Kare11
Advocacy groups urge Minnesotans to vote in school board races
Nearly 200 school board candidates are running for more than 100 seats statewide.
ST PAUL, Minn. — In an odd-numbered year like 2023, there aren’t many statewide or national elections happening. Still, 49 of Minnesota’s approximately 331 public school districts have school board elections this November.
According to the Minnesota School Boards Association, nearly 200 candidates are running for more than 100 open school board seats statewide. While some are holding special elections to fill just one seat, others have multiple candidates vying to fill several seats.
At the state capitol Thursday, advocacy groups including Jewish Community Action, OutFront Minnesota, Gender Justice and others held a press conference to urge Minnesotans to vote in their local school board races.
“School boards set policy. They approve curriculum. They hire and fire staff,” said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, the state’s largest teachers union.
A growing number of the candidates have sprouted from heated school board debates on LGBTQ+ issues, book bans, critical race theory and other topics involving historically marginalized communities. Specht urged voters to research all candidates in these five-and-a-half weeks left before Election Day.
“It’s easy to dismiss this movement as a Florida thing, as an Oklahoma thing, as a Texas thing but that would be a mistake because it is here,” she said. “In the Bloomington Public Schools, there are more than 50 challenges to 30 titles in the school libraries already this year.”
“We know that in Minnesota, inclusion is not only the law, it is the right thing to do,” added Christy Hall, a senior staff attorney with Gender Justice.
MSBA Executive Director Kirk Schneidawind says the nearly 200 candidates running this fall are part of a rising trend.
“We are seeing more and more of our districts who have not just the bare minimum but multiple candidates for school board seats,” he said.
Schneidawind says such districts include Duluth, Hastings, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, and South Washington Co. Schools, among others. South Washington Co. Schools, for example, has a dozen candidates competing for four seats.
Schneidawind says financial interest has also grown.
“In general, we have seen over the last couple of years greater campaign contributions for our school board seats,” he said. “As a result, people are spending more money whether it’s ads, print ads, TV ads.”
He says candidates spending more than $750 on a campaign are required to disclose that information and then school districts publish it on their websites. However, final campaign spending reports won’t be ready until after the election.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11’s newscasts. You’ll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
Reverend Shawn Morrison, founder and executive director of Good in the ‘Hood, shares his project to connect humanity through stories.
MINNEAPOLIS — In the busy intersections of life, some moments are often overlooked, