very upset and curious as to why this antiquated and traumatizing practice is still allowed in our schools,鈥� said Jessica Heiser of the Minnesota Disability Law Center in an interview with the Reformer.

Multiple school districts in Minnesota do not practice seclusion, including Minneapolis Public Schools and Fridley Public Schools. Neither Spiro Academy nor Intermediate District 287 鈥� which both specialize in serving students with disabilities 鈥� use seclusion.

During the 2023-24 school year, show that 553 students with disabilities were subjected to 3,451 instances of seclusion. In the 2024-25 school year, after seclusion was banned for students in third grade and below, 358 students were subjected to 1,867 episodes of seclusion.

The most recent from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights states that repeated use of seclusion for the same student by a school is likely a violation of the student鈥檚 rights.

Heiser said she believes one reason Minnesota has been slow to eliminate seclusion is because the policy affects a small number of students, and remains mostly hidden from the general public 鈥� and even from educators, school staff and parents of school-age children.

鈥淣obody wants their kids in one of these rooms. As a parent, I cannot look at this room and say in good grace that there is a single child that deserves to be locked in a cinder block room in a school,鈥� Heiser said.

In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law that banned seclusion for students with disabilities from birth through third grade. At the time, the Minnesota Department of Education recommended that the state work towards eliminating the practice entirely by the start of the 2026-27 school year.

But progress towards that goal has halted in the Legislature. Sen. Judy Seeburger, DFL-Afton, proposed legislation last year to rollback the 2023 law banning seclusion for the youngest students. Seeburger also led a , which met 11 times between August and January. In the group鈥檚 , Seeburger explained how her adult son was subject to seclusion as a student and why she believes the practice was beneficial.

鈥淭he seclusion working group, everybody around the table, except Sen. Seeberger, said 鈥榃e don鈥檛 want this practice,鈥欌�� said Jessica Webster, an attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. 鈥淲hat a bizarre place for us to be standing that all of the voices agree that this is a harmful and traumatic practice that we shouldn鈥檛 be using, but we鈥檙e still using it.鈥�

Seeberger did not respond to an interview request.

The working group鈥檚 meeting materials show a dozen letters that support letting schools continue to use seclusion, with varying degrees of support for rolling back the 2023 ban on using them on younger students. Five of the letters come from a single school district, Intermediate School District 917, which serves as a special education cooperative for nine districts in the south metro. Another five come from other special education cooperatives around the state. Intermediate and cooperative districts typically provide services for students with disabilities who often require services that are provided in separate school buildings.

Black students with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to seclusion, making up just 12% of students with disabilities in Minnesota but subject to 22% of all instances of seclusion.

鈥淚t is unquestionable in every state, including our own, that seclusion and restrictive procedures in general, like holds on children and locking children in rooms by themselves, is used against boys of color with disabilities more so than any other demographic,鈥� Heiser said.

Heiser added that multiple federal investigations have led to banning seclusion in particular states or school districts because data show it is disproportionately used on boys of color.

Seclusion is primarily used on students between the ages of 6 and 10. Before the ban was implemented for students in third grade and below, these children with disabilities made up about one-third of students with disabilities in Minnesota, but were subject to more than two-thirds of all episodes of seclusion. In the same year, 16% of students with disabilities were ages 16-21, but they made up just 7% of the students subjected to seclusion.

After the K-3 seclusion ban, in the 2024-25 school year, 6 to 10 year olds still made up about one-third of students with disabilities, but they accounted for only 46% of all episodes of seclusion.

Heiser says that some defenders of seclusion say it is necessary because the children can become violent and could hurt someone if not locked in a room. But she calls this a 鈥渞ed herring.鈥� She said it is 鈥渃ommon sense鈥� that an older child would be bigger and stronger, and thus more likely to cause injury to another person. She said there鈥檚 a simple explanation for why younger children are more likely to be subjected to seclusion: They鈥檙e smaller.

鈥淚t really just comes down to how easy is it to grab a kid and put them in the closet? It鈥檚 easier when they鈥檙e littler,鈥� Heiser said.

Students with autism or whose disabilities are categorized as emotional or behavioral disorder are disproportionately more likely to experience seclusion. Just 10% of students with disabilities are in the emotional or behavioral disability category, while they experience about 2 of every 5 seclusion episodes. Students with autism make up about 16% of students with disabilities but experience more than one-third of all seclusion episodes. This did not change after seclusion was banned for K-3 students.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

Nebraska lawmakers approved a Feb. 27 allowing schools to for violent behavior. Schools will be required to provide a plan to parents whose young children are suspended that describes available resources and how the student’s behavior will be handled in the future. Gov. Jim Pillen said he intends to sign the bill into law.

In the rural Nebraska panhandle, elementary teachers at Kimball Public Schools have watched students as young as 5 throw furniture, bite staff and attack classmates. 

Until a few years ago, in- and out-of-school suspensions were one way that Nebraska schools dealt with this type of behavior. But in 2023, state lawmakers for students in prekindergarten through second grade unless they brought a weapon to school. 

It was billed as a move to protect children with disabilities and prevent the disproportionate suspension of students of color. But now, Nebraska lawmakers are trying to reverse the ban. Educators say suspensions are needed to stop severe or violent behavior 鈥� which has gotten worse since the pandemic 鈥� and to get parents鈥� attention about how their children are acting in school. 

鈥淲e will have a student physically assault another student, or fight staff members. And then it happens repeatedly. The parents’ support is not there. What are we going to do in Kimball, Nebraska?鈥� asked Superintendent Trevor Anderson. 鈥淭he only solution that we really have is that they’re still in the building and now it’s essentially one of the staff members babysitting all day long, because (the student) is not able to handle being in the regular classroom setting.鈥�

Nebraska is one of a handful of states, including Minnesota and Texas, that have sought to repeal suspension bans in the last year. At least 18 states prohibit suspensions for students in prekindergarten through second or third grade, according to the most recent published in 2020.

A rise in student misbehavior post-COVID, combined with inadequate funding for special education, has left districts struggling with how to address behaviors 鈥� sometimes violent 鈥� in the classroom. But research that suspensions disproportionately impact students of color and children with disabilities or from marginalized backgrounds, including those in early grades. 

While Black children made up 18% of U.S. preschoolers during the 2021-22 school year, they represented 38% of students who received at least one out-of-school suspension, according to the latest federal . About 23% of U.S. preschoolers received services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) during that time and represented 41% of those who were suspended.

One found that 鈥渞eceiving a suspension serves as a key turning point toward increased odds of incarceration鈥� for students later in life.

鈥淚 don’t 鈥� think it works to suspend pre-K students (through) second grade鈥� students at all. I was鈥� 鈥璼uspended at that age and, quite frankly, I don’t believe it helped. I went home and watched cartoons. I don’t think that changed my behavior鈥� 鈥璦t all,鈥� said Nebraska state Sen. Terrell McKinney when he in 2023. 鈥淚 believe it prepares鈥� kids 鈥� especially kids that look like me 鈥� for the juvenile justice system, the child welfare system and then the鈥� 鈥璫riminal justice system.鈥�

Discipline that might be appropriate for older students can be harmful for young children’s development, said Luis Rodriguez, a New York University professor who school discipline. 

鈥淵oung children are still learning. They probably are still developing social skills 鈥� especially when we’re talking about kindergarten, first grade 鈥� and it might be the first time that some of these children are around other children and away from home,鈥� he said. 鈥淓xclusionary disciplines such as suspensions at that age can interrupt foundational learning.鈥�

Since the pandemic, some policymakers have focused on ways to combat in schools to protect teacher and student safety, while others have tried to reduce disparities in school discipline and ensure children don鈥檛 miss out on learning, said Zeke Perez, assistant director of the nonprofit . 

Maryland was one of the first states to for early grades, in 2017. It prohibited the practice for students in prekindergarten through second grade unless there was an 鈥渋mminent threat鈥� to staff or students.

A published in 2024 found that the law reduced the probability of K-2 suspensions from 1.9% in 2017 to 0.8% in 2018, while rates remained steady around 3% for grades 3 to 5 following the ban. But disparities still remained in suspension rates for students who were Black, low-income or had disabilities.

Paul Lemle, president of the Maryland State Education Association, said the law has been beneficial for schools.

鈥淲e’re always trying to avoid removal from school, especially for our youngest students,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verywhere there’s challenging behavior. It comes with the territory. This hasn’t made the job more difficult. It’s the right thing to do for these really young kids.鈥�

While Maryland鈥檚 law allows suspensions for violent behavior, Nebraska鈥檚 only exception is for bringing a weapon to school. Some educators and lawmakers said revisions are needed to expand the exceptions to protect students and teachers.

Nebraska state Sen. Dave Murman, who proposed in January, said he鈥檚 heard from school districts that the same students act out repeatedly and can鈥檛 be removed from the classroom. 

鈥淚 don’t believe this law is working. Suspension should never be the first option, but what happens when a student behaves in a violent manner and students or staff get hurt?鈥� he said at a Jan. 27 . 鈥淚’ve heard stories from teachers and administrators about students biting, hitting, throwing desks and chairs, stabbing with pencils and even kicking the stomach of a pregnant teacher. How can children learn in that environment?鈥�

Murman said suspensions might be the only way administrators can get a parent鈥檚 attention to address their child鈥檚 behavior. He said some schools aren鈥檛 able to make contact with families until they have to physically remove their child from school after a suspension.

These challenges have become more common for Kimball Public Schools since the pandemic, said Anderson. The district is located near the Wyoming and Colorado borders and serves nearly 400 students. About half are enrolled in elementary grades.

Anderson said he had never seen the level of aggression and violent behavior from young elementary students in his eight years as an administrator until recently. He said classroom management has been more difficult since the suspension ban went into effect in 2023.

Small, remote districts like Kimball don鈥檛 receive the same resources as metropolitan schools that provide , such as behavioral supports or trauma-informed interventions. A licensed mental health practitioner visits the district once a week. Anderson said he recently filled a behavior specialist position that had been open for a year and a half.

Before the ban, Omaha Public Schools used suspensions in kindergarten through second grade on rare occasions to get a behavior plan in place for a struggling student, said Kathy Poehling, president of the Omaha Education Association. 

鈥淲e’re not forced to suspend preschoolers or kindergartners. But if that’s what we need to do in order to get people together, to put a plan in place, sometimes you need 24 hours to do that,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don’t really support the idea of repealing the entire ban, because I think then we’re not really looking at the situation and saying, 鈥榃hat does the child need?鈥� We don’t want to suspend just to suspend.鈥�

Omaha鈥檚 Education Rights Counsel, a legal advocacy nonprofit, supported the ban because children between the ages of 4 and 7 were being sent home multiple times a year, said Director Lauren Micek Vargas. 

Some students might be exhibiting behaviors because of a disability or possible trauma at home, she said. 

鈥淲ith our most young, vulnerable children, oftentimes that behavior actually is a form of communication of something else,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you punish something without trying to figure out what is happening underneath the surface 鈥� we’re missing out on an opportunity to really connect with the child and also see other things that are going on.鈥�

But under IDEA, some legal procedures that could help students get access to special education services are triggered only by suspensions, said Robyn Linscott, director of family and education policy at The Arc of the United States.

Under IDEA, schools are required to hold a meeting with specialists, teachers and the family of any student who has been suspended for 10 or more days during a school year. These sessions determine whether the behavior that led to the suspensions is the result of a disability.

鈥淚f that is the case, then the school has to make sure that all these other supports are in place before they can be suspended again, before they can be expelled,鈥� Linscott said. 鈥淭hey often look back to functional behavior assessments and their (individualized education program) to see if it was actually being followed. This is a really important protection and procedural point for students with disabilities.鈥�

Even without suspensions, schools can informally remove students with disabilities by asking their parents to take them home. But that doesn鈥檛 count toward the federal 10-day limit.

Last year, Minnesota lawmakers initiated bills to reinstate suspensions and other exclusionary discipline only two years after passing a ban. State Sen. Jim Abeler, one of the bill authors, said the suspension ban had been implemented with good intentions, but 鈥渋t鈥檚 been a disaster.鈥�

鈥淭here’s no chance to intervene,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he kids see no consequences and don鈥檛 ever get a chance to get on track with a plan. Superintendents came (to the legislature) and begged for a way to work around this.鈥�

A 2017 in Texas was revised last year to expand the reasons for sending a student in prekindergarten through second grade home. Before the change, young students could be suspended only if they brought a gun to school. Now, include repeated or significant disruption to the classroom or a threat to the health and safety of other students.

In Nebraska, lawmakers like state Sen. Ashlei Spivey are working on a that would allow more exceptions, like chronic disruptive behavior or violence. The legislation, which is separate from the bill to repeal the ban and more likely to pass, is in the second debate and voting stage in the legislature. 

Spivey said that while sending students home might be a tool for discipline, alternative interventions are key to preventing disproportionate suspensions and keeping young children in the classroom.

鈥淚f you feel like a 7-year-old should not be in a classroom, my thought is that you cannot throw them away, but you ask, 鈥榃hat are they navigating? What type of support do they need?’ 鈥� she said. “There also needs to be clearly defined expectations of what escalates to a suspension and how you are defining that, and how it is being applied to all student populations.鈥�

Dulcie and her family, who live in the Twin Cities metro, are afraid every day when they leave for work and school.

鈥淎ll of my friends are staying at home. No one comes out. It gets to me,鈥� said Dulcie, who declined to use her last name because she fears retribution from federal agents, who have been detaining citizens and legal immigrants.

Recently, Dulcie began driving her parents to work every morning before school, as early as 4 a.m. 鈥� because she is afraid they might disappear.

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鈥淚 would rather do that than never hear from them. I鈥檇 rather know at least where to look for them then never hear a single word from them probably,鈥� she said.

Like many area schools, Dulcie鈥檚 school is offering an online option for students worried about coming to school, but she has continued to go to school in-person, even if she doesn鈥檛 always feel like it.

鈥淢ost of the time I don鈥檛 even want to go because everything just feels so depressing,鈥� Dulcie says.

The nation鈥檚 conscience has been shocked by high-profile incidents of federal immigration enforcement agents engaging children, including聽apprehending on his way home from school.

But the impact on children and their families extend beyond these viral incidents, affecting the lives of children and families broadly across race, immigration status and economic class in the Twin Cities. The ongoing immigration surge of around has created a climate of fear 鈥� not just for the criminals and undocumented immigrants they claim to be targeting 鈥� but for ordinary families trying to maintain the routines and normalcy of childhood.

鈥淲e are just kids, and instead of being kids and living our lives as kids, we have to step up and support our community,鈥� said Taleya Addison, an 18-year-old senior at FAIR School for Arts in downtown Minneapolis. She said her best friend鈥檚 father has been in ICE detention for weeks, and his mother is a stay-at-home mom. The family is struggling, so Addison has been picking up groceries and running errands for them.

With a Trump executive order in hand allowing stepped up immigration enforcement around schools and churches, federal agents have detained at least nine students in Columbia Heights, which canceled school Feb. 2 after feds were observed stalking bus stops and schools around arrival and dismissal.

Duluth Public Schools, Fridley Public Schools and Education Minnesota, the state鈥檚 teachers union, against the feds, alleging the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedures Act by rescinding the sensitive areas policy that had previously protected schools from immigration enforcement activity.

Among the many incidents around schools:

On the day of Renee Good鈥檚 killing, immigration agents deployed chemical irritants and smoke outside of Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. After the murder of Alex Pretti, federal agents deployed smoke outside of an elementary school in Minneapolis.

On Jan. 14, federal agents were spotted gathering outside of an elementary school around dismissal time .

Roseville schools reported that on Jan. 21 immigration enforcement agents used a school parking lot as a staging area.

Parents interviewed by the Reformer said immigration agents have lurked outside of schools in Minneapolis, and one said agents in a vehicle concealed themselves in the parent pickup line at a suburban school, while staff scrambled to get students safely inside.

Federal agents have also been confronted after around in the Twin Cities.

On Jan. 14, Area Public Schools reported that a parent waiting at a bus stop had been taken by federal agents. And on Jan. 23, Public Schools reported that two students and their parents had been taken by federal agents in an incident witnessed by another parent in the district.

On Jan. 15, transporting students and staff from St. Paul Public Schools were stopped by federal agents.

On Jan. 27, Public Schools reported that two of its vans had also been stopped by federal immigration agents while students and staff were on board. And on Jan. 29, reported that federal agents had boarded a bus while students were on board.

The听搁别蹿辞谤尘别谤 spoke with more than a dozen Twin Cities teens, parents of younger children and teachers to understand the impact on the daily lives of children. Their experiences range from the minor inconveniences of having extracurricular activities postponed or canceled, to fearing for their own safety leaving the house for school or work.

Students have gone missing from school

Heather, who declined to use her last name because she fears retribution against her students and school, teaches English learners at a middle school in the Twin Cities. Since her district introduced an online learning option, her typical class of 20 students is down to just four or five students in person. Many students are also not showing up online either.

Although absenteeism has been worse since the killing of Good on Jan. 7,聽 Heather has had students regularly missing school because of concerns about immigration enforcement since November. One student has temporarily moved in with family out of state because their parents believe they are safer there.

Heather said she is concerned that many of her students who have moved to online learning might never come back to the classroom.

Student absenteeism is also putting some funding at-risk for Minnesota school districts. When students miss more than , districts are required by state law to drop students from enrollment. Most K-12 school funding in Minnesota is tied to , averaged over the school year, so as students remain absent for extended periods, districts will start to lose funding.

Significant short-term and long-term consequences for children are already well documented

Researchers have previously shown the impact of intensive immigration enforcement, beginning with short-term effects like missed school and increased anxiety.

When immigration enforcement increased in last year, students missed 22% more days of school, with the youngest students missing the most days. Missing school is tied to lower academic outcomes.

But the long-term impacts extend beyond academic outcomes. In the year following an on a meatpacking plant in Morrison, Tenn., in 2018, researchers found consequences for children鈥檚 wellbeing up to a year after the raid.

They documented more suspensions and expulsions from school for student behavior, and a doubling of serious mental health disorders including substance use disorder, depression, self鈥恏arm, and suicide attempts or ideation. Children were more likely to be victims of sexual abuse in Morrison in the year following the raid.

The Morrison raid was a single incident that resulted in detention of about 100 adults. By contrast, Minnesota has been subject to intense, ongoing enforcement actions that have now lasted for over two months and affected thousands of families.

Recent research in Florida suggests the impact extends beyond families caught in the enforcement dragnet. A recent study of , where immigration enforcement increased significantly at the start of the second Trump administration, found that student test scores dropped for American-born Spanish-speaking students just as much as for those born outside the U.S. They also found a decline in test scores for Hispanic students broadly, not just those who speak Spanish.

The same Florida study also showed that the impacts were more significant for students in middle and high school, among girls and students already struggling in school. And, for schools with higher concentrations of poverty, increased immigration enforcement had a larger impact on students, controlling for other student characteristics.

Once higher rates of absenteeism kick in, the negative effects can spread to an entire school community. Teachers struggle getting students back up to speed after they miss even one day of classroom instruction, data show. And, research during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that students and families can struggle to resume attending school regularly when their routine has been disrupted by time away from in-person learning.

A student alters her daily routines after a killing near her home

Children in the Twin Cities aren鈥檛 just facing the threat of federal detention. Hattie, a Black high school senior who declined to use her last name for fear of federal retribution, lives near where federal officers shot and killed Alex Pretti. The killing, along with the continuous presence of federal immigration enforcement activity around her home, has created a fearful atmosphere. She and her friends have quit taking their customary strolls around the neighborhood or taking the bus to get around.

Hattie said she doesn鈥檛 feel like she is a target for federal agents. As a Black woman, however, she knows they would see her, and assumes they鈥檇 read her as an opponent.

鈥淚鈥檓 scared to go out there because you really never know when or where or who or why,鈥� Hattie said.

She said she has noticed subtle changes in her school, like more Latino students choosing to attend online and extra security around.

鈥淚 can definitely see the difference in who takes the bus, who鈥檚 walking home,鈥� Hattie said.

She鈥檚 struggled to manage the stress.

鈥淎t least for me, personally speaking, I鈥檓 not really coping. It鈥檚 just like, let鈥檚 just make it to the next day and not be targeted,鈥� Hattie says.

Like many others around the Twin Cities, Hattie has also been spending her time helping to organize donations and support for people staying at home for their own safety. She said that while people definitely need food, households sheltering in place also need toys and activities for children stuck inside, assistance getting medical care, and even help taking laundry to the laundromat.

Effects of immigration enforcement felt in suburbs

Eve, who has one parent who is an immigrant to the United States, attends high school in a suburb of the Twin Cities. Although she and her family haven鈥檛 had direct interactions with federal agents, she has been impacted in smaller ways: A friend鈥檚 birthday was moved out of Minneapolis because the friend group comprised a diverse group with many immigrant parents.

Eve, who declined to use her last name because she fears retribution from the feds, said that despite the challenges, the crisis has yielded some positive outcomes, like seeing small gatherings outside of her school at dismissal expressing opposition to ICE, and demonstrators on overpasses and street corners regularly expressing similar sentiments.

Eve鈥檚 school has also had ongoing fundraisers to help support those more impacted by immigration enforcement. Seeing people come together and express opposition to what is happening has been a silver lining for her, she said.

Eve鈥檚 mother said that she has expressed concerns about her father, although he is a naturalized citizen. Although Eve said she thinks most of her classmates and teachers are opposed to what is happening, her mother said Eve has expressed concern about a few students expressing racism and hatred of immigrants at school.

Dulcie is the only person in her friend group of Latinas that is attending in-person school. She said almost all of the Latino students at her school have chosen the online option. The school鈥檚 Latino Club has moved its meetings online.

She said some of her teachers struggle to simultaneously manage classroom and online instruction. Some of her classes have a Spanish-speaking co-teacher or aide, which she said is helpful for keeping the online students on-track. But most of her classes lack this additional support.

Her friends are doing their best to log into online classes, and keep up with the teacher. In her classes without an aide, Dulcie said, she has started using her cellphone in class to text with her friends online to help them keep up. Her school, like many in the Twin Cities, has a strict no cellphone policy. But she said her teachers understand.

Counselors at Dulcie鈥檚 school, which is racially and economically integrated, have been collecting donations for students and their families impacted by the federal siege. Dulcie said that she hasn鈥檛 asked for any help though because she feels guilty when others need more. She is also concerned that students attending online are feeling more disconnected from school, and are not aware of the assistance available through the school.

Most of her friends are no longer leaving their homes. While online school allows them to stay safely inside, she said that many are growing restless and bored, spending too much time on their phones or screens, like during the early days of the pandemic.

But in some ways worse, because at least during the COVID pandemic, her friends were leaving the home, Dulcie said.

Dulcie said she worries that if the intensity of immigration enforcement activity continues, she and her friends could miss out on important milestones, like prom and graduation. It is already keeping her friends from celebrating their birthdays.

鈥淚鈥檝e gone through two historic moments already,鈥� Dulcie said, referring to the COVID pandemic and murder of George Floyd. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like, too much.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

Today, with thousands of federal agents targeting Minnesota schools, bus stops, day care centers and other places where immigrant parents gather with their children, remote learning options have been revived in numerous districts, with varying degrees of success. And, unlike the pandemic-era emergency measures, the steps schools are taking to keep kids safe are anything but uniform. 

In many schools 鈥� especially those that enroll diverse student bodies 鈥� who can show up and who can鈥檛 changes by the day, forcing teachers to improvise continually. Still confronted with the absenteeism, mental health crises and lost learning of the pandemic shutdowns, educators know what鈥檚 being lost 鈥� and exactly which children are going to suffer the disproportionate impact of an emergency now in its ninth week.   

Two St. Paul Public Schools teachers recently gave 社区黑料 glimpses inside their classrooms. In his 18th year on the job, John Horton teaches at Barack and Michelle Obama Montessori, where classes contain multiple grade levels and the student body, as he puts it, 鈥渓ooks like the people that live in St. Paul.鈥� So far, all 28 of his first, second and third graders have been in school, every day.

Across the city, in the equally diverse Como High School, 31-year veteran Eric Erickson teaches a host of subjects where current events are inescapably relevant: AP Psychology; a University of Minnesota College in the Schools government course; and U.S. history, co-taught with an English learner instructor. 

As improbable as it sounds, the families of Horton鈥檚 pupils want them physically present in class and have moved mountains to get them there safely. But the divides in in-person attendance in Erickson鈥檚 classes are illustrative of a deepening inequity. He knows that a persistent chasm of unequal opportunity is likely to yawn wider. 

Until the abduction of a child or violence at or near their school forces them into the spotlight, most Minnesota educators have been too fearful to speak out, using their names and those of their schools, about what it鈥檚 like in classrooms right now. Yet Horton and Erickson, both of whom have been Minnesota Teacher of the Year finalists and/or semifinalists, told 社区黑料 they want people to know what school is like in this unprecedented moment. 

These excerpts from conversations with them have been edited for length and clarity.

Who鈥檚 in class in person, and who isn鈥檛

Horton: Children really, really thrive on structure, routine, predictability. The problem that’s different from COVID to now is that during COVID, even though things were upended, there were still some structures and routines and things in place. But with the way things are heading right now, those things aren’t present anymore. 

Our school has some teachers that have been reassigned to take on virtual learning. They’re pausing their in-person job and moving to the online school. They鈥檙e teaching children who haven’t ever been to online school. So it’s a whole new program and a whole new mode of instruction.

My classroom has 28 kids normally, and I have 28 kids still here. I have a very good relationship with a lot of the families, and they really wanted to stay in person as a community. There’s definitely some fears and anxiety, but for young children, that predictability is really important. 

We are fortunate to have a community of volunteers keeping watch around the school. We have precautions in place for children who don’t feel safe waiting for the bus. There’s been a lot of community- and school-level action that has helped mitigate the fear. But there’s a lot of anxiety about leaving the house. 

Erickson: The students who are not here tend to be students with brown skin and black skin. And in many ways, this division along race and ethnicity makes this version of virtual learning feel a lot more like battles we thought we had overcome in the Civil Rights Movement, and with equal access to opportunity and education.

The difference in who鈥檚 here and who鈥檚 not can be seen in the difference between a U.S. history English-language cohort and a senior-level, University of Minnesota college-level government course. I鈥檝e got 95% of my seniors in college-level government present, and about 30% of my co-taught U.S. history classes are online. But our English-learner classes, some of them are less than half in attendance in person. 

(Students are) not able to listen to their (in-person) peers and process what鈥檚 happening. They鈥檙e living in isolation with their family and social media as connectors, as opposed to the support of peer-to-peer and caring adult interaction. 

We are still their teachers. They are still on our class lists. We are pushing out lessons, videos, documents and assignments to students in their homes. But there鈥檚 no substitute. Students who miss live instruction and interaction with peers and their teachers cannot obtain the same quality of education.         

What they鈥檙e hearing from students聽

Horton: The challenges the kids are experiencing at home and in the community are real. Children talk openly about the immigration crackdown. They’re making posters and expressing their frustration. A couple of my kids have been to protests. A few of my kids have had knocks at the door and agents enter their homes.

And, of course, a lot of children are aware of what’s going around the community because of parents’ stress. In a lot of ways that’s very similar to COVID, where families are trying to isolate children from everything that’s going on and yet the children know something is going on.

I don’t know if I can share all my stories. There was an incident at a child’s house a couple weeks ago. And that was scary. The child was scared, the family was scared. I was shook. They called me Sunday at 6:50 in the morning to tell me what was going on. Some of the people in our community are going through a lot, and they don’t have a lot of people they might be able to know or connect with or trust.

I’ve worked with these families for three years in a row, and I have good relationships. There’s a lot of blessings with that and also heartbreak. It’s really hard to hear what鈥檚 transpiring, but I’m also really surprised by the outpouring of love. 

When they’re struggling through traumatic events 鈥� and our city has been through so many over the last few years 鈥� children also need a sense of hope and joy. To see their friends, to have things they know how to do, be it an art project or something. Having those things, those distractions, those avenues are really important. The children that have been coming to school have been very happy in my class.

Erickson: When we are debriefing the current events in the news cycle, Minneapolis and St. Paul are at the center of a federal surge that has drawn the attention of the world. It鈥檚 imperative that we鈥檙e able to discuss, analyze and evaluate the impact of the situation surrounding us. I take pride in listening to my students, taking their questions and helping them think critically about what we鈥檙e experiencing in relationship to what we鈥檝e studied with the Constitution, separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism. 

They ask appropriate questions. They see injustice. They observe an overreach of federal power. They notice that the guardrails are off with regard to checks and balances. Congress is not holding the Executive Branch accountable. Court decisions are not necessarily checking the expansion of presidential power. They wonder if it’s their time and place to exercise their First Amendment rights.

How students are expressing themselves聽聽聽

Horton: This is a Montessori school, and we believe in honoring children’s voices. The posters children have written are very simple. They say 鈥淚CE out.鈥� Or, 鈥淟eave our friends alone.鈥� 鈥淵ou are not welcome鈥� is one of my favorite ones. The kids are expressing themselves through art. Having that outlet is so important. 

The kids started a food shelf in the classroom. And they’re collecting money for the [a St. Paul nonprofit that helps refugees and immigrants resettle]. Two children are carrying around a box, collecting change. 

Families have donated gift cards to support other families. To see all the people coming together, that makes me hopeful.

Erickson: We saw a highly organized, peaceful student protest on Jan. 14, a week after Renee Good’s killing, where students from across St Paul high schools 鈥� mostly public, but also peers from private and charter schools 鈥� converged on the state Capitol to call out the injustices they’re seeing and to ask for human decency from the federal government. 

We were fearful as a school community about what might happen to them if they exercise their freedom of speech and freedom to assemble. We were inspired to see them advocate for themselves. We, of course, did not attend or endorse the student walkouts. But parents and community members coordinated to serve as unofficial marshals and watch over the routes they were taking to the Capitol, and to be there for support, to be observers of their constitutional rights. 

There were three students in the room with me, the other 20 were at the rally. We were able to watch a livestream. And as we observed democracy in action, two of their classmates gave speeches on the steps of the Capitol. One addressing the humanity of all people and immigrants being the backbone of this country, and another addressing the impact of ICE鈥檚 actions. They were articulate messages 鈥� positive and hopeful in tone 鈥� while also criticizing the overreach of the federal government.

Their own mental health

Horton: Well. Oh boy. That’s a doozy of a question. My job is to make sure the children are safe and secure, and sometimes that means that you have to co-regulate with them. You have to show them what calm, caring and compassion looks like. And also anxiety. You need to model it: 鈥淚’m feeling this way, and this is how I can deal with it.鈥� It’s almost like you’re teaching as you’re feeling, which is tough. 

And then my own children. You know, what they hear when I talk at home. I’m trying to be a really good role model, and that comes first. Sometimes as an adult and a parent and someone in the community, you just have to put aside your own preferences for the good of the group. 

Talking to children about hard things is important, but they can only take so much at a time. As a teacher, and especially a teacher of young kids, having difficult conversations is part of life. But they really need time to process things. Talking briefly about these incidents and then giving them an opportunity to have a say and have some hope and have some joy in their life is very important.

The hardest thing for me is I know the impact it’s having on our families. That’s really hard. And I also know it’s impacting staff. There’s staff that carry around documents now, and they’re scared to go out. 

I keep using the word “community,” but I really have found a lot of comfort in that. You know, comfort with the children, the families, the staff. But to say it’s easy would be a lie. 

It’s a relief in some ways that they can be together. Just being in community is such a powerful thing for the people out protesting 鈥� even in our classroom.

Erickson: As much as I pride myself on teaching from a non-partisan perspective and analyzing political issues and the role of government with objectivity, seeing the harm to our students and families has caused me to choke up more than once in class while listening and guiding discussion on these matters. 

Yes, it has taken an emotional toll on teachers. Teachers love and care for all of our students. To have 30% of them not be able to reach school and go to your class where they belong is a cruel and sad injustice.

The longstanding rule prohibiting federal agents from targeting schools was repealed Jan. 20, 2025, the day of President Donald Trump鈥檚 second inauguration. 鈥淐riminals will no longer be able to hide in America鈥檚 schools and churches to avoid arrest,鈥� the Department of Homeland Security said in a press release. 鈥淭he Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.鈥� 

The suit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, her department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and numerous federal officials as defendants. As of press time, DHS had not responded to 社区黑料鈥檚 request for comment. 

At a press conference in Nogales, Arizona, on Wednesday, ICE Director Todd Lyons 鈥� a defendant in the suit 鈥� praised the Trump administration鈥檚 policies. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 need any new laws,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e just need the ability to enforce the ones we have.鈥�  

White House border czar Tom Homan has insisted immigration agents have 鈥渄e-escalated鈥� actions and that 700 will soon leave Minnesota. But education leaders say schools are being targeted as intensively as at any point in the last two months. 

Even with the promised reduction, the number of agents still in the state would be larger than the 2,000 present when Minneapolis mother Renee Good was killed by ICE a month ago.    

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos 鈥� depicted in a photo that went viral worldwide as he was abducted wearing a knit bunny hat 鈥� from a Texas detention center and escorted home to the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Feb. 1 by Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro. 

The next morning, however, ICE agents stationed themselves in at least one school parking lot in the district, and a bomb threat was received, Superintendent Zena Stenvik . Multiple Columbia Heights students detained in recent days have yet to be released.       

The lawsuit lists numerous examples of federal agents occupying and detaining staff in school parking lots, following superintendents and school board members, tackling and tear-gassing students and staff, pulling day care workers from their cars, arresting parents and students at bus stops and pulling over school vans transporting children to school, among other actions. 

As a result, the complaint states, districts have been forced to cancel classes and create online learning alternatives for students 鈥� including non-immigrants 鈥� whose families can鈥檛 safely leave their homes. In several school systems, more than a third of children are absent or learning online on any given day. Absentee rates are much higher in programs specifically geared for immigrants. Many students have simply disappeared. 

Because Minnesota uses daily student attendance numbers to calculate per-pupil funding, impacted districts anticipate a loss of revenue, the lawsuit states. One of the districts that brought the suit, Duluth Public Schools, has spent more than $500,000 worth of staff time planning new security measures in response to the enforcement surge. 

Over the last two months, half of the district鈥檚 administrative team鈥檚 time has been spent planning responses, Duluth Superintendent John Magas told 社区黑料. 鈥淲e know students can鈥檛 learn unless they feel safe,鈥� he said. 鈥淩ight now there is a great sense of lack of safety, especially among our historically underserved students, based on what we are seeing.鈥�   

The complaint filed by the Duluth school system, Fridley Public Schools 鈥� which has twice been forced to cancel all classes because of ICE activities at or near schools 鈥� and Education Minnesota says federal agents’ actions 鈥渧iolate the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional protections, and that DHS failed to adequately consider the educational and community impacts when it rescinded prior guidance limiting enforcement in sensitive locations.鈥�

No district or taxpayer funds are being used for the lawsuit, Magas said. Much of the cost is being borne by the teachers union.  

From 1993 to 2025, immigration agents were required to have advance, written approval if they believed exceptional circumstances merited an exception. School bus stops were explicitly named in the policies as being off-limits. Immigration officials were required to report agents鈥� activities near protected areas. 

鈥淭he presence [of ICE] agents conducting investigative activity at schools, or in venues where children鈥檚 activities occur, has always been a point of particular sensitivity,鈥� a 2007 version of the rule explained. 鈥淎ccordingly, it is important to emphasize that great care and forethought be applied before undertaking any investigative or enforcement type action at or near schools, other institutions of education, and venues generally where children and their families are present.鈥�

In 2021, then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memorandum reaffirming the 鈥渇undamental 鈥� bedrock鈥� principle behind curtailing enforcement. The agency, it said, 鈥渃an accomplish [its] enforcement mission without denying or limiting individuals鈥� access to needed medical care, children access to their schools, the displaced access to food and shelter, people of faith access to their places of worship and more.鈥�

鈥淭he budget negotiations going on in Congress right now, we鈥檝e heard a lot of things about body cams and things like that,鈥� said Magas. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 heard a lot about a .鈥�

In Rochester, Minnesota, January absenteeism overall was 42% higher than in December but up 116% among students receiving English learner services and 108% among Latinos, according to Superintendent Kent Pekel. Of the district鈥檚 15,500 students, more than 200 recently enrolled in the district鈥檚 existing online school, while an average of about 550 were absent on any given January day. 

In the last few days, however, enrollment has rebounded. It鈥檚 hard to know exactly what鈥檚 prompting the return, Pekel told 社区黑料, but families he has spoken to say they are nervous but also want their kids in school. Informal networks of educators and parents have been out in the community dropping off food, providing rides and making sure families know children are missed.   

Unlike other districts, Pekel said, Rochester’s schools don’t seem to be a target of immigration agents. 鈥淭hey have been near our schools, but we haven鈥檛 had instances of them being on our property or circling schools,鈥� he said. But if that were to change, enrollment would likely fall. 

鈥淥ne incident could wipe that out.鈥�

was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of . .

They started showing up shortly after the now viral video was posted to YouTube, claiming Minnesota day cares run by Somali Americans were rife with fraud. The video showed no real proof of that claim and has since been . They came anyway.

The first time it happened, the day care received an anonymous call from a woman brusquely asking them to open the door. When Fay, the owner, went outside, a man was already there recording. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nobody here,鈥� he was saying into the camera on his phone.

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鈥淐an I help you?鈥� she asked him. The man said he was there because of Nick Shirley鈥檚 video. He wanted to see the children.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to let you in,鈥� she replied. 鈥淭here are kids here.鈥�

鈥淚f you鈥檙e not lying,鈥� he told her, 鈥渓et me in.鈥�

Fay, whose name The 19th has changed to protect her identity over fears for her safety, didn鈥檛 waver. Even under normal circumstances, she would never let an unknown man enter the day care and come near the children, much less film them, and certainly not under these circumstances, as a Somali day care provider who suddenly feels like she has a target on her back.

It鈥檚 been like this for over a month. A pair of young men turned up one night looking through the windows until a nearby business owner walked up to them and asked them to leave. Another time, an older man came twice in one day with a paper in hand, trying to pull open the doors.

鈥淒oes he want to get to the kids? Does he want to shoot us?鈥� Fay wondered. She called the police.

Child care providers in Minnesota 鈥� especially Somali Americans 鈥� are facing high levels of harassment in a city besieged by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. As strangers continue to show up asking to get access to the children inside, there is also the constant fear that ICE may come for the parents, the children or their staff, a large portion of whom are immigrants. Nationwide, about child care workers are immigrants, almost all of them women. It鈥檚 a fear now extending from child care to schools, with parents standing up adhoc networks to support providers, teachers and other immigrant families.

鈥淚 really love America more than I love anywhere in the world, and now I am feeling scared and sad and humiliated,鈥� said Fay, who has been in the country for more than 20 years, is an American citizen and has been operating her center for nearly a decade.

The video YouTuber Nick Shirley posted just after Christmas alleged widespread fraud at day cares in Minnesota that were siphoning government funds but not providing care for any children at all. In the video, Shirley goes to multiple Somali-run day cares. Some appear closed, others do not let him in when he asks to see the children. Unannounced inspections by state officials into the centers following the video found them operating normally, and nearly all have prior going back years that further prove they have been serving children. Some fraud at child care centers in Minnesota has been previously , but there is that widespread fraud is taking place.

Nevertheless, the video has created a powerful narrative of rampant abuse, drawing the attention of the president and precipitating a drastic surge in ICE activity that by many accounts has turned South Minneapolis into something resembling a war zone. Already, have been killed by federal agents and 鈥� including 鈥� have been hurt and detained.

鈥淎s a child care community we are feeling attacked and we are an easy target: Child care historically has always been done by women and especially women of color in an exploitative practice,鈥� said Leah Budnik, the board secretary at the Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children, a child care advocacy organization.

After Shirley鈥檚 video, the Trump administration put a freeze on child care funding to the state, though funds are still available . The administration also asked for additional documentation such as attendance records and student information from providers, an effort that Minnesota鈥檚 Department of Children, Youth and Families has ratcheted up by sending members of the state鈥檚 Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to parse through paperwork. That means that armed law enforcement is now joining in on the compliance checks, raising questions from providers about the need for that step 鈥� particularly around children.

鈥淚 can understand the need for the state to have people-power to go in and collect documentation the federal government is asking for in very short notice, but bringing armed law enforcement into child care centers is probably not the right way to do it,鈥� Budnik said. 鈥淚t does make people feel scared and criminalized.鈥�

Cisa Keller, the president and CEO of Think Small, a nonprofit that works with many of the state鈥檚 child care centers offering additional education and support services, called the administration鈥檚 response to Shirley鈥檚 video a 鈥渒neejerk reaction鈥� that is ultimately going to harm providers who had nothing to do with the false allegations. Most of the nine programs in the Shirley video, she said, are programs her staff has worked directly with.

鈥淲e are in and out of those programs with coaching and professional development, and we have a presence as part of the system,鈥� Keller said. 鈥淲e would be able to see if something was going awry.鈥�

Instead, what鈥檚 happened is an escalation of a situation where children are going to be the most directly impacted, she said.

In the Twin Cities, where the bulk of ICE activity is taking place, the situation has boiled over to full panic. Providers are losing staff to the ICE raids because immigrant staffers are either being arrested or choosing to stay home. Some families the providers serve are , not taking their children to school or day care to avoid ICE.

Dawn Uribe, the owner of four Spanish-immersion preschools in Minnesota, said two of her staffers have been detained by ICE. One of them was on break at work in early January when it happened and called a supervisor to let them know they were being taken away and to please inform their family.

Since, a vast community mobilization effort led by parents has sprung up to support staff, centers and other families.

Over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend this month, a group of about 20 grandparents and parents showed up to a two-hour training at one of Uribe鈥檚 day cares to learn how they could step in as volunteers should the school lose additional staff and be unable to meet teacher-to-student ratios. (By law, day cares must adhere to strict ratios for child safety; in Minnesota there can be to every teacher, for example.) The parents and grandparents who showed up learned about shaken baby syndrome, how to do accident reporting and how to ensure kids are accounted for at all times should they ever need to be called on to step in.

The parents, Uribe said, are also delivering food to staff, taking parking lot shifts to watch for ICE and ensure teachers get safely to and from school, and standing watch in the lobby.

鈥淭he community in general, the Twin Cities in general, we don’t like what’s happening and we are going to stand up and say that this is wrong,鈥� Uribe said. 鈥淓very time there is a training offered [in the community] people are there and they’re showing up to help their neighbors, they鈥檙e showing up to take groceries, they鈥檙e showing up to protests to be an observer and record what鈥檚 going on. That part鈥檚 powerful.鈥�

Sarah Quinn, a mom of two in Minneapolis, said parents at her older daughter鈥檚 elementary school had been working together to take food to immigrant students and their families since ICE first showed up in the city in early December. When reports that ICE was patrolling near the schools started to circulate, parents stepped in to give kids rides to school using spare booster seats and car seats. They got an estimated 50 kids back to school in December through those efforts.

But then came Shirley鈥檚 video and the murder of Renee Nicole Good. Calls for aid flooded in. The preschool Quinn鈥檚 son attends got so many harassing calls in one day that police had to be sent to the school.

Parents started to set up school patrols, stationing volunteers in the parking lot and in their neighborhoods to make sure kids, families and staff could come and go to school safely. The number of parents doing food deliveries to other families鈥� homes shot up.

鈥淧eople said 鈥榡ump鈥� and we all kind of said, 鈥楬ow high?鈥欌�� Quinn said. 鈥淎s parents who care about our neighbors and who love this part of Minneapolis life that is diverse and involves immigrant families who have really just been responding as neighbors.鈥�

They have also resolved to be more careful, watching everyone who comes and goes from the schools to make sure they are not inadvertently letting anyone in behind them who could harm the kids. In Chicago late last year, ICE agents entered a Spanish immersion preschool and detained a worker .

鈥淲e are not going to be Minnesota nice,鈥� Quinn said.

Parents in Quinn鈥檚 daughter鈥檚 elementary school were made aware in December of a child in her grade who had not been at school for a week. They later learned the child鈥檚 parent had been detained and the other parent was keeping the child home out of fear.

When Quinn went into her daughter鈥檚 class recently to do a holiday craft, she realized the missing child was her daughter鈥檚 deskmate.

It鈥檚 presented a quiet challenge among the parents in the immensity of this moment: How do you talk to a second grader about what鈥檚 unfolding around them?

鈥淲e have had to find a lot of different ways to talk to our kids about how to be safe. Our children know the word 鈥業CE鈥� and they know the word 鈥業CE agent,鈥欌�� Quinn said.

They鈥檝e developed something of a mantra between them.

鈥淲hat do we want?鈥� Quinn may ask.

鈥淲e want them to leave,鈥� the kids will reply. 鈥淲e want all of our immigrant friends to feel safe.鈥�

Wine moms? Try PTA moms. 

It is indeed mothers who, throughout the Twin Cities, form the vanguard of community organizing to keep their kids鈥� classmates and educators safe. But many of their efforts to supply food, rent money, medical treatment and even veterinary care to people too endangered to leave their homes are ad hoc, emergency extensions of the parent networks that, in normal times, raise money for the things not in their school鈥檚 budget, organize events and fulfill teachers鈥� school supply wish lists.聽聽

Over the last month, parents who belong to PTAs and other Twin Cities school support groups have tapped their collective organizing and fundraising expertise to meet extraordinary needs that school systems and local governments are hard-pressed to address.   

When COVID forced students and teachers online six years ago, schools were pressed into service to meet families鈥� basic needs. Now, as some 3,000 federal agents target bus stops and school playgrounds in search of immigrants, the need is more profound, according to Minnesota parents who are trying to help.聽

This time, there is no federal relief funding, no government infrastructure to coordinate ordering Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots for students forced into distance learning, no eviction moratoriums for those who can鈥檛 work, no meal box deliveries and frequently no secure way for principals and educators to communicate to their broader school communities.

Instead, there are dozens of GoFundMe campaigns, organized by parents who, in the last three weeks, have tapped their networks to organize patrols to keep children safe as they move from home to school and back, to deliver diapers and formula and, as Feb. 1 draws near, to crowdsource rent money.

Because many of these fundraising campaigns identify vulnerable school communities and individual parents and educators 鈥� and because so-called mutual aid networks have become a prime target of federal agents 鈥� 社区黑料 is not linking to them. In addition to K-12 schools, some of the funds are intended to meet needs at day care facilities and afterschool programs. 

Not all the funds show how much has been raised, but many have running tallies. Some have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars 鈥� eye-popping, but, according to organizers, not nearly enough to stave off the anticipated wave of more than 1,600 evictions expected when February rents go unpaid.        

Contrary to the 鈥渨ine moms鈥� trope, these parents say their efforts are a natural, if unfortunate, extension of the ways in which school-based groups normally attempt to fill gaps. Some of the funds are specifically dedicated to paying for diapers or prescriptions, while the largest are for rent.  

The parents are also screening people who want to join secure neighborhood online communications channels to try to stop federal agents from identifying and following people delivering supplies. Network members hope the same vetting processes are helping recognize opportunists posting scam solicitations.   

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen [federal] agents posing as parents to try to infiltrate some of these safety patrols that are happening,鈥� says a mother with two elementary school pupils in Minneapolis. 鈥淭he level of vetting happening in these virtual spaces is really something.鈥�   

City residents mobilized online to support one another in the chaotic days after George Floyd鈥檚 murder by police officers in 2020. The outside provocateurs identified by state officials then were , Proud Boys and other far-right militants who circulated in neighborhoods, sometimes planting homemade explosives in alleys and hedges and setting fire to gas stations, and public buildings such as . Neighbors teamed up to patrol and to alert one another to the presence of outsiders.   

The skeleton of an infrastructure, then, already existed when heavily armed federal agents poured into residential neighborhoods 鈥� haunting their schools 鈥� over the course of the last month.  

Some districts, such as suburban Fridley Public Schools, have publicly acknowledged that they are accepting donations to distribute to struggling families. Others, though, are quietly letting parent networks know which families staff have been in contact with, and who has the greatest need. 

鈥淲e have had schools call our organization and say, 鈥榃e know this family hasn鈥檛 been coming to school, can you step in,鈥欌�� says a Minneapolis mother and advocate whose child attends school in the neighborhood where ICE and Border Patrol agents recently killed two legal observers.聽

鈥淭he power that is coming from PTAs and school site councils and neighborhood organizations is just considerable,鈥� says the mom. Her two children go to affluent schools where some parents have written five-figure checks.

鈥淲e鈥檝e raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that鈥檚 hardly the actual cost to our city,鈥� said another mother with three children in high-poverty Minneapolis schools. 鈥淧ublic schools are on the front lines of everything ill facing society 鈥� and that鈥檚 no different now.鈥�

Demonstrations are taking place throughout the Twin Cities, she continues, but the parents and educators finding health care providers who can make home visits or locating someone to take in children whose parents have been detained didn鈥檛 ask to be the spine of the resistance.  

鈥淚 wish they would stop calling us protesters,鈥� she says. 鈥淔ar from being 鈥榩aid agitators,鈥� we are paying for it, literally.鈥� 

For weeks, parents and teachers throughout Minnesota have been reluctant to share specifics about the steps they鈥檙e taking to protect their school communities. But the killing of an ICU nurse by federal agents over the weekend 鈥� the second shooting captured and shared worldwide on cellphone cameras 鈥� finally brought their reality to the attention of the outside world, speakers told reporters.

A crying mom described driving her kid’s terrified classmates to school in the Minneapolis neighborhood where agents killed another mother, Renee Good, three weeks ago. A school board member who publicly criticized ICE for detaining a preschooler said she woke up to find an ICE caravan idling outside her home. A superintendent detailed how she arranges transportation for at-risk school staffers’ 鈥� and then joins her school security workers on patrol. 

The superintendent, Fridley Public Schools鈥� Brenda Lewis, said her suburban district has been 鈥渢argeted鈥�: 鈥淲e need helpers. We need leaders, advocates and people of influence to step in and help end this.鈥�

Educators narrated the fatigue of working a full day and then spending hours volunteering, delivering food and other essentials to families in hiding 鈥� only to find themselves tailed by caravans of heavily armed federal agents.  

An American government teacher-turned-state lawmaker shouted as he described walking below an FDR quote chiseled into stone in the hall leading to the state Senate chambers: 鈥淓ducation is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.鈥�  

As the speakers took turns, a tiny pink origami rabbit sat on the rim of the podium. To one side was a poster of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was detained coming home from preschool Jan. 20. Conejo means rabbit. In a now-iconic photo of a federal agent grabbing Liam by his Spider-Man backpack, the boy is wearing a homemade knit bunny hat. 

As she approached the podium, a woman identified only as Elizabeth broke down. 鈥淚 practiced this and practiced,鈥� she said, crying, before saying that as she feeds her kids breakfast, she keeps an eye trained on a closed group chat in her neighborhood, where Good was killed three weeks ago.    

If the group says it鈥檚 okay to leave, she loads her kid in the car and then picks up classmates whose parents can鈥檛 leave home. At school, they鈥檙e greeted by people trying their best to make the citizen safety brigade that flanks the walkway from the street to the school entrance look like the fun squad: 鈥淥ur neighbors with the amazing frog hats and the giant smiles. The dog walkers who have changed their routines to include the school. And the retired teachers 鈥� who cannot stop caring for our kids.鈥�

Still, sometimes that鈥檚 not enough to reassure the most frightened pupils. 鈥淭hat is when my small child walks up and says hello, and offers to walk them into school,鈥� she said. 

The ride home? 鈥淚 try to find a playlist and I imagine the parent who hasn鈥檛 left their home in seven or eight weeks, trusting me, a stranger, with their kids, who can barely communicate with them, making sure their kid gets home and walked to their door,鈥� she continued. 鈥淎ll of this is racing through my mind as I am checking my mirrors for safety and still singing along to K Pop Demon Hunters. 

鈥淲hile I love that I have these experiences, it is their parents who should be in the car, singing along and hearing the stories of the day.鈥�     

Mary Granlund is a parent and school board chair in Columbia Heights Public Schools, where Liam is a student. She said she watched as agents pulled him from the car bringing him home and steered him up the steps to his house, where they told him to knock on the door to see whether adults would come out. 

Liam and his father were taken and flown to a detention center in Texas, where a judge Tuesday ordered ICE not to deport them. Only one of the three other children detained the same day has been allowed to come home, Granlund said.  

After Granlund publicly denounced the children鈥檚 detentions, she woke up to multiple vehicles parked outside her house, with men in tactical gear inside. She called the local police, who came and stayed 鈥� perhaps mindful that in June, not far away, a political extremist assassinated a lawmaker and her husband and nearly killed two others. 鈥淚 don’t need to remind anybody in this room or watching this the fear that elected officials have related to unmarked vehicles outside your home with people wearing tactical gear,鈥� she said. 

Though the Trump administration earlier this week signaled a willingness to , federal agents were visible in the Capitol area, and legal observers and throughout the metro area reported no slowdown in and . 

Indeed, Granlund said the hours before the press conference were as chaotic as they have been for weeks: 鈥淭oday, people across Columbia Heights woke up to cars still running, doors open, empty, left in the street鈥� 鈥� a common occurrence when agents pull someone from their vehicle and leave it, abandoned. 

Peg Nelson, a teacher in Granlund’s district for 33 years, said educators try to keep the school day as normal as possible. 鈥淏ut students and families look to their teachers for answers,鈥� she said. 鈥淐hildren ask, 鈥楥an they take us?鈥� And we don’t know what to tell them鈥�. We are doing everything we can. We will but we were not trained for this.鈥�

Democratic State Sen. Steve Swazinski, who represents several western Minneapolis suburbs, taught American government for 33 years. 鈥淚 don’t know how I would be teaching this right now,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just don’t know how I would teach both sides to the story.鈥�

Fridley鈥檚 Lewis said speaking out is particularly hard for educators, whose training and ethics are to empower students to take in a range of information and draw their own conclusions. 鈥淭his is not abstract for me or for district leadership,鈥� she said. 鈥淣one of this is partisan. This is about children, predominantly children of color, being treated as less than human. And about the dehumanization of those who stand with them.鈥�

Founding president of the National Parents Union, Keri Rodrigues traveled from Massachusetts to St. Paul to be present. 鈥淚鈥檝e had so many conversations with people on the phone and on Zoom in the last few weeks who felt like they weren鈥檛 being heard, who felt like their experiences needed to get out there,鈥� she told 社区黑料. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 a list of 10 things that are disrupted, and we can鈥檛 get anyone to pay attention.鈥�   

She said her next stop is Washington, D.C., where she said she plans to recount the stories she heard to members of Congress.

Near the end of the press conference, a reporter asked about the paper bunny. Liam鈥檚 teachers stepped forward to answer. There is a Japanese tradition in which folding 1,000 origami cranes can grant a wish or speed recovery.

For Liam, the teachers have already started on 1,000 pink rabbits.

While districts typically announce shifts to online learning 鈥� for severe weather, for example 鈥� as publicly as possible, outreach to families with safety concerns is largely being handled behind the scenes. School administrators are reaching out directly to parents to let them know they can keep their children home, according to district emails being circulated by parents and educators.   

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a former Minneapolis School Board member, joined other in demanding that the state. 

鈥淚鈥檓 a public school mom of a seventh-grader. Renee Good was a mom from our community. And since she was killed, kids have had to run from chemical agents and bear witness to their teachers being tackled by masked federal agents,鈥� Flanagan told 社区黑料. 鈥淲e have legal observers at parent drop-offs and pick-ups because kids and their parents are terrified of what these masked agents might show up and do. 

鈥淪chools should be a place where kids feel safe, but with ICE running rampant and acting lawlessly across Minneapolis, it’s just not the case right now, and it’s heartbreaking.鈥�

Minneapolis, St. Paul and the Monday, charging that the mass deployment of immigration agents violated states’ rights under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.

Some 2,000 federal agents were present in the Twin Cities on Jan. 7, when a violent skirmish broke out in front of Minneapolis’ Roosevelt High School and Good, a 37-year-old mom who had just dropped her 6-year-old off at school, was shot dead in her vehicle. That’s more than twice as many police officers as are employed by the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul combined. 

On Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she had ordered “” agents to the state, referencing allegations of fraud in a COVID-era child food distribution program. Though the majority of those charged or convicted since 2022 are U.S. citizens 鈥� some of East African descent 鈥� President Donald Trump blamed the state鈥檚 80,000 Somalis , calling them 鈥済arbage.鈥�      

The acknowledgement that federal agents may be focusing on targets beyond undocumented immigrants came as no surprise to Twin Cities residents, who have spent recent days on the , including a number of on and near tribal lands within the city. 

Trump has repeatedly insisted that fraud is rampant within the state鈥檚 social service apparatus, including publicly subsidized child care. Claims of day care fraud are based in part on video shot in recent weeks by who visited several centers after hours and filmed himself being turned away from others.   

Parents and teachers have reported a at Minneapolis-area day cares 鈥� in particular, Spanish-language immersion programs. Residents in some neighborhoods have set up babysitting co-ops for families of preschoolers scared to use their regular centers or for parents who want to care for their own kids to enable immigrant care providers to stay home.    

Minneapolis Public Schools did not respond to requests from 社区黑料 for details for this story, and posted on its website saying distance learning was an option. In emails to district staff shared with media outlets, administrators said students choosing to attend online would be taught by their usual teachers, in real time, with their in-school classmates, through Feb. 12. 

In St. Paul, the district has asked impacted families to contact their child鈥檚 principal in its existing online school. Several charter schools were communicating in closed forums with families and teachers. 

Speaking anonymously so as to not identify their community, an administrator in a suburban district with a heavy ICE presence explained that school systems are forgoing the blanket communications they use for snow days and other closure announcements because families are afraid they will draw attention to themselves or their neighbors by responding. By contrast, personal communication from a trusted teacher or principal seems more likely to reassure parents that their kids can safely learn online, the administrator said.  

On Monday morning, Minneapolis鈥� Anthony Middle School was locked down after receiving a bomb threat. Principal Mai Chang Vue told families in an email that several districts had been threatened.

Roseville Area Schools canceled field trips because 鈥渇ederal enforcement activity across the Twin Cities metro area has created unpredictable and rapidly changing conditions in several areas,” . 

The moves come in the wake of the violent altercation between federal agents, educators, parents and students on the grounds of Roosevelt High School the same day Good was killed in an encounter with ICE three miles away. Students were tear-gassed, and school staff reported a special education assistant was detained. 

On Monday, Roosevelt students who came to class in person walked out to protest ICE鈥檚 presence.

After the Jan. 7 shooting, schools were closed in Minneapolis and several suburban districts. A number of school systems, including St. Paul’s, also instituted transportation safety plans. Administrators in some districts reported 30% to 35% of students were absent last week. 

Students in most Minnesota districts have yet to return to pre-pandemic academic achievement levels, according to in the Minnesota Reformer. The news site reported that of the 155 districts enrolling at least 1,000 students in 2019, just six had returned to or surpassed their 2019 proficiency rates by the end of the 2024-25 school year.    

鈥淒istricts really want to serve these students in person 鈥� that鈥檚 generally the most effective,鈥� said Scott Croonquist, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. 鈥淏ut they also want to be there for their students, offering an option for them to not fall behind, to keep up with their instruction.鈥�

In 2023, the association lobbied for a number of changes to state that have given schools the flexibility to allow students with safety concerns to attend school virtually this week. Before COVID-19, online schools 鈥� then often of shoddy quality 鈥� had to earn state approval to operate, and temporary school closures were governed by rules addressing severe winter weather.      

So-called snow days are still subject to 鈥渆-learning day鈥� rules, which require districts to make up lost instructional time after closing for five or more days. But the 2023 law allows districts to offer remote instruction to their own students on a case-by-case basis, provided they address the needs of children with disabilities and English learners. They are not allowed to enroll pupils from other districts in their online classes.

鈥淭his will really be the first time [the new protocols] will be in widespread use by districts,鈥� said Croonquist. 

On Jan. 8, Minnesota Education Commissioner Willie Jett reminded education leaders of the new flexibility, noting that districts were free to use 鈥渟upplemental鈥� online providers to serve students: 鈥淢innesota law and from the Minnesota attorney general affirm that schools must remain safe spaces for all students, regardless of immigration status.鈥� 

WASHINGTON 鈥� States must now provide 鈥渏ustification鈥� that federal child care funds they receive are spent on 鈥渓egitimate鈥� providers in order to get those dollars, President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration announced. 

The Tuesday shift in policy came followingwhich prompted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to freeze all child care payments to the state. 

HHS could not offer many specifics on how the review process will play out for other states, but clarified that the money in question is provided through the multibillion-dollar federal Child Care and Development Fund, or CCDF. 

鈥淪tates will be required to provide documentation, such as written justification, receipts, or photographic evidence, demonstrating that funds are supporting legitimate child care providers,鈥� Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for HHS, said in a statement to States Newsroom on Wednesday. 

CCDF provides federal funding to states, territories and tribes to help low-income families obtain child care. 

The program, administered within the Office of Child Care under HHS鈥� Administration for Children and Families, combines funding from the Child Care and Development Block Grant, or CCDBG, and the Child Care Entitlement to States, or CCES. 

Funding for CCDF in  stood at roughly $12.3 billion 鈥� comprising $8.75 billion from CCDBG and $3.55 billion from CCES. 

Head Start 鈥� a separate program that provides early childhood education, nutritious meals, health screenings and other support services to low-income families 鈥� does not appear to be affected. 

In a Tuesday  announcing the move, Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O鈥橬eill said he had 鈥渁ctivated our defend the spend system for all ACF payments鈥� and 鈥渟tarting today, all ACF payments across America will require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence before we send money to a state.鈥� 

He clarified in a  shortly after that 鈥渇unds will be released only when states prove they are being spent legitimately.鈥� 

Funds undergo 鈥榬egular audits鈥�

鈥淔ederal funding enables millions of parents in every state and Congressional district to access and afford quality child care,鈥� Sarah Rittling, executive director of First Five Years Fund, a federal advocacy group, said in a Wednesday statement. 

Rittling added that 鈥渢hese funds are essential to the nation鈥檚 well-being, allowing parents to work while ensuring their children are cared for and safe.鈥� 鈥ㄢ��

She also described the reports of potential fraud as 鈥渄eeply concerning鈥� and pointed out that 鈥渟tate oversight through regular audits is required by law to ensure that every dollar intended to protect and support young children is used properly and effectively.鈥� 

鈥淎t the same time, we must ensure that nothing takes away from making sure funds for child care continue to reach the children and families who depend on them,鈥� she said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

The Minneapolis school board has formally asked Superintendent Dr. Lisa Sayles-Adams for information that could lead to school closures. They passed a resolution to the effect at a recent .

The board first drafted the directive 鈥攚hich asks for an initial report to the board by April 2026 鈥� at two day-long meetings in June and August. The planning follows years of discussion about closing schools in a district with 29,000 students but the capacity for 42,000 and thus a bevy of half-empty schools.

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Even as enrollment declines at a school building, the fixed expenses for building staff 鈥� like principals, secretaries, nurses, librarians, culinary workers, custodians and social workers 鈥� stay the same or go up. With so many buildings below capacity, a big portion of each Minneapolis student鈥檚 funding has to go toward covering these fixed building-level costs, draining money away from instruction and extracurricular activities.

The board resolution comprises topics for district administrators to investigate, including efficient use of current buildings, potential changes to magnet programs, and ways to increase enrollment in the district.

Years-long discussion about the financial burden of operating small enrollment schools

The process for downsizing the district鈥檚 footprint has been long and circuitous.

In, the district prepared a comprehensive financial assessment forecasting that without significant cost cutting, the district would end up draining its reserves, while expenses would exceed revenues by the end of fiscal year 2026. The district has avoided that fate by cutting services and raising class sizes, but it is still unable to balance its budget without relying on reserves and other one-time funds.

The 2022 memo did not prescribe closing schools, but it did present an analysis showing enrollment growth alone could not overcome the district鈥檚 structural inefficiencies resulting from operating many schools with small enrollments. At the time of the analysis, Anoka-Hennepin was operating 37 school buildings while enrolling about 37,000 students. Minneapolis was operating 61 buildings while enrolling about 29,000 students. Minneapolis had about half as many students per building as Anoka-Hennepin.

The board first publicly discussed reducing the number of schools in March 2023, when asked Rochelle Cox, the then-interim superintendent, to develop a draft plan for 鈥渟chool transformation.鈥� Neither Cox nor the board took action.

Two months before current Superintendent Dr. Lisa Sayles-Adams started at the district in early 2024, the School Board passed a 鈥渢ransformation resolution鈥� that directed the district to do an accounting of physical space but stopped short of calling for a timeline on school closures.

Sayle-Adams after passing a budget in June 2024, because, she said, the community asked her to address the issue.

Low enrollment schools require more funding per student for building-level staff

The district is contending with rising costs and operating a significant number of small buildings, as well as buildings operating below capacity. Given the rising fixed costs of operating these buildings, that leaves less money for everything else, from class size reduction to teacher pay and programs commonly found in most school districts like world languages, art, music and athletics.

Across the district, as building-level enrollment has declined, students have lost access to services like academic support if they鈥檙e struggling; staff to address student behavior; and community liaisons to help parents connect with schools. Small elementary schools have difficulty funding full-time positions for electives like art, music and gym, while hiring part-time staff for these positions is challenging. Some elementary students have gone without these electives, or only have music or art for part of the school year.

Enrollment declines at middle and high schools have meant fewer elective options, like world languages, dance, theater and orchestra, as well as extracurriculars. Students also lose access to advanced coursework 鈥� like AP or IB classes 鈥� when there are too few students in the school who want to enroll. Many of the district鈥檚 high schools are now sharing athletic teams because individual schools lack enough students and funding to support a robust athletics program.

The decline in services drives some families to schools outside the district that have the services and programs they desire, compounding the enrollment declines.

Declines in enrollment mitigated by new-to-country students

Minneapolis Public Schools in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to a combination of factors including implementing a controversial plan redrawing school boundaries, and keeping its schools closed longer during the pandemic than any other Minnesota district, which was followed in March 2022 by a three week educator strike.

The district has enjoyed a small enrollment increase both last year and this year. Although the district does not track the immigration status of students, the increase has been almost entirely to students newly arrived to the United States from Central America. Since the 2021-22 school year, English learner students have increased from 17% of the district鈥檚 students to 23% in the 2024-25 school year, according to Minnesota Department of Education data.

This year, the district expects to spend at least $17 million more on English learner services than it receives in funding from state and federal sources. Although the Legislature increased state aid for English learners during the 2023 legislative session, the district鈥檚 funding is insufficient to cover the cost of providing the intensive services needed by students with the lowest levels of English proficiency.

Many of the newcomer students are also unhoused, which has led to growing costs for the district to transport students from shelters outside district boundaries, as required under the federal McKinney-Vento law. The state has started to pay the cost of this transportation under a law passed in 2023.

It is not clear whether changes to federal immigration policy will impact the district鈥檚 ability to continue to rely on newcomers to stabilize or grow enrollment in the future.

Future enrollment expected to decline, limiting district鈥檚 funding

Hazel Reinhardt, a demographer hired by the district, says enrollment is in the coming years because of lower birth rates, fewer families choosing to raise children in the city, and the state鈥檚 favorable laws around charter schools and open enrollment, allowing parents to send their children to St. Paul or suburban schools.

Reinhardt told the board in that once parents leave for charter and private schools or open enrollment options, 鈥減recious few鈥� districts are able to bring them back.

Most of the district鈥檚 funding is based on enrollment, so declining enrollment has created a . Growing costs for both labor and services have outpaced increases in state and local funding.

The district continues to cut services, increase class sizes and pull from its dwindling reserve funds to balance its annual budget. The district is expected to use $25 million from its reserves this school year after using $85 million from reserves last school year.

The district鈥檚 enrollment woes and related financial distress are not unique to Minneapolis, with similar challenges facing large urban districts like , , , and . Denver and have closed a small number of schools in recent years, but not enough to stabilize district finances. And school boards in Seattle and have walked away from closure plans after significant public pressure, leaving both districts with growing budget deficits.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

It may be that no one knows more about school-based mental health than Nancy Lever. As executive director of the University of Maryland鈥檚 , she鈥檚 dedicated her career to supporting and advancing efforts in schools around the country, allowing her a bird鈥檚-eye view of how the most successful programs work.

Minnesota, with its long history of supporting school-based mental health, is a national leader in the work, as this series has shown, with kids in the majority of the state鈥檚 public schools having access to care.

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Different schools and districts have taken individualized approaches, but whatever the specific model, Lever has found that the most effective programs all have a few things in common.

The first, and perhaps the most important, Lever said, is a strong sense of partnership between school staff and members of the community. 鈥淭he whole point of school-based mental health is it鈥檚 a wonderful model where people work together to create a system to make sure all youth mental health needs are being met,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he most successful models are going to have some level of family-school-community collaboration.鈥�

Successful school-based mental health programs also acknowledge the central role played by existing school staff, even when community-based partners are brought in to provide additional mental health services for students, Lever said. This helps to build buy-in and integration and to keep programs running smoothly. 鈥淪chool employees 鈥� staff, social workers, school psychologists, counselors 鈥斅燼re, to me, at the center of these programs.鈥�

Then there are the teachers, whose collaboration with mental health programs is also essential. Classroom teachers often have the most interaction with students, and because of this they are able to observe behavioral changes that may indicate developing mental health concerns. Schools with effective mental health programs, Lever said, have developed an environment in which teachers feel comfortable reaching out to and collaborating with mental health staff, and building connections to parents.

鈥淵ou want to be in a system that when you ask, 鈥榃ho makes the most referrals?鈥� most often it is the educators, because they are at the front line,鈥� Lever said. 鈥淭hey are the ones who are going to notice the kids who need the help.鈥�

While including these elements in a school-based mental health program is essential for success, Lever said this still leaves room for innovation and adaptation to meet the unique needs of a community.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a cookie-cutter approach,鈥� she said, pointing to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has, over the years, 鈥渄one a lot of good work around trauma.鈥� In Colorado, she said, school-based mental health has been supported by funds gained from marijuana taxes. Wisconsin鈥檚 program is supported by 鈥渟trong leaders from their public instruction department,鈥� Lever said, and Massachusetts 鈥渉ad a local champion who did amazing work.鈥�

In Minnesota, Mark Sander, Hennepin County’s director of school mental health, has been one of those local champions. Decades ago, he cut his teeth as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Center for School Mental Health,聽working closely with founder and then-director Mark Weist.聽When he moved to Minnesota in 2003, Sander said he 鈥渟tumbled into鈥� an opportunity to start the school-based mental health program in Minneapolis and later in Hennepin County.

He brought what he learned in Maryland and adapted it to fit the needs of the state and the children who attend its public schools. That included creating a funding model in Minnesota that captured聽potential funding from students鈥� health insurance and made sure clinicians could be paid for time they spent in schools doing work beyond one-on-one counseling 鈥� an essential element that he and his colleagues believed was missing from some grant funding for school-based mental health.

鈥淚 wanted to make sure there is protected time for clinicians to take time to chat with teachers, and understand the schools and be part of the culture,鈥� Sander said.

This 360-view, combined with an emphasis on building a holistic culture that embeds mental health providers in the inner workings of schools, helped the state to create a highly regarded school-based mental health program that has been emulated by other states, Weist said. 鈥淢innesota is one of the leaders in the nation on this work.鈥�

Baltimore: Here for good

School-based mental health providers in Baltimore work hard to make their presence known.

鈥淚n our model, we advertise widely,鈥� said Jennifer Lease, a school-based mental health provider at the city’s Thomas Jefferson Elementary/Middle School. 鈥淭hroughout the year, members of our administrative staff are continually asking us, 鈥楬ow are you getting yourself out there? How are you making sure that everyone knows who you are?鈥欌��

With those questions in mind, Lease said that she and her colleagues in the school use a range of approaches to remind everyone 鈥� from students to teachers to parents to staff 鈥� that they are there to provide mental health support. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing classroom presentations with every class in the school. We鈥檙e posting on the social media platforms with QR codes that people can use to refer themselves to us. We鈥檙e holding events focused on mental health. We鈥檙e trying to get that message spread far and wide.鈥�

This emphasis on establishing a presence in the school is a response, in part, Lease said, to larger societal concerns about young people鈥檚 mental health.

鈥淓verybody is really being encouraged to make sure the people know about these services, especially after some feedback in the past that particularly centered on the topic of children鈥檚 mental health in the news, with a lot of doom and gloom about how things are getting so much worse. And then there were children who were saying, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 know there was a therapist at my school,鈥� or, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 know how to access those supports.鈥欌��

Lease, employed by the and contracted to work with students at Thomas Jefferson, said she and her colleagues don鈥檛 want to fade into the background. 鈥淲e put a lot of focus and attention toward making sure people know how to find us, know who we are, that we鈥檙e integrated into the school community, even though we are technically not school-system employees.鈥�

For school-based mental health providers, especially those who, like Lease and her colleagues, are employed by community-based partner agencies, getting out there and establishing yourself as an essential part of the school community is key. If the goal is to reach all kids who need mental health services, this聽 approach is a proven winner.

鈥淲e try to be seen as members of the school community, and really for those relationships, because it allows people to know how to find us and how to access services,鈥� Lease said. 鈥淚t reduces stigma if we鈥檙e seen as another member of the school community, whether you are a parent coming to pick a kid up from school, or a kid just swinging by our office.鈥�

Maryland鈥檚 school-based mental health program has a long history, said Nikita Parson, associate director and trainee coordinator at the University of Maryland鈥檚 School Mental Health Program. As far back as 1989, staff in school-based health centers began noticing rising numbers of students complaining of physical ailments, including, Parson recalled, 鈥渟omatic symptoms like headaches and stomachaches.鈥� After taking a deeper look, school staff determined that the issues students were talking about were, she explained, 鈥渕ore social-emotional related for those kiddos rather than physical.鈥�

Health center staff made referrals for visits with mental health providers, but the follow-up rate was low, Parson said.聽Barriers like a lack of reliable transportation, childcare needs for other siblings and stigma within their community kept families from getting kids to the appointments.

In response, a team from the University of Maryland, led then by Weist, helped to expand mental health services in Baltimore’s school-based health centers. The idea was that if kids could get the mental health care they needed at school, they were far more likely to get parental support and show up for appointments, Parson explained. The model was built on the idea that rather than asking school employees like psychologists, social workers and guidance counselors to take on more responsibility for mental health care, schools would contract with credentialed community-based providers to come into the school and provide mental health care for students there.

Lever said the approach of boosting mental health care services in the schools rather than relying on outside locations was key to the program鈥檚 success. 鈥淚f you want to work with children, you have to go where they are,鈥� she said.

‘When it’s done well, it works.‘

If Baltimore’s visible, integrated approach to school-based mental health seems similar to Minnesota’s approach, that’s not an accident, Sander said. Many of the leaders of the school-based mental health movement in the United States, himself included, have worked together to develop models that can best serve students who would otherwise lack access. Their programs鈥� approaches mirror one another.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a reason school-based mental health often operates that way,鈥� Sander said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 because when it鈥檚 done well, it works.鈥� It鈥檚 not a cut-and-paste approach, he said, because the needs are unique in each school district. But at the core, most successful school-based mental health programs lean heavily into the model that was developed in the late 1980s by Weist and his colleagues at the University of Maryland and successfully put into practice in states like Minnesota.

Just as in Baltimore, Sander said that an intentional integration of mental health clinicians in the school ecosystem in Minnesota has helped to normalize the idea of seeking mental health care. That support has been evident since the programs were founded in the state nearly 25 years ago.

Support for school-based mental health grew organically, Sander said, as children and adults around the state began to see the benefits of easy access to care. In the state Legislature, lawmakers from across the political spectrum, driven by personal experience and constituent requests, began to approve funding for these programs.

It got to the point where legislators wanted to make sure that school mental health was available in every county in the state, Sander said. Voters told their elected officials that they wanted these services available for their children, and the programs grew. Lawmakers, he said, 鈥渁ll wanted to make sure they had school mental health in their district. It took off in a good way, and it鈥檚 just grown from there.鈥� Today, Minnesota鈥檚 school-based mental health programs are funded by a combination of private and public insurance as well as $20 million in state funding.

Lever can鈥檛 help but feel heartened by the state鈥檚 support for school-based mental health programs.

鈥淚 love what Minnesota鈥檚 doing,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey were part of our national quality initiative. We gave them some background, and they just took it and ran with it and brought it to a higher level. It鈥檚 a real accomplishment that truly benefits all the children of the state.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

Mental health care services are available in more than 80% of Minnesota鈥檚 public school districts. That figure represents , though persistent gaps remain.

While most student mental health support is provided by a combination of school staff and school-based mental health practitioners employed by outside agencies, other nonprofit programs also spend time in the state鈥檚 schools, offering unique types of care. These services include peer support for students living with addiction, or culturally specific support groups and activities designed to meet the unique needs of students from immigrant and refugee communities.

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One of these nonprofit programs is Know the Truth, an independent offshoot of the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge. Know the Truth was created in 2006 as a prevention program designed to bring young people who had recently completed addiction treatment into schools to talk to teens about their own experiences.

Sadie Brown, Know the Truth director of prevention and community engagement, said that her organization started as a 鈥済rassroots effort going into schools,鈥� providing guest speakers to add context to information that students were already learning in health class units on drug and alcohol use. Eventually, Know the Truth expanded to provide peer recovery services, developing partnerships with a number of Minnesota public school districts, including Anoka-Hennepin and District 916, which provides alternative programming to students in the northeast metro area.

Know the Truth provides expansive supports related to substance use, Brown said. 鈥淣ot only are we meeting with students who are actively using now, we are also hearing from students who have use present in their home, say with mom, dad or siblings. And we are meeting with students who are in recovery and want to explore recovery 鈥� like how do they navigate that and find like-minded students who are also on a recovery path.鈥�

Another nonprofit, St. Paul-based Restoration for All, focuses on supporting the mental health of the state鈥檚 African immigrant and refugee community. It also has also brought mental health-focused programs into public schools. Founder Tolulope Ola, a Nigerian immigrant and community activist, explained that she and her colleagues decided to expand their mental health supports to refugee and immigrant youth because they felt that not all teachers and staff understood their unique culture and experiences.

鈥淲e saw that students from our community were struggling,鈥� Ola said. 鈥淲e were concerned they were being misunderstood, and we knew we were best equipped to support them and explain to others where they were coming from.鈥�

Working with youth is work with 鈥榩urpose鈥櫬�

Every morning, Tiffany White wakes up knowing she鈥檚 doing a job she was born to do. As a youth peer support specialist for , White spends her days talking to young people in schools about drug and alcohol use.

Peer support specialists rely on their personal histories of addiction and recovery. White, now four years sober, is more than willing to talk about her long and painful journey with alcohol abuse. 鈥淚 talk about my life every single day,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 tell the young people everything I went through because I want to help them. My life is no secret.鈥�

In her teens, White avoided substances, but by the time she turned 21, she started drinking alcohol. 鈥淚t seemed OK to drink because it was legal. I fell into it,鈥� she said, explaining that she wasn鈥檛 鈥渁n instant alcoholic.鈥� Within a few years, White鈥檚 dependence on alcohol had accelerated, and what at first felt like fun lost its luster.

鈥淚 started to get some real-life consequences,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 spiraled into depression and suicidal ideation. I got to a place where I didn鈥檛 care if I lived or died.鈥� She drank so much, she said, that, 鈥淚 started to have and . I鈥檝e been in the hospital, in jail, but hallucinating really scared me.鈥� For White, that crossed a line. 鈥淚 thought,鈥� she recalled, 鈥溾�業f I鈥檓 not going to drink myself to death, I鈥檓 going to go to treatment.鈥欌��

White checked herself into a 13-month-long residential program at , a faith-based addiction treatment and recovery program with locations around the state. After completing the program, she took a job doing urinalysis tests for program participants. Then, someone told White about Know the Truth, a secular offshoot of Adult and Teen Challenge. She signed up to do a presentation for a local high school health class, where she and others shared personal stories of addiction and answered student questions.

The experience was significant.

After the presentation, a girl came up to White. 鈥淪he was crying. She said, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 think anyone did the same things my mom did until I heard you speak.鈥� I saw I could use my own experience to help her. I thought, 鈥楾his is what I鈥檓 supposed to do with my life.鈥欌��

During the academic year, White works out of three Twin Cities public schools (, in Little Canada and ), where she meets with individuals and groups. But her work isn鈥檛 limited to school hours: She also provides peer support services for students in the community and she regularly attends public events, like , a training and education program for young people on probation in Ramsey County.

If a student is assessed by a school social worker or psychologist and approved for peer support services, White can meet with them outside of school. In those cases, she selects spaces where teens feel comfortable. 鈥淲e go to events, for walks, to the movies,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes we just ride around for two hours and talk.鈥�

White also gives the young people 鈥� many of whom are struggling with their own or their family members鈥� addictions 鈥� her phone number. 鈥淚 tell them they can text or call me anytime.鈥�

Always being on duty suits White just fine. 鈥淭his is what it is like to work out your purpose,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 work a lot. I don鈥檛 take time off, because it鈥檚 my passion. It doesn鈥檛 feel like work to me.鈥�

One size does not fit all

The way young people think and talk about their mental health is influenced largely by their cultural background. founder Tolulope Ola understands this at her core.

A Nigerian immigrant and community activist, she saw that members of her community 鈥� especially young people who straddled between their family鈥檚 traditional culture and that of their U.S.-raised peers 鈥� struggled with their mental health. The adults in their schools often misinterpreted what they were trying to say, or failed to see that they were hurting.

These misunderstandings arose from a lack of cultural knowledge, Ola said: 鈥淢ost of the organizations working in the schools don鈥檛 have what it takes to work with immigrant and refugee families.鈥�

These gaps include a lack of personal understanding of the immigrant and refugee experience. 鈥淢any of these kids spent a foundational part of their lives in refugee camps,鈥� Ola explained, where they learned survival skills often at odds with American behavioral expectations. When they surface in everyday interactions, these survival skills can be misinterpreted by school staff, and students can end up with diagnoses that aren鈥檛 accurate.

To address this issue, Ola said that she and her Restoration for All team have visited schools to hold workshops with school staff. They share information with educators about the traumas that many young people and their parents endured on their journeys to the United States, and they offer concrete examples of how best to interact with students when speaking about their mental health.

鈥淚nstead of asking kids, 鈥榃hat is wrong with you?鈥欌�� Ola said, 鈥渨e want educators and other adults to instead ask the question, 鈥榃hat happened to you?鈥� These children have lived through so much. The body holds the score.鈥�

Ruth Ezeagwula, Restoration for All mental health and suicide prevention coordinator, said many young people from African immigrant and refugee communities feel like they have to switch behaviors and ways of speaking between school and home, especially when it comes to discussions about mental health. While immigrant and refugee kids are taught about the importance of speaking up about mental health concerns at school, many of their families avoid or even discourage talking about these issues at home, Ezeagwula said.

鈥淢ental health wasn鈥檛 a thing that was talked about among the older immigrant and refugee population. It was mostly just, 鈥楽uck it up,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭rying to bridge that gap is hard.鈥�

In 2023, Restoration for All was awarded a four-year, $400,000 聽from the聽聽(MDH), allowing them to expand the services to young people. This feels particularly important, Ola said, because there has been an among young people in the state鈥檚 African immigrant and refugee community.

鈥淲e are providing services for children, like mental health screening groups and individual therapy as well as suicidal monitoring,鈥� Ola said. 鈥淲e also do African mind-body practices to get them grounded. Sometimes they respond more to therapy when it is grounded in their cultural practices.鈥�

Another MHD grant has funded Restoration for All’s work in schools in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud and Rochester 鈥渋n connection with another organization called , as well as working in communities on [substance use disorder] and building peer support,鈥� Ola said. 鈥淭hough these issues cut across generations, our focus is on youth.鈥�

In the trenches

On a late spring afternoon at St. Anthony Middle School, White is having a slow day. On the days she鈥檚 assigned to the school, she holds open hours in her basement office and schedules one-on-one appointments with students looking for addiction and mental health services. She also hosts support group meetings in the school library.

鈥淚t ebbs and flows,鈥� White said of student visits. 鈥淪ometimes I鈥檒l have a full load of kids. Sometimes it鈥檚 quiet.鈥� Sometimes, concerned teachers send students to her. Other times, kids stop by for a quick check-in on their own.

While she wants young people to avoid using substances, White understands that many teens already drink or use illegal drugs or tobacco. She also believes that schools underreport substance use among students. 鈥淭hey might say only 2% use, but from what I hear it鈥檚 actually more like 70% of students use,鈥� she said. 鈥淪chools turn a blind eye.鈥�

Because of widespread use, White chooses to take a gentle-handed approach to her work. She believes accepting reality is the best way to actually help young people quit. 鈥淢y goal is harm reduction,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 want these students to make educated decisions. That wasn鈥檛 available when I was young. I鈥檒l just say, 鈥楧on鈥檛 do it for a day.鈥� They鈥檒l come back and say, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 do it for a whole week.鈥� It鈥檚 a kind of reverse psychology.鈥�

White鈥檚 work in schools is paid for by contracts and grants awarded to Know the Truth, not by individual insurance. Partway through the school year, she learned that her contract at Hastings High School was eliminated due to federal funding cuts. Not having a peer support counselor at the school has been a blow to some of the kids she saw there, White said. 鈥淭hey are really struggling. They鈥檒l text me and say, 鈥業 wish you were here.鈥欌��

While cutbacks like this are discouraging, White tries to focus on the inroads she鈥檚 made with students at Quora, an alternative learning center for students with behavioral health needs in Little Canada.

For her first year in the building, White said that students didn鈥檛 trust her and it was nearly impossible to make inroads. 鈥淚t was too chaotic,鈥� she said, adding that the chaos made it impossible to hold support groups. But with time and patience, things changed: 鈥淚t took me a year to get the students to trust me. But they trust me now. They are like night and day. They are asking me questions, talking to me. It feels pretty successful.鈥�

White credits much of her success to what she calls her 鈥済enuine approach.鈥�

鈥淭he kids call me Auntie,鈥� White said. 鈥淭hey know I am an authority, but they want to hear what I鈥檝e got to say because I have a friendly demeanor. I tell them, 鈥業鈥檓 not here to judge you. I don鈥檛 care what you do. I just want to help.鈥� Saying that kind of stuff to them, that breaks the ice, and together we can make a change.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

This girl just can鈥檛 seem to settle. Like a bird in search of a worm, she flits from spot to spot in Yolonda Rogers鈥� office 鈥� a desk, a couple of chairs and a beanbag in the corner of a multipurpose room at , a Minneapolis public high school. Rogers, a mental health specialist tasked with providing mental health care to students in six of the district鈥檚 schools, is patient. She鈥檚 seen this kind of behavior before.

The girl keeps moving around the room, alighting briefly before taking out her cell phone and answering a call. When Rogers asks her a question, the girl鈥檚 answers are short and clipped, and her face is turned away. She doesn鈥檛 seem interested in talking, but it also seems like she doesn鈥檛 want to leave.

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Then the girl spies a large plastic bag stuffed with snack-sized chips that Rogers keeps on a shelf near her desk. She pulls out a pack, and starts to eat. Still pacing the room, she begins talking about issues with her mother. Rogers listens, nods, asks a few more questions, and the girl finally sits down. Still not making eye contact, she tells Rogers she鈥檚 thinking about withdrawing from Heritage, how she鈥檚 gone to schools all over the state, how she鈥檚 been fighting with other students.

The conversation slowly warms up. Despite the rocky beginning, the girl somehow seems comfortable with Rogers, and their conversation becomes easy, even relaxed.

Later, Rogers explains that most of the students who come to her office have never seen a mental health therapist, and most of their parents are unlikely to have the time or financial resources to get them to a therapy appointment. Because Rogers, who holds a master鈥檚 degree in clinical social work, is at Heritage one day a week and is a known presence in the school, students feel comfortable just stopping by her office, and teachers and administrators know they can refer struggling students for a visit.

鈥淚t helps with their mental well-being to have me here,鈥� Rogers said of her students. 鈥淚鈥檓 part of the community, and many of them find it easy to talk to me about what鈥檚 on their mind.鈥�

Making mental health treatment as easy as going to the school nurse is a key component of Minnesota鈥檚 decades-long goal of providing low- or no-cost mental health care to all public school students. In a state with a lamentable history of racial and economic inequality, this clear commitment to easy access to mental health care stands out.

In the wake of the global COVID pandemic, much attention has been paid to kids鈥� mental health, but children in the United States have struggled for decades trying to access counseling and therapy. In the past, children in Minnesota鈥檚 public schools largely got mental health care from school social workers or psychologists, but that approach had shortcomings, including staffing problems and budget limitations that meant kids who really needed to talk to someone about their mental health often had to wait for months.

In the early 2000s, in recognition of growing rates of mental illness among children, the state began expanding access to mental health care in public schools by contracting with outside agencies, bringing licensed mental health care providers into schools where they could become a regular part of the educational ecosystem. Supported by the state Legislature, the (MDE) and (DHS) approved funding for these efforts, from $4.7 million in 2008 to over $20 million today, and slowly the number of mental health providers in the state鈥檚 public schools began to grow.

Mark Sander, Hennepin County director of school mental health, has been involved in the effort since the beginning. 鈥淚f we go back to 2005,鈥� he said, 鈥渨e had therapists in five schools. Now, just in Hennepin County alone, we have 22 different agencies doing this work. There are over 230 therapists in over 220 schools just in Hennepin County serving about 7,000 students a year.鈥�

This work hasn鈥檛 gone unnoticed. Kris Lofgren, DHS school behavioral health program coordinator, said that during the pandemic, Minnesota鈥檚 efforts to expand mental health care to public schools was highlighted in a U.S. Department of Education report.

鈥淚t brought national attention to what鈥檚 being done in the state,鈥� Lofgren said. 鈥淧eople figured out that we have been doing a lot of important work around bringing mental health services to where kids are. It identified Minnesota as a leader.鈥�

Sander has witnessed this expansion 鈥� and the impact it has had on kids 鈥斅爁irst hand. He said he鈥檚 proud of Minnesota鈥檚 support for children鈥檚 mental health and grateful for the many advocates who鈥檝e made it possible. Easy access to free- and reduced-cost mental health care is not a given in public schools nationwide, but today it is available in 82% of Minnesota’s public school districts and in 61% of the state’s 2,661 public schools, a reality he does not take lightly.

鈥淚鈥檒l be honest,鈥� Sander said. 鈥淢innesota has crushed it.鈥�

Part of the furniture

To Sander鈥檚 mind, the ideal school-based mental health provider wears a camouflage of sorts, blending into the background like part of the landscape of the regular school day. When kids have to leave school to see a therapist, he said, the experience can be much more intimidating, making mental health treatment feel onerous or even threatening.

鈥淥ne of the things that鈥檚 been really beautiful is when you bring these mental health services into the schools it doesn鈥檛 seem like a big deal,鈥� Sander said. When a therapist is based in school, kids and parents see them in the hallway or the lunchroom. They see kids interacting with their peers, observe behaviors and connect with teachers, he added. 鈥淭he therapist can then talk to a teacher or another adult in the building and really help integrate their work, saying, 鈥楾ommy is working on his anxiety and so if you see him starting to get a little bit anxious, just touch him on his shoulder. Nobody else needs to know, but it鈥檚 your thing.鈥欌��

Take Rogers, for example. Students and staff flow in and out of her office, stopping to chat, grab a bag of chips, check in on their day, or to introduce a friend and refer them for services. When school-based therapists are easily accessible and available like this, Sander said, word starts to spread. 鈥淵outh feel comfortable coming to a therapist or a social worker and saying, 鈥楬ey: I鈥檝e got a concern,鈥� or, 鈥業鈥檝e got a concern about my friend.鈥� We as a team can help figure out what鈥檚 the best place for them to start getting support.鈥�

While going to therapy can be commonplace for kids in higher-income groups, many children from immigrant and refugee communities often have little or no background seeking mental health support. This is the case with students in many of the state鈥檚 public schools.

Jill Johnson, executive director of , a nonprofit provider of school-based mental health care in Minnesota schools, said that when therapists are located in a school, kids are highly likely to get care. 鈥淭here is a that says for kids from low-income families, if they need mental health care, there is only a 13% chance they will access services, but when mental health care is available in schools it is something like a 96% chance.鈥�

Sander has seen that in action. 鈥淗alf of the students that are supported by school-based mental health in Hennepin County have never had mental health services before,鈥� he said. 鈥淥f those that are getting it for the first time, 40% have really significant mental health issues.鈥� This lack of access isn鈥檛 due to parental neglect, Sander added. 鈥淧arents want to get their kids the stuff they need. It was just that they couldn鈥檛 get them there or didn鈥檛 know how to make it happen. Having it in the school allows them to get their kids that support.鈥�

There are many reasons why getting a kid to therapy, even when parents are on board, can be difficult. Sander recalled a meeting he and parent had several years ago with then-U.S. Sen. Al Franken. 鈥淭his parent said. 鈥業鈥檝e got a job and I was worried about losing my job because of having to take my young person to therapy,鈥� The fact that they could get that support at school was a game-changer. For the parent, it really lessened their own anxiety.鈥�

Few and far between

While Minnesota鈥檚 commitment to providing mental health care to kids in public schools has received national praise, there are still some parts of Greater Minnesota where a scattered population and the limits of geography can make that access spotty at best.

Johnson, whose nonprofit supplies mental health providers to schools across the metro area, said she鈥檚 all-too familiar with the state鈥檚 rural/urban divide.

鈥淪chool-based mental health services look very different in St. Paul and Minneapolis vs. in rural Minnesota,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 know some districts in rural Minnesota where the whole district might share only one or two clinicians. It is different in Minneapolis or St. Paul, where we have a clinician in almost every school.”

In Grand Marais, two hours north of Duluth on Lake Superior鈥檚 North Shore, Lisa Sater works as an early childhood therapist and clinical supervisor for the . The district, which covers some 3,340 square miles, has about 430 kids from pre-school to 12^th grade.

A couple of years ago, Sater, who has lived north of Brainerd since 1982, decided to fulfill her dream of living just about as far north as you can get when she and her husband decided to pull up stakes and move to Grand Marais. She鈥檇 been working as a child therapist for decades, employed as a school therapist through , a Willmar-based nonprofit providing in-home and school-based mental health services to children and families outside of the Twin Cities. Aware that her skills were in high demand, she reached out to Chris Lindholm, Cook County Public Schools superintendent.

鈥淚 emailed Chris and said, 鈥楥ould you use a mental health therapist in your school?鈥欌�� Sater recalled. 鈥淗e said, immediately, 鈥榊es. Yes. We really need someone to come,鈥� My next email was to my boss. I said, 鈥榃ould you support me in moving my work to Grand Marais?鈥� He said, 鈥榊es. Of course.鈥欌��

Sater understands it takes a certain type of person to want to live in Grand Marais. While the town 鈥斅爌opulation 1,352 鈥斅爄s nestled into an undeniably beautiful harbor on a majestic lake, the isolation that makes it precious can also be a source of struggle when a kid is in need of mental health care.

鈥淚t is very hard for parents to come in and to therapy with their kids,鈥� Sater said. 鈥淎bout 30% of our student population are Native American. Some go to school on the reservation in Grand Portage. It is a good school, but some kids from there also come here.鈥� The trip from Grand Portage to Grand Marais is about 35 miles one way, and parents often have a hard time making it to school, let alone to town for a visit with a therapist.

鈥淎 lot of people can鈥檛 afford the gas,鈥� Sater said. 鈥淭here is limited public transportation. That鈥檚 one of the problems. Another one is a lot of people have to work more than one job. It is an expensive place to live.鈥�

When he moved to town in July 2021, Lindholm described what felt like a children鈥檚 mental health desert. 鈥淚 saw a huge need here for children鈥檚 mental health services. There were two providers in the whole county and not near enough horsepower. Basically, mental health services in all of Cook county in general were drastically lacking. The county itself called it out as a big problem.鈥�

Though they are far removed from the pressures of city living, Lindholm said that kids in his district struggle with many of the same issues as their urban counterparts. 鈥淥ver half of our kids are in poverty, there are lots of visible mental health struggles. Teachers tell me the mental health needs are incredible. In 2022, for instance, nearly half of our junior class was being treated for mental health of some kind.鈥�

Sater鈥檚 email felt like an amazing boon, Lindholm said. The need for her services was clearly there, even in his 鈥渢iny鈥� district. 鈥淪he went to a full caseload in the county almost immediately.鈥� The district has enough funding to employ a second school-based therapist, and聽 it聽 has posted the position for two years with no takers.

What makes the region beautiful also makes it a hard sell. 鈥淚t is two hours to everything. A trip to the eye doctor is a full-day trip.鈥�

At the state Capitol, there have been efforts to make providing mental health services to kids in Greater Minnesota more appealing, like providing loan forgiveness and tuition support to mental health providers who agree to practice in rural areas.

Unless, like Sater, another provider drops from the sky, Lindholm fears that it will always be a struggle to fully attend to the mental聽 health of all聽 students.

All day every day

At in St. Paul, mental health care is integrated into nearly every aspect of the school. In June, members of Como鈥檚 mental health team gathered for an end-of-year wrap-up meeting, led by Christy McCoy, one of five of the school鈥檚 social workers. The group, made up of social workers, an intern, therapists and a psychologist, described the many ways they work to seamlessly wrap their services into the daily lives of students, teachers and administrators.

McCoy talked about her work co-facilitating a group of male students who鈥檇 been chronically absent from class, but actually spending time in the school building. 鈥淚 thought,鈥� she said, 鈥溾�楲et鈥檚 build this community to not just focus on academics, but let鈥檚 get to some of the root causes of why they鈥檙e not coming to class.鈥欌�� The group provides mental health support for the students聽 in a way that feels comfortable to them.

鈥淲e talk about everything in there,鈥� McCoy said. 鈥淲e talk about culture. We talk about our strengths, how to use those strengths to empower us and to channel those strengths to help us with things like advocacy, like how do we develop some of those social skills to be able to articulate what we need, what we want.鈥�

That approach works with group members, McCoy said, who have jumped on board with a surprising enthusiasm. 鈥淭hey said they wanted to have a group next year,鈥� McCoy told her colleagues. 鈥淭hey want to do some community service. They want to give back. They want to be able to come into the classrooms and share about why it is important to take care of yourself. These are all ideas focused on mental health, and these are all ideas they generated.鈥�

Back at Heritage STEM Academy, Rogers鈥� approach to mental health treatment also feels student-led. She always tries to start her sessions on comfortable footing. 鈥淚 first start getting to know the student,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 explain my role and say, 鈥業鈥檓 here to support you as a student. We can talk about mental health. We can talk about life. For many students it is helpful that I am African American. I also tell them I am a Minneapolis Public School alumni. It speaks to my cultural context, helps them open up.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

was originally reported by Grace Panetta of . .

Melissa Hortman, a former Minnesota House speaker who championed the passage of ambitious progressive policies in the state, was assassinated early Saturday in what Gov. Tim Walz called 鈥渁n act of targeted political violence.鈥� 

Hortman, 55, who was elected to the Minnesota House in 2004, became the speaker of the state鈥檚 House of Representatives in 2019 and, during her first few years, presided over the chamber under a divided government. In 2022, when the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party won full control of the state government, Hortman played a key role in shaping what legislation the chamber would prioritize, working closely with Walz to enact a slew of progressive policies that included major investments in children and families, as well as expanded protections for abortion and gender-affirming care. She left the post in March.

A man posing as a police officer killed Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park in what Walz described at a news conference as an apparent 鈥減olitically motivated assassination.鈥� DFL state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot by the same gunman at their home in nearby Champlin. Walz said they were out of surgery and was 鈥渃autiously optimistic鈥� that they would make a recovery.  

鈥淥ur state lost a great leader and I lost the greatest of friends,鈥� Walz said. 鈥淪peaker Hortman was someone who served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion, humour and a sense of service. She was a formidable public servant, a fixture and a giant in Minnesota. She woke up every day determined to make this state a better place. She is irreplaceable and will be missed by so many.鈥�  

Hours after the attacks, an 鈥渆xtensive manhunt鈥� remained underway for the suspect, who impersonated a law enforcement officer to enter Hortman鈥檚 home, Brooklyn Park chief of police Mark Bruley told reporters in a news conference Saturday. The suspect fled on foot, leaving behind his car, where, law enforcement officials found a list containing about 70 names, including abortion providers and advocates, as well as lawmakers.

Here鈥檚 a look at Hortman鈥檚 legislative history and legacy on key policies:

Abortion:

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in June 2022, Minnesota emerged as a key access point for abortion as other Midwestern states moved to ban the procedure. 

鈥淭here was a simmering rage that did not stop,鈥� Hortman said after the 2022 election, according to . 鈥淚 was hopeful that voters would take that energy and put it on the ballot and vote for Democrats. And thankfully they did.鈥�

In 2023, Hortman led the Minnesota House in passing , legislation that codified the legality of abortion and other forms of reproductive health care in the state. In subsequent bills, the Minnesota legislature eliminated other restrictions on abortion, passed protections for abortion providers, boosted state funding for clinics providing abortion and eliminated funding for anti-abortion counseling centers.     

LGBTQ+ rights:聽

The Minnesota legislature passed a bill for minors in the state, which Walz signed into law in April 2023. Lawmakers passed additional legislation with that made Minnesota a 鈥渢rans refuge state.鈥�  

Paid leave:聽

In with the Minnesota Reformer, Hortman cited a as 鈥渢he most rewarding鈥� piece of legislation she passed. The legislature also enacted paid sick leave and paid safe leave for survivors of intimate partner violence, to help them find temporary housing or seek relief in court. 

鈥淎n average person can take time, whether it鈥檚 to take care of somebody who has cancer or to take care of a new baby,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople shouldn鈥檛 have to choose between a job and recovering from illness.鈥�

Child care and education:聽

Hortman and Walz passed major investments in aimed at lowering child poverty and hunger. These included providing free school breakfasts and lunches, expanding the child tax credit and increasing funding for early childhood scholarships, child care provider stabilization funds and child care for low-income families. Lawmakers also enacted a program making tuition at Minnesota鈥檚 public colleges free for families earning less than $80,00 a year.   

鈥淔rom the word 鈥榞o,鈥� you can see that children were top of mind,鈥� Hortman . 鈥淕ov. Tim Walz gave a very inspiring state of the state address in 2023. He was very clear that his administration was focused on reducing childhood poverty. The DFL House and the DFL Senate said, 鈥楪overnor, we are right there with you.鈥欌��

In 2024, Minnesota lawmakers from local schools and libraries on the basis of ideological or content objections. 

Gun safety and criminal justice:聽

After the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, Hortman worked across the aisle to . In 2023, the Minnesota legislature passed the Restore the Vote Act, which restored voting rights to formerly incarcerated Minnesotans upon completion of their sentences. Hortman was also an advocate for gun violence prevention . In 2023, Walz signed a bill that measures like universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders, or 鈥渞ed flag鈥� laws. In 2024, the Minnesota legislature that, among other things,聽made straw purchases of firearms a felony.聽

鈥淲e clearly have a gun violence problem in this country, and there are things we can do about it, and we did them,鈥� Hortman .

If the justices had agreed with the district鈥檚 longstanding argument, children with disabilities would have had to prove their school system intentionally acted in bad faith in denying them in-school accommodations. In 鈥渇riend of the court鈥� briefs, numerous advocacy groups had warned that holding special education students to a different 鈥� and extraordinarily strict 鈥� definition of discrimination would have made it virtually impossible for families to assert their rights. 

The court agreed, saying everyone who files suit under the ADA should have to meet the same standard of 鈥渄eliberate indifference,鈥� or disregard for an individual鈥檚 need for accommodations.

“That our decision is narrow does not diminish its import for A.J.T. and 鈥榓 great many children with disabilities and their parents,鈥� 鈥� Roberts wrote, citing language from a lower court decision. 鈥淭ogether they face daunting challenges on a daily basis. We hold today that those challenges do not include having to satisfy a more stringent standard of proof than other plaintiffs to establish discrimination under Title II of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.”

In a concurring opinion, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson elaborated, citing examples of discrimination that, intent notwithstanding, must still be addressed. 

鈥淪tairs may prevent a wheelchair-bound person from accessing a public space,鈥� Sotomayor wrote. 鈥淭he lack of auxiliary aids may prevent a deaf person from accessing medical treatment at a public hospital; and braille-free ballots may preclude a blind person from voting, all without animus on the part of the city planner, the hospital staff or the ballot designer.鈥�

鈥淭oday鈥檚 decision is a great win for Ava, and for children with disabilities facing discrimination in schools across the country,鈥� said Roman Martinez, a lead attorney on the case. 鈥淭his outcome gets the law exactly right, and it will help protect the reasonable accommodations needed to ensure equal opportunity for all.鈥�

In a statement to 社区黑料, a district spokesperson said the high court 鈥渄eclined to decide what the particular intent standard is for such claims,鈥� noting that 鈥渢he case will now return to the trial court for next steps consistent with the court’s ruling.鈥�

In 2015, when Ava was in fourth grade, her family moved from Kentucky to Minnesota. Because her severe form of epilepsy causes frequent seizures during the morning, she had been allowed to attend school in the afternoon and early evening. Initially, the Osseo district agreed to a modified schedule, but reneged after the family moved, saying it was unwilling to provide services outside the normal school day. 

The state administrative law judge who heard the family鈥檚 initial complaint called the district鈥檚 arguments 鈥減retextual,鈥� saying it was more concerned with 鈥渢he need to safeguard the ordinary end-of-the-workday departure times for its faculty and staff鈥� than with outside evaluators鈥� assessments of Ava鈥檚 needs. 

As the case made its way to the , the district had consistently argued Ava had to prove the school system acted out of ill intent 鈥� a standard that would have applied only to K-12 students. But in the brief it submitted before oral arguments, Osseo , saying that a showing of bad faith is required in all ADA cases, not just those involving schools.

The April 28 hearing erupted in rare verbal fireworks when Justice Neil Gorsuch took exception to a statement by the district鈥檚 attorney that lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice, who sided with the family, were 鈥渓ying鈥� when they said the district had changed its argument. Justice Amy Coney Barrett characterized the district鈥檚 shift as 鈥渁 pretty big sea change,鈥� while Jackson questioned whether the district was saying the ADA does not necessarily require accommodations for people with disabilities.  

In their concurring opinion, Sotomayor and Jackson noted that when they wrote the act, lawmakers addressed the question at the heart of the case head-on: 鈥淐ongress was not na茂ve to the insidious nature of disability discrimination when it enacted the ADA and Rehabilitation Act. It understood full well that discrimination against those with disabilities derives principally from 鈥榓pathetic attitudes rather than affirmative animus.鈥� 鈥�

The decision comes at a time when disability protections have come under fire from the second Trump administration and a number of Republican governors. In October, motivated by new rules that said gender dysphoria could be considered a disability, 17 states . Gender dysphoria is the clinical term for distress caused when a person鈥檚 gender does not match their sex assigned at birth.

That suit, Texas vs. Kennedy, originally sought to have Section 504, the portion of the ADA that outlaws in-school discrimination, declared unconstitutional. The states have since dropped that demand from the suit but are to overturn rules prohibiting discrimination in a wide array of public settings. 

Whether the states will continue to press the new, broader case in the face of Thursday鈥檚 decision remains to be seen.

For their part, disability advocates were quick to celebrate. The district鈥檚 position was 鈥渇latly inconsistent with the law and would have stripped millions of people with disabilities of the protections Congress put in place to prevent systemic discrimination,鈥� said Shira Wakschlag, senior executive officer of legal advocacy and general counsel for The Arc of the United States, which submitted a brief on the issues. 鈥淭he very foundation of disability civil rights was on the line.”

A ruling in favor of Osseo Area Schools, located in suburban Minneapolis, would mean students who claim their rights were violated will have to prove their school systems acted in 鈥渂ad faith or gross misjudgment鈥� 鈥� a higher standard than 鈥渄eliberate indifference,鈥� which the law requires in other disability discrimination cases. 

An estimated 1.5 million public school students receive disability accommodations under the ADA, ranging from modified academic materials 鈥� such as simplifying a text or supplying curriculum via a specialized device 鈥� to making classrooms, bathrooms and other school spaces accessible to wheelchair users and others. The law governs accessibility, while disabled children鈥檚 educational rights are guaranteed by a different measure, the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.    

Teenager Ava Tharpe has a severe form of epilepsy that causes frequent seizures during the morning. While planning to move from Kentucky to Minnesota in 2015, when she was in fourth grade, a school district that would agree to start her classes at noon and extend them into the evening. After the family relocated, the district reneged, saying it was unwilling to provide services outside the normal school day. 

When the Supreme Court , the district鈥檚 position had consistently been that disability discrimination suits had to prove the school system acted out of ill intent. that the legal standard, which plaintiffs have been held to in some federal court circuits but not others, applied only to K-12 students.

But in the brief it submitted before the April 28 hearing, the district , saying that a showing of bad faith is required in all ADA cases, not just those involving schools. 

鈥淭he statutes do not impose liability for nondiscriminatory, good-faith denials of requested accommodations,鈥� the document asserts, adding that the high court 鈥渟hould not subject America鈥檚 100,000 public schools and countless other state and local entities and federal-funding recipients鈥� to the deliberate indifference standard. 

The hearing erupted in verbal fireworks after the district鈥檚 attorney accused the lawyers representing the federal government, which has sided with the family, of 鈥渓ying鈥� in saying that the district had shifted its argument. Justice Neil Gorsuch snapped back, and several minutes of heated debate ensued. 

Later in the hearing, Justice Amy Coney Barrett characterized the district鈥檚 shift as 鈥渁 pretty big sea change,鈥� according to posted by SCOTUS Blog, which also reported Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was 鈥渁ll but incredulous鈥� that the district argued that the ADA does not necessarily require accommodations for people with disabilities. 

Osseo officials declined to comment on the case, citing Tharpe鈥檚 right to privacy. 鈥淭he school district educates nearly 21,000 students, including 3,000 students with disabilities who have the right to education from birth through age 22,鈥� it said in a comment to 社区黑料. 鈥淲e’re committed to the principles and the ideals expressed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.”

The Tharpe family initially filed a complaint with state education officials under the IDEA, which guarantees disabled pupils a 鈥渇ree and appropriate public education.鈥� Noting that the girl had a right to a full school day, even if it extended into the evening, a state administrative law judge found that Ava鈥檚 educational rights had been violated. 

When the district appealed that ruling in federal district court, the family filed a second suit under the ADA. In March 2024, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the family鈥檚 IDEA rights had been violated. But the appellate court rejected the ADA discrimination claim, ruling the Tharpes had not proven the district acted in bad faith.

The Supreme Court鈥檚 eventual ruling should not impact IDEA, which governs whether children with disabilities are entitled to special education services enabling them to make adequate progress toward their goals.

By contrast, the ADA requires equal access to school and an equal opportunity to learn once they are there, explains Ellen Saideman, one of the authors of a submitted by the Council of Parent Advocates and Attorneys and several other disability advocacy groups. They argue that a ruling in the district鈥檚 favor would unfairly subject schoolchildren to a much higher legal bar than other people who need accommodations. 

To illustrate the difference, she cites a 2004 ADA case, , brought by someone who had to crawl up the stairs to get into a Tennessee courthouse that didn鈥檛 have an elevator. Under the “gross misjudgment” standard, there wouldn’t be a claim.

鈥淭he building was built before the ADA was passed, so it wasn’t built with any discriminatory intent,鈥� says Saideman. 鈥淯nder deliberate indifference, they know a person has a disability and there are other people who have disabilities who can’t go up the stairs. If they don’t fix it, then there could be a claim.鈥�

One of the ADA鈥檚 original drafters, former Rep. Tony Coelho of California, also submitted a brief that Congress鈥� intent was that families of disabled children have 鈥渢he same rights, no more, no less, that are provided all other groups 鈥� including the right to seek relief under Section 504 [and] the ADA.鈥�

鈥嬧�婣 decision is expected in June or July, near the end of the court鈥檚 current term.

Education Minnesota, the state鈥檚 largest union representing more than 86,000 members, elected its first Black president on Saturday.

Monica Byron ran unopposed to replace Denise Specht, who led the union since 2013. Byron started her career as a homeschool liaison for the Richfield Public Schools in 1995 before earning her teaching license. She taught elementary school in Richfield for 24 years, most recently as a math coach. In 2022, she left her teaching job when she was elected vice president of Education Minnesota.

Bryon takes over one of the state鈥檚 most influential unions at a critical juncture for public schools. More than 8 in 10 schools report having a shortage of teachers, and the union wants to increase pay to fill the ranks. But a looming budget deficit is tying the hands of state lawmakers who might otherwise support robust increases in school funding. At the federal level, the Trump administration has threatened to eliminate the Department of Education while also attacking unions.

This conversation was edited for length and clarity. 

Why did you run for president of the union?

I ran for president because I believe in the power of our union and to protect and strengthen things that matter most, like professional pay, secure pensions, affordable health care and respect for all of our educators.

You are the first Black president of Education Minnesota. What does that mean for your union and also organized labor in Minnesota?

I am really proud and honored to be the first Black president of Education Minnesota. I believe that I鈥檓 able to bring a unique and fresh perspective and voice to not only Education Minnesota but to the labor movement. I鈥檒l be able to advocate not only for educators, but for our students and our community. And I鈥檒l be able to ensure that all educators, but especially our educators of color, will have a voice.

The Trump administration has vowed to close the Department of Education and has threatened to withhold funding from schools with diversity programs, which was recently blocked by judges. What do you see as Education Minnesota鈥檚 role in responding to the Trump administration?

Education Minnesota has been publicly defending against the attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion and the other attacks from Washington, D.C. We are going to ensure that we have freedom to read. We鈥檙e going to make sure our history isn鈥檛 whitewashed. We鈥檙e just going to make sure that our students and our educators are able to teach and do all the things that they need to do.

What do you see as the biggest threats facing teachers and the union at this moment?

Right now, I think it鈥檚 just been the chaos and the executive orders coming. We have great partners though, from our national allies and our other labor allies. I think it鈥檚 just the unknown and the threats to the unions as a whole. But we are positioned well to be able to respond.

In 2024, just 28% of 8th graders rated proficient at reading, which is the lowest on record for the nationwide benchmark. In math, students鈥� abilities seem to be just as dire. I鈥檓 curious why you think teachers aren鈥檛 able to equip students with these basic skills of reading and math.

For me, the question is what resources and what other things our educators need. I believe that we need to ensure that all educators are equipped with those resources. They have the time to be able to teach and that we ensure that when it comes to class sizes, those teachers are able to reach each of those students.

Gov. Tim Walz, former teacher and union member, ran on being an education governor. Could you give him a grade on his tenure?

Education Minnesota has worked closely with Gov. Walz. President Specht is in charge when it comes to working with Gov. Walz. So as vice president, I鈥檝e been able to watch and follow her lead. So I don鈥檛 have a grade at this time.

What are Education Minnesota鈥檚 top priorities at the Legislature this year?

Right now, our top priorities have been around professional pay, which includes a starting pay for our entry educators and $25 per hour for our ESPs. We have a pension bill, which would ensure that we have a career rule for our teachers. And we also have a bill around health insurance, so that our educators have quality health insurance. It would start a health insurance pool for our educators across the state. And we also are looking to protect on education that we won last year.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

But now, bills before the state legislature would roll back these reforms and again allow schools to dismiss children in kindergarten through third-grade. 

Three measures under consideration would strip a prohibition on 鈥渄isciplinary dismissals鈥� 鈥� the removal of children from schools 鈥� in grades K-3, loosen the definition of student behavior meriting exclusion from the classroom, end a requirement that schools try non-exclusionary strategies before dismissing a child and let schools once again punish youngsters by denying or delaying their access to lunch and recess.

A separate bill would overturn a ban on seclusion for K-3 students 鈥� the practice of confining a child in isolation. Some people believe seclusion should be an option when a child’s behavior is out of control. Others call it punitive and cruel, particularly when used on very young children. 

That split was evident in testimony at a recent state House of Representatives hearing on the legislation. Sitting on opposite sides of a windowless Capitol hearing room, the witnesses took turns describing starkly different realities. 

Principal of Jeffers Pond Elementary in the affluent, suburban Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, Patrick Glynn testified that suspensions provide 鈥渢he gift of time鈥� so staff can 鈥渁llow for healing鈥� and create a 鈥渞e-entry plan鈥� for the student in question. 

Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association President Lisa Carlson, who oversees a school in another prosperous Twin Cities suburb, said a suspension can send a strong signal to a parent in denial about a student鈥檚 issues: 鈥淔or some families, the only way to truly recognize the severity of a situation is to be inconvenienced by it. When a child is suspended, parents are forced to stop, pay attention and take action.鈥�

But parent and educator Ali Alowonle told lawmakers that suspension taught her child the wrong lesson. 鈥淪he was told that she could not come to school because a police officer had to determine if she were a danger,鈥� Alowonle said. 鈥淪he began to hate school and refused to go. Suspension broke my kid鈥檚 trust in school and adults there.鈥�

Parent Susan Montgomery broke down describing her son鈥檚 suspension setting off a destructive cycle. 鈥淣ow, at 20, he is trying to rebuild his life,鈥� she said, pausing to choke back sobs. 鈥淗e is taking computer class, participating in healing circle, Bible study, working as a janitor and attending recovery groups 鈥� but all behind bars.鈥�

However and whenever lawmakers vote on the bills 鈥� they may be standalone legislation or wrapped into an omnibus spending package 鈥� they will resurface longstanding racial and demographic divides.

Minnesota has long had nation-leading racial disparities in education, with a teacher corps that is more than 90% white and an increasingly diverse student body. Its schools also have a long history of suspending and expelling non-white students and children with disabilities at much higher rates than their white, nondisabled peers. 

In 2017, the state Department of Human Rights entered into a settlement with 41 school districts and charter schools that were found to have suspended and expelled non-white children and those with disabilities at disproportionate rates. A 2022 from Solutions Not Suspensions, a coalition of advocacy groups that has campaigned for 10 years for laws requiring schools to stop disciplinary practices, found that children of color received 79% of exclusionary discipline despite being 49% of the student body during the 2018-19 school year. Children with disabilities made up 14% of students but received 43% of suspensions and expulsions. 

The agency noted that when the reason for discipline was subjective 鈥� e.g. 鈥渄isruptive behavior鈥� or 鈥渧erbal abuse,鈥� versus bringing a weapon to school 鈥� the disproportionality skyrocketed.  

Armed with these numbers, advocates got a break in 2023, when Democrats gained power in both legislative chambers and the governor鈥檚 office. They enacted laws outlawing the use of dangerous prone restraints by police officers stationed in schools and dramatically narrowed schools鈥� authority to dismiss children. 

But limits on police authority in the wake of Floyd鈥檚 murder by a Minneapolis officer had divided Minnesotans along both partisan and geographic lines, with city residents saying they were long overdue and rural residents largely opposed. In 2024, with an election looming and the support of rural Democrats feared to be softening, the Democratic-majority legislature reversed the ban on prone restraints.

The 2024 election left the state House evenly split, with equal numbers of lawmakers from each party set to take office. The late discovery that a Democrat did not actually live in the district where he was elected gave Republicans a one-vote majority until a March 11 special election likely restores the 67-67 split. They immediately started working to try to roll back policies enacted by the Democrats in 2023 and 2024.

Support for the discipline reforms passed in 2023 had been weak among rural Democrats. Now, advocates fear that the rollbacks being proposed by the Republicans could clear the state Senate, which has a one-vote Democratic majority. Advocates fear Democratic Gov. Tim Walz would not veto the measures. 

Kate Lynn Snyder is a lobbyist for Education Minnesota, the state鈥檚 teachers union. Speaking in opposition to the changes, she reminded lawmakers that it is still legal for teachers to remove students from classrooms. Schools can send children home for less than a day, impose an in-school suspension or send a child to a sensory break room. When there is an ongoing, serious safety threat, expulsion is still possible.

鈥淭he largest complaint I hear about school safety from my members is that when our teachers call administrators to send someone to their office, no one is answering the phone,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat might be because of the perception that their hands are tied, or it might be because of the educator shortage, but either way teachers, like students, are not getting the currently allowed supports that they’re asking for.鈥�

The state Department of Education also opposes the changes. At the hearing, lobbyist Adosh Unni described resources the agency has made available to schools interested in changing their approach to discipline.  

Matt Shaver, a former teacher who is policy director of the advocacy group EdAllies, urged lawmakers not to return to allowing schools to withhold or delay lunch or recess because of a student’s behavior.

鈥淚 took a lot of recess away from kids during my decade in the classroom,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 used this tool when students didn’t finish their homework or worksheets or weren’t focused in class. My line was, if you’re going to be playing during class time, you’ll do class time during your play time. I thought I was pretty clever and delivering consistent logical consequences that would teach the behaviors I wanted to see for my students. In hindsight, I was wrong.

鈥淭his wasn’t an effective tool because the same kids missed recess over and over,鈥� he continued. 鈥淚nstead of keeping a kid inside for a punishment, my time with them would have been much better spent on the playground building that relationship that would have made it more likely for them to respect and listen to me as their teacher.鈥�

It worked. Reimbursements rose from $1.7 million in state funds to 41 providers in 2017 to to 328 providers in state and Medicaid funds through the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention benefit in 2023.

Most of those new centers engaged in applied behavior analysis. ABA is an intensive behavior modification technique that aims to make autistic children act more like their typically developing peers by “extinguishing” certain traits through compliance with specific repeated commands. (A 74 investigation last year demonstrated that there is no reliable data to show the treatment works, and that it may actually cause harm to patients.)

Last year, the FBI began investigating whether some of those treatment centers have defrauded Medicaid, billing for services never provided. Though investigators have not said how many for-profit centers they are looking into or who their clients are, many are believed to enroll the children of East African immigrants, who are particularly vulnerable because of the lack of culturally appropriate services. There are also indications the alleged fraudsters may have ties to defendants in the country鈥檚 largest , in which nonexistent food distribution sites supposedly created to provide children with meals during COVID-related school closures billed the state for hundreds of millions of dollars.

As the 2025 legislative session gets underway, state lawmakers are holding hearings on proposals to tighten oversight. Most of the testimony has centered on to require services to be provided by licensed professionals in safe settings. But some autism advocates have expressed concern that those standards will entrench ABA as the dominant approach 鈥� one that, among other things, is replacing other special education services in schools 鈥� instead of supporting alternatives that they say are more effective and humane.     

One of those who testified is Native American Jules Edwards, the autistic parent of three autistic youth, ages 11, 19 and 21, and a member of the Anishinaabe Eagle Clan. After , she told a state Senate committee that ABA is not a therapy, but 鈥渁 specific methodology that was created by the same people that created gay conversion therapy.鈥�  

Right now, providers are not required to be licensed; are allowed to describe employees who may have only a high school diploma as therapists; and are not held to the same safety standards as even home day care centers, Edwards testified. 鈥淒espite the ABA industry lobbying for more power over the autism community, they need their power restricted until they can prove with empirical and independent evidence that they are doing what they claim they are doing鈥� in terms of providing effective, safe services.  

Edwards recently expanded on her testimony in an interview with 社区黑料. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What motivated you to testify?

When my children were diagnosed with autism, I threw myself into research. I learned about autism and I learned about interventions. I learned from professionals, parents and autistic adults that autism is a social, communication and sensory disability, and not a behavioral disorder. I learned that applied behavior analysis is a behavior modification program that requires autistic children to suppress their natural way of being in order to please the adults around them. 

That didn’t make sense to me. Why wouldn’t we want to address any underlying needs first? Typically, autistic kids specifically need to learn the why, because we’re bottom-up learners. We like to gather information about things before taking action. But ABA requires a top-down, authoritative approach, where autistic children are not allowed to ask why. They are required to comply with authority, and that poses a lifelong danger to that child. 

Testifying was an opportunity to highlight the fraud, waste and abuse that happens within the ABA industry. American taxpayers pay billions of dollars per year to enrich private equity investors under the guise of an autism therapy that works. However, ABA isn’t a therapy, and it hasn’t been proven to improve quality of life. 

The Department of Defense鈥檚 2020 reported that 76% of children in ABA showed no improvement after one year, 16% had improved, but 9% were worse after a year of treatment. That really brings into question the cost-effectiveness of ABA. When we’re talking about fraud and waste of Medicaid dollars or taxpayer dollars generally, we need to be honest about the actual outcomes. 

But there’s little oversight. The state doesn’t require health and safety procedures, behavior guidance, standards, first aid, CPR. They aren’t required to have a mental health response, crisis response or suicide intervention plan. They don’t have to provide culturally responsive treatment practices. 

A 5-year-old child was just in a hyperbaric chamber in an unaccredited ABA center in Troy, Michigan. The chamber exploded with the child inside, and he passed away.  We know that hyperbaric chambers aren’t actually a treatment or cure for autism or anything like that. It’s not approved by the FDA. If there was oversight, if there was licensing, if there were safety requirements that prevented this kind of alternative treatment it could have saved that boy鈥檚 life. 

The state鈥檚 suggests 鈥渕odern鈥� ABA has largely stopped using punishments to discourage certain behaviors. But I have heard parents and autistic adults who have experienced ABA say it is still coercive. Can you give us an example?

Planned ignoring, which is a technique used in ABA, basically denies the humanity of the child who is subjected to it. When we’re children, whether you’re autistic or not, and you’re hanging out with another kid, and the other kid is pretending you don’t even exist, it’s dehumanizing. But now, within ABA, the adults do that to the children.

Say a child is throwing a toy that they shouldn’t be throwing. They may not be hurting anybody. They might be throwing it because they like the sound. It could be stimming [the term for a repetitive sound or motion an autistic person may use for emotional regulation or to express ]. It could be anything. The adult doesn’t want the child to play with the toy that way. 

They might try other interventions before planned ignoring, but then the child is being ignored completely, whether the child is trying to gain the attention of the behavior tech or not. This can cause increased 鈥渂ehaviors鈥� of the child escalating, trying to gain that attention. But no matter how much the child tries, the adult is not going to give in.

We can see how frustrating that must be, particularly if that’s a child who may be struggling with communication and may not say, 鈥楬ey, I really want to play ball right now.鈥� That kid is maybe unable to ask for what they want, or the way that they’re asking is a behavior that the behavior tech doesn’t like.

Is there a danger that as the state creates standards and licensing procedures to protect children, it will further codify this industry as the dominant treatment? 

Absolutely. ABA is currently the dominant treatment. They have lobbyists. They absolutely can persuade legislators to further empower the industry. Because they have the most money, they have the most power right now. 

A lot of the research about ABA, claiming it’s the gold standard treatment, etc., is funded by and conducted by the people who profit from it. We need to be sure that decision makers are looking at facts and data and information that isn’t that doesn鈥檛 involve a conflict of interest. It’s really important that we refer to outside, independent researchers, like the Department of Defense study.

There was a push at one point for board-certified behavior therapists [credentialed ABA supervisors] in Minnesota to be able to diagnose autism. They would then be able to enroll those children in their services. That is dangerous, because children who need a diagnosis need to go to an actual medical professional and have other conditions ruled out. They need to be evaluated for potential co-occurring conditions, etc. If a behavior therapist is able to diagnose autism, but they can’t diagnose anything else, then all of that child’s underlying conditions or additional conditions may be overlooked. 

If my children didn’t have full-team neuropsych evaluations, I wouldn’t know about their learning disabilities, and I wouldn’t know how to provide support. I wouldn’t know how to advocate for my children in school. My child used to be punished for his writing disability until we learned, through that neuropsych evaluation, there’s a dysgraphia issue. So let’s provide writing prompts. Let’s provide support for writing. Let’s provide adaptations and assistive technology. If he only had an autism diagnosis, that would have been met with behaviorism, he would have been rewarded for doing well, punished for struggling, and he wouldn’t have had access to the tools that he needs. 

There are definitely other treatments that don’t have that same level of influence but may be more effective, may be more humanizing. A lot of those are not as widely available. 

Many kids spend half or or all of their day in an ABA center rather than in a school where their learning would be attended to.

It’s a problem that begins in preschool. Children are often pushed out of public schools when a school or preschool doesn’t have the knowledge or resources to care for the child. They say, “Maybe this isn’t the best fit for you.” That’s something that my family has heard from our local public school. That’s not really a thing that a special education director should be saying to any family, and we should be concerned about the people who are most marginalized in our communities. When those kids are excluded from public schools, parents are often left with very few options. 

ABA centers market themselves as being able to help children to gain skills and become more independent. But if that were so, why isn’t inclusion in public schools the ultimate goal of ABA centers? ABA centers are not schools. They’re not accredited to provide education. There are very few ABA centers that have transition paths or goals for kids to move out of ABA and into mainstream schools. Instead, many children remain in ABA, sometimes throughout high school, deprived of the opportunity to learn what their peers are learning. It’s a form of educational neglect. 

Children in ABA often aren’t allowed to learn the most basic things. For example, [behavior therapists] often dissuade spelling to communicate, which means that they’re not encouraging autistic kids in ABA to even learn the alphabet. They aren’t taught literacy, they aren’t taught math, they aren’t taught history. That’s sad and scary, because then when these children grow up, all they’ve learned how to do is comply with authority.

There was a hearing a couple of days after yours where a number of East African parents testified about the conditions that compelled them to take advantage of ABA. There’s an element of desperation, in terms of a lack of alternatives, that must be clouding the picture.

It’s a sad reality that there’s a history here in Minnesota of people preying on immigrant communities. For example, in 2017 there were 75 cases of measles identified in the Somali population in Hennepin County alone, a result of anti-vaxxers who saw an opportunity to push their narrative that vaccines cause autism. They targeted immigrant communities with fearmongering tactics. 

The ABA industry pushes itself onto parents by claiming to be the only hope for their children. I’m very concerned that marketing targets immigrant communities without sharing balanced information that will help parents make informed decisions for their families. I’m worried about the conditions in which ABA is the only option. 

A lot of the time, parents are in a desperate situation where it’s like, 鈥淚 have to go to work to pay the bills, and I have to have a place for my child to be that is safe and supervised.鈥� And instead of lobbying for inclusion, for appropriate support and services in schools, we’re saying, 鈥淲ell, this kid can go to ABA instead.鈥� 

That’s not good for anyone, because inclusion benefits all of us. Inclusion benefits abled and typically developing people just as much as it benefits disabled people. I think we can see that right now in our current political climate, where it’s been so normalized to 鈥渙ther鈥� people. That causes harm to all of us. 

ABA is problematic in your culture.

I’m Anishinabe. ABA could never meet my needs as a Native person. “Culturally responsive” essentially means to adapt services to meet the needs and values of a person’s culture. Some cultures, particularly settler-colonial culture, values assimilation. Settler-colonial culture prefers when people blend in and are agreeable to authority. ABA is rooted in that.

Behaviorism seeks to control a person’s behavior with the carrots-and-sticks analogy. We reward the things we want to see, we punish the things that we don’t want to see. We all do get rewarded for doing certain actions, and we all could potentially be punished by other actions.

But it’s not the same micro-management of behavior 鈥� you can only communicate the way I want you to communicate. You can only experience your senses the way I want you to experience your senses. You can only socialize the way that I have determined is a valid way of being. 

There’s the stereotype that autistic people don’t make eye contact, but that eye contact is a cultural phenomenon. Not every culture thinks eye contact is this great thing. Some cultures find it disrespectful, but ABA doesn’t always take that into account. It’s determined by the [therapists], not necessarily the child and their family and their culture. 

We should all have some self-determination with how we use our bodies. If I’m not hurting anyone else, I should be able to stim. If I communicate best by writing, that should be encouraged, and I should be provided support and tools to do that. Rather than what happens often in ABA, where parents are told, “This will help your child speak,” but it’s not speech therapy. 

One of my children didn’t speak until he was a little bit older. Starting when he was about 2, he would use one or two words here and there, but he wouldn’t combine them. It was tough, because at the time, we didn’t have a diagnosis, we didn’t have any sort of speech language therapy. As a parent, I relied on very basic sign language. And I was thrilled because I could communicate with my kid whether he was using mouth words or not. Do I wish that we had speech language pathology at the time? Yes, absolutely, that would have been great. But we didn’t. I think that if we had pushed that particular child into using mouth words, I think it would have built resentment.

Now he can speak, but his preferred language now is music, which is really cool because he’s a musician. Music is a really strong cultural practice that’s traditional for Anishinaabe people or Ojibwe people. It’s healing for us, something that we love. Why don’t we encourage that, rather than the ABA ideal of mouth words?

Four days after an attack by a notorious ransomware gang disrupted the Minneapolis, Minnesota, school district鈥檚 computer network, accessing reams of students鈥� and educators鈥� sensitive information, officials contacted the FBI and laid out what happened. 

The district 鈥渋mmediately initiated an investigation鈥� after its Feb. 17, 2023, discovery that school system files had been encrypted by ransomware, officials told the federal law enforcement agency. A day later, Minneapolis schools hired a third-party forensics investigation firm to negotiate the hacker鈥檚 demand for $4.5 million in bitcoin. 

Yet when school officials notified students and parents, they vaguely described what happened as an 鈥渆ncryption event鈥� and offered a drastically different story than the one in their Feb. 21 report to the FBI. According to records obtained by 社区黑料 through public records requests, the district told families in a Feb. 24 email that its investigation 鈥渉as found no evidence that personal information was compromised.鈥� 

The statement was sent after cybersecurity experts advised district communications staff that 鈥渟haring the least amount of information鈥� as possible was 鈥渋n the best interest鈥� of district security. 

Threat actors with the ransomware gang Medusa 鈥� known for encrypting and stealing sensitive records from cyberattack victims and then threatening to publish them in what鈥檚 known as a 鈥渄ouble-extortion鈥� scheme 鈥� took credit for the attack. Medusa ultimately published a trove of sensitive school district files online. The leaked documents detail campus sexual misconduct cases, child abuse inquiries, student mental health crises and suspension reports. 

Minneapolis school leaders didn鈥檛 acknowledge for nearly two weeks after the attack that sensitive records may have been compromised 鈥� and waited months to notify breach victims directly by letter. 

The district didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.

As Minneapolis recovered from the attack, records show, it turned first to its insurance provider and cybersecurity lawyers, who were paid as much as $370 an hour to negotiate with the hackers, investigate the breach and keep information about the incident outside of public view. 

An insurance company, which held a $1 million liability policy on the district with a $100,000 deductible, was the first point of contact in the event of a cyberattack, according to a school system incident response plan obtained by 社区黑料.  The cyber insurance provider will 鈥渇acilitate breach counsel and forensic investigation teams,鈥� the plan notes, and deploy 鈥渆xperienced negotiators鈥� to communicate directly with the hackers. The policy also states it would cover the district鈥檚 liability for bad press, fines and 鈥渞egulatory proceedings鈥� related to a cyberattack. 

鈥淭he insurer will typically have an approved panel vendor list for breach counsel, computer forensics and incident response teams,鈥� the plan notes.  

Attorneys with the leading cybersecurity and data privacy law firm Mullen Coughlin were hired to carry out a 鈥減rivileged investigation,鈥� according to its report to the FBI, with the firm relaying that information about the attack should not be released publicly. 

鈥淧er [Minneapolis Public Schools鈥橾 request, all questions, communications and requests in connection with this notification should be directed to Mullen Coughlin,鈥� according to the notification to the FBI, which was signed by an associate attorney with the third-party law firm. Mullen Coughlin didn鈥檛 respond to 社区黑料鈥檚 request for comment.

Forensic investigation work was conducted by the cybersecurity incident response company Tracepoint, a subsidiary of the government and military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, which Bloomberg News has dubbed 鈥渢he world鈥檚 most profitable spy organization.鈥� The researchers prepared 鈥渁 report detailing the forensic analysis process and analysis鈥� at Mullen Coughlin鈥檚 direction, records show. On March 14, 2023, the researchers held a meeting with district administrators where they went 鈥渢hrough the list of what TA [the threat actor] might鈥檝e accessed,鈥� and answered questions. 

The data leak had a direct, detrimental impact on breach victims, records show. In an email to the district in March, one educator reported that someone withdrew more than $26,000 from their bank account. Another person got a direct Twitter message from the 鈥淢edusa contact team,鈥� urging the person to respond to the threat actors immediately or else 鈥渨e will ensure your popularity.鈥� 

In March, Medusa ransomware actors posted the district鈥檚 stolen files online after the school system did not pay what the cybercriminals said on a leak site was a $1 million ransom 鈥� a markedly lower figure than the $4.5 million the district reported to the FBI. The breached files, according to an analysis by 社区黑料, include confidential and highly sensitive records about individual students and teachers. 

It wasn鈥檛 until September 2023 鈥� seven months after the attack 鈥� that 105,617 people were notified the 鈥渉acking鈥� incident exposed their sensitive information, according to a data breach notice sent to the Maine attorney general鈥檚 office. The notice states that the process to identify that information had been completed in July 鈥� a month and a half before officials notified victims.

鈥淎lthough it has been difficult to not share more information with you sooner,鈥� the letter to victims notes, 鈥渢he accuracy and the integrity of the review were essential.鈥�

As of Dec. 1, 2024, all schools in Minnesota are now to the state but that information will be anonymous and not shared with the public.

This story was supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

In March 2023, Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf went before the Minnesota Senate Taxes Committee with a critical plea.

Not enough parents could take advantage of a state tax credit for low-income families for tutoring services from companies like his, Success Tutoring.

鈥淲hat we have here is not an achievement gap, we have an opportunity gap. We have students who are not able to get the help that they need because the parents cannot afford it,鈥� .

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Sheik-Yusuf, wearing a plum-colored suit and Louis Vuitton scarf, said Success Tutoring had helped hundreds of students overcome the 鈥渓iteracy curve.鈥� And they could help even more disadvantaged students if lawmakers would support a bill to raise the income ceiling and increase the amount of the credit.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a saying that we used to use in the classroom: Today鈥檚 reader is tomorrow鈥檚 leader. If we invest in education, it鈥檚 an investment in the child鈥檚 future,鈥� Sheik-Yusuf said.

Sheik-Yusuf鈥檚 testimony was well received by both parties, who鈥檝e long supported the K-12 Education Credit. The bill was folded into a larger tax package and passed with little attention. In fact, it was one of the few noncontroversial items of the 2023 session, when the Democratic trifecta passed a sweeping progressive agenda.

What lawmakers were unaware of at the time were the many disgruntled parents who say Success Tutoring and a related company called Achievers Tutoring outsource instruction to foreign teachers online whom their kids couldn鈥檛 understand.

Nor did lawmakers anticipate the outrage those parents would feel when they would later find thousands of dollars missing from their tax refunds to pay debts to Success Tutoring and Achievers Tutoring for services they say their kids barely used and didn鈥檛 benefit from.

The allegations surrounding the K-12 Education Credit come amid a larger crisis of fraud in state government, with hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly siphoned away from programs supposed to fund child nutrition, autism services, transportation and interpretation assistance.

The bill to increase spending on the tax credit was authored by Rep. Matt Norris, DFL-Blaine, who prior to his election to the Legislature, founded Minnesota Afterschool Advance to help more people use the credit. The organization, a collaboration between Venn Foundation and Youthprise, gives families zero-interest loans to pay for tutoring, music lessons or driver鈥檚 ed and collects the money from their tax refund. Norris helped grow the program to $1.8 million in funding for educational programs in 2022, according to .

Norris had lobbied lawmakers for years to raise the income threshold and, after being elected in 2022, it was one of the first bills he authored. The bill () expanded the tax credit from $1,000 to $1,500 per child and more than doubled the income threshold to $70,000, with higher earners eligible for a smaller credit. The bill also tied the income threshold to inflation, so it may increase every year.

After the law passed, state spending on the credit more than doubled, from $5.3 million in 2022 to $13.7 million in 2023.

Norris, who left Minnesota Afterschool Advance when he entered the Legislature, says he was unaware until recently of the mothers鈥� complaints 鈥� and debt.

Lul Mohamud鈥檚 story

Lul Mohamud learned about free tutoring help for her four children at the mosque she attended, Dar Al-Farooq, in Bloomington one day in summer 2022.

After prayer time, three men told the congregation that they could get their children back on track after the pandemic caused so many to fall behind in reading and math. The tutoring was completely free for low-income parents, she recalled them saying.

Mohamud said a mosque leader who previously ran the youth program encouraged families to sign up. So did members of a group that she respected called the Muslim Coalition.

鈥淭hey were introduced at the mosque as good people so I trusted them,鈥� Mohamud said in an interview in Somali through an interpreter. 鈥�(They) said if you don鈥檛 help your kids, your kids will fall behind.鈥�

As she was leaving the mosque, the men were standing outside the exit signing people up, and she gave one of the men her phone number. The man called her later that day. She gave him her Social Security number, and he gave her an address in Bloomington.

Mohamud says she didn鈥檛 bring her kids to begin tutoring until some months later, as school was getting back into session. She went to the address of a nondescript, three-story office building. It wasn鈥檛 at all like she pictured. It was a small office space without any clues that children learned there 鈥� no chalkboard or textbooks.

A representative for Achievers Tutoring said she would need to buy $50 laptops for each of her kids, ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade, to do the tutoring online. Mohamud didn鈥檛 have $200 for four computers 鈥� the man only accepted cash 鈥� but she was able to get two. Her two other kids could use the laptops they had from school.

Mohamud said he directed them to go to another address in Bloomington the following week for online tutoring sessions.

But that turned out to be no more promising. Instead of teachers, there were half a dozen or so young men there, scrolling on TikTok. One directed her to set up the laptops for the kids to use and told her she could leave and come back later to pick them up.

鈥淲hen I saw the place, I determined it wasn鈥檛 a place I could leave my children alone,鈥� Mohamud said.

She stayed, and watched her kids log into a virtual class with an instructor whom she believes was in another country. Mohamud speaks Somali and only a little English, but her kids are native English speakers and said they couldn鈥檛 understand the teacher. After about 40 minutes, the lesson was over.

It seemed like a joke, but Mohamud said she tried bringing them back one more time. After that, she decided to pull her kids out. She went back the next week to return the laptops, both of which had already stopped working.

Months later came a horrible surprise 鈥� thousands of dollars were taken out of her tax refund to pay for the two subpar tutoring sessions. Her refund wasn鈥檛 enough to cover the entire expense, so she went into debt.

Mohamud had signed up with a company called Achievers Tutoring, a company created in 2021 by Osman Sheik-Yusuf, who shares a last name with Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf, the Success Tutoring founder, according to records from the Minnesota Secretary of State. (The men did not answer a question from the Reformer on how they鈥檙e related).

Both companies were registered with the same business address in Bloomington. Both companies have nearly offering online courses in math, English, coding and public speaking. Both boast 鈥�975+ satisfied students, 150+ teachers and 27+ years in experience.鈥� And both websites have identical testimonials from four satisfied individuals all named 鈥淕riffin Wooldridge鈥� with different stock images.

When sent a list of questions by the Reformer, both companies sent nearly identical statements with the same lawyer copied on the email.

The statements say Osman Sheik-Yusuf and Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf launched their respective companies to help students of color overcome the achievement gap.

鈥淔or those who have not received the credit, we encourage them to Adhere to the guidelines set by the Minnesota Department of Revenue and Minnesota Afterschool Advance,鈥� the statement from Osman Sheik-Yusuf said.

Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf, when asked again about the list of questions sent by the Reformer, wrote 鈥淲e compliance (sic) with all guidelines.鈥�

Mohamud says dozens of Somali mothers who signed up for tutoring services with the two companies have formed a WhatsApp group to try to help one another. Eighteen moms shared their stories with , which first reported complaints about Success Tutoring.

The companies promote their services on social media, mostly in Somali. In one TikTok video for Success Tutoring, Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf sports a large gold watch and tells viewers from a black SUV that the only thing parents need to make their children successful is to sign up for Success Tutoring. In another video for Achievers Tutoring, Osman Sheik-Yusuf flashes the peace sign from a Tesla Cybertruck.

The two men also posted videos with grinning parents and children holding certificates, saying they鈥檝e caught up to grade level in math and reading.

In a June 2023 letter, the Minnesota Department of Revenue told Mohamud she was being audited because of the $3,000 she claimed for the K-12 Education Credit.

The agency requested a dizzying number of documents showing what programs her children were enrolled in, the dates her children met with a qualified instructor and the type of tutoring they received.

They wanted to see that she had paid for 25% of the tutoring services, as required by state law, and the contract she supposedly entered into with Minnesota Afterschool Advance. They also wanted her children鈥檚 birth certificates and school records or medical bills showing she is their guardian.

Mohamud was overwhelmed. The letter was in English, not Somali. They were also asking for things she never had: She didn鈥檛 sign a contract; she said she gave her information over the phone. She didn鈥檛 have a receipt for what she paid; she was told it was free. She didn鈥檛 have verification that the instructor was qualified; she didn鈥檛 know the teacher鈥檚 full name.

With her tax credit claim denied, in September, she received a letter from the Department of Revenue saying the entirety of her state tax refund 鈥� $2,418.43 鈥� was used to pay for her debt to Minnesota Afterschool Advance, which had advanced the money to Achievers Tutoring.

Like most low-income parents, Mohamud was counting on her tax refund 鈥� bolstered by the child tax credit 鈥� to pay for necessities and a trip to Texas with her family.

It didn鈥檛 just happen once. The next year, in 2024, more of her tax refund disappeared.

The Reformer interviewed two other women who enrolled their kids in Success Tutoring and whose stories are strikingly similar to Mohamud鈥檚 experience with Achievers Tutoring: They gave their Social Security numbers over the phone for supposedly free tutoring that would help their children recover from pandemic learning loss. Then, they got cheap laptops for the online sessions.

Raho Hussein said her 10th grader, a native English speaker, was put in a tutoring session where the instructor was teaching 鈥淎BCs鈥� and 鈥�1-2-3鈥檚.鈥� Sometimes the instructor didn鈥檛 show up at all. She had thousands of dollars taken from her tax return.

So did another mom, Sawda Ali, for her four kids. She said she only intended to sign up her two oldest children but she was also charged for tutoring for her 3-year-old and 4-year-old even though they are too young and never attended tutoring.

The women also said their kids, who are native English speakers, couldn鈥檛 understand their instructors because of their heavy accents. They looked Asian, and the mothers believed they were in a foreign country.

Tutoring from the Philippines

Julieross Elve帽a, an Achievers Tutoring instructor based in the Philippines, said she was recruited through a Facebook page for Filipino freelancers about four years ago.

She spoke to a Reformer reporter who logged into her virtual classroom one evening this month through a publicly available link on the Achievers Tutoring website. The Reformer also entered two other virtual classrooms, both led by instructors based in the Philippines.

The instructors aren鈥檛 licensed to teach in Minnesota, although at least two do have baccalaureate degrees according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Elve帽a spoke with clear English, which is one of the official languages of the Philippines, although the other two instructors the Reformer spoke to had thicker accents.

She said she has 17 students with Achievers, who are divided into two groups she meets with twice a week. She said she鈥檚 mostly there to answer questions as the kids work through online modules in reading and math.

Elve帽a has been able to help students catch up to grade-level in reading and math, some more quickly than others, she said.

鈥淚 do love teaching,鈥� she said.

She said she gets paid $4.50 per hour.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not that much I guess compared to if I work in Minnesota,鈥� Elve帽a said, laughing.

Achievers Tutoring charges parents $166 per month per child for two subjects, according to the company鈥檚 website. Contracts posted to Success Tutoring鈥檚 website start at $150 per month, with a three-month minimum and no refunds.

Parents are also charged for tutoring regardless of whether children actually attend, according to contracts available on both companies鈥� websites.

Refunds denied

Mohamud and the other mothers have been trying for months to get their money back. She started with Osman Sheik-Yusuf, who she says told her he would get the necessary paperwork to the state authorities.

Had he done so, taxpayers would have underwritten the unsatisfactory tutoring services.

So long as parents submit paperwork showing the educational expenses qualified for the tax credit, the state pays for 75% of the cost. But if the expenses are not qualified, or paperwork is missing, the funds are paid back through the parents鈥� tax refund.

Because the process is so complicated, Minnesota Afterschool Advance advertises free tax preparation help to families who take out loans for tutoring with them.

It鈥檚 unclear how much Achievers and Success have received from state funds. The Minnesota Department of Education certifies tutoring companies for the tax credit program but doesn鈥檛 track how much tutoring companies are paid. The Department of Revenue only provided the total amount claimed under the credit, but said they don鈥檛 know how much was paid to individual tutors or lenders like Minnesota Afterschool Advance because it comes from individuals鈥� tax returns, which are private.

Mohamud said Osman Sheik-Yusuf stopped returning her calls, so she went to another man she knew to complain. But he blocked her number.

She and other moms complained about the men on social media and warned others not to use their services. That seemed to motivate Osman Sheik-Yusuf to resolve their complaints: the Venn Foundation contacted her with a form that would give them business power of attorney to represent her before the Department of Revenue. But she wasn鈥檛 sure what the form meant and was by that point too distrustful to sign anything she didn鈥檛 understand.

Mohamud says Osman Sheik-Yusuf also asked for a meeting with her and an imam at the Dar Al-Farooq mosque to mediate the dispute. But she says it ended with Sheik-Yusuf insulting her with a pejorative for a rural, uneducated person. Mohamud says she and her children no longer go to the Dar Al-Farooq mosque, having lost faith in its leaders.

A spokesperson for Dar Al-Farooq denied that an imam ever mediated a dispute at the mosque with a parent and Osman Sheik-Yusuf. Mohamud shared screenshots of text messages between her, Sheik-Yusuf and a religious leader connected to the mosque.

The spokesperson for Dar Al-Farooq also denied representatives from the companies ever addressed the congregation and said the mosque has 鈥渘o formal or informal ties鈥� with Osman and Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf.

The Dar Al-Farooq spokesperson also sent a recent , however, promoting Success Tutoring, saying it would provide 鈥渧aluable context for your story鈥� including the 鈥渟ystemic challenges minority families face 鈥� accessing the education tax credit.鈥�

While the mosque claims it has no ties with Osman Sheik-Yusuf and Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf, the two appeared in a video promoting their services as recently as last month with a man who is the board secretary for Dar Al-Farooq, also known as the Al Jazari Institute, according to the organization鈥檚 most recently available tax filing. The man is also a lead organizer for ISAIAH鈥檚 Muslim Coalition, the group that Mohamud trusted.

Asked about the video, the spokesperson for Dar Al-Farooq said the man was there in his 鈥減ersonal capacity.鈥�

Mohamud and other Somali mothers said they sent a letter to Attorney General Keith Ellison in April but have yet to hear back. The Attorney General鈥檚 Office did not respond to requests for comment about whether they鈥檙e investigating the mother鈥檚 complaints.

This year, after Mohamud鈥檚 tax return was garnished again, she and the other mothers became more assertive.

They went on a Somali-language YouTube channel to warn other families not to sign up for the services, after which she says she and the other women received threatening phone calls. They filed a police report in Minneapolis, but the case went nowhere. A spokesman for the police department said the case is inactive.

They went to the Department of Revenue and were advised to call a consumer complaint line. They had already done that, too.

Mohamud had met with Rep. Hodan Hassan, a Democrat from Minneapolis, who had helped her find the address for the Venn Foundation. So she and seven other moms went to the address, which turned out to be the home of Venn Foundation Director Jeff Ochs. (Hassan did not return calls or an email seeking comment.)

That was in the summer, and while he seemed helpful, the women still haven鈥檛 been made whole.

鈥淲e have gone everywhere looking for assistance,鈥� Mohamud said.

In response to an interview request, Minnesota Afterschool Advance Director Erin Martin shared a joint statement with its parent organizations Youthprise and Venn Foundation saying they have a formal process for families with concerns.

鈥淲hen there are breakdowns in the system that ultimately result in MAA families not receiving the (Minnesota Education Tax Credit) and instead repaying MAA from their normal tax refund, we understand and share their frustration,鈥� the statement said.

鈥淢AA is actively working with a number of stakeholders, including Minnesota Department of Revenue and a local faith leader, to understand and help address the concerns of a group of families, as well as to work on improving the overall (Minnesota Education Tax Credit) and assignment system for all involved moving forward.鈥�

Mohamud said there have been three meetings with a different imam and representatives from Minnesota Afterschool Advance, but they鈥檝e since broken down.

Martin testified before the Legislature in support of the bill expanding eligibility for the credit in March 2023, even holding up Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf鈥檚 Success Tutoring as an example of one of the many Black-owned organizations they partner with that provide 鈥渃ulturally relevant鈥� services to low-income students in 鈥渘ew and creative ways.鈥�

Asked if Minnesota Afterschool Advance still works with Success Tutoring and Achievers Tutoring, a spokeswoman said the businesses 鈥渁re not an offering on MAA鈥檚 of available service providers.鈥�

A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Education would not say if the agency is investigating Success Tutoring and Achievers Tutoring, saying only the companies are no longer certified as eligible to be paid through the tax credit. Certification expires after two years, and there are only five providers currently certified, according to the Department of Education. That means many providers on MAA鈥檚 menu are not certified.

Youthprise spokeswoman Lynne Matthews also said Minnesota Afterschool Advance will periodically visit tutoring sites in person. If their expectations are not being met those tutors could be removed from their services menu, she said.

Asked if the organization would make the mothers whole, Matthews wrote, 鈥淒espite having no responsibility or legal obligation to do so, MAA wants to do what it can to help ease the burden that families may be experiencing as a result of systems failure, in certain circumstances.鈥� 

A spokesperson for the Department of Revenue did not say if the agency is investigating Success Tutoring and Achievers Achievers, saying the agency can鈥檛 comment on specific cases. The spokesperson said they had met with 鈥渕ultiple taxpayers鈥� with concerns about the tax credit.

鈥淲e are working with all parties involved to ensure specifics of the program are being properly communicated,鈥� spokesman Ryan Brown wrote in an email.

Tutoring companies continue expansions

The tax credit remains popular with key legislators, including Republicans. Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, was one of the architects of the credit when it was created in 1997 as the head of a group called Minnesotans for School Choice. Robbins and Norris, who expanded the credit鈥檚 use as the head of Minnesota Afterschool Advance, defended its value despite allegations of misuse.

鈥淩egardless of the issue with Success Tutoring, this is a tax credit that serves tens of thousands of families across the state,鈥� Norris said. 鈥淎nd the income limit and the credit limit hadn鈥檛 been updated in over 25 years.鈥�

Norris said he didn鈥檛 have enough information to say what the state should do to ensure low-income families aren鈥檛 losing their tax refunds to pay for substandard tutoring, but said it is something that should be looked at.

Robbins called the women鈥檚 experience 鈥渢errible鈥� and was surprised to learn that it was possible for non-government organizations like Minnesota Afterschool Advance to be repaid from parents鈥� tax refunds and other credits 鈥� like the child tax credit and earned income tax credit 鈥� if the Education Tax Credit wasn鈥檛 awarded by the Department of Revenue.

She said that wasn鈥檛 the case when she advocated for its creation in the 1990s and she said she鈥檚 troubled by the existence of middlemen like Minnesota Afterschool Advance who have a claim to parents鈥� entire returns.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 a loophole that says they can claw back from other parts of the tax return, that should not be,鈥� Robbins said. 鈥淚f the tutoring service doesn鈥檛 provide the service and the family wants to withhold the payment, then that鈥檚 something the family and the tutoring service have to work out.鈥�

Meanwhile, Mohamud and the other mothers say they continue to receive threatening phone calls and text messages from anonymous numbers for speaking out about their experiences.

And Achievers Tutoring and Success Tutoring continue to recruit families to their services.

Achievers Tutoring recently posted a video on TikTok and Facebook, which was shared by Success Tutoring, with Osman and Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf meeting with an imam at the mosque and lead organizer with ISAIAH鈥檚 Muslim Coalition.

They were in Columbus, Ohio, promoting their tutoring services to families there. Ohio鈥檚 program that funds tutoring services is easier to navigate, according shared by Dar Al-Farooq in its email to the Reformer.

The men asked viewers to come to the Minnesota Capitol in January for Youth Day to advocate for making tutoring funding easier to access.

鈥淲e need to make the funding accessible. We need to make the funding something that is practically usable,鈥� Abdijalil Sheik-Yusuf said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.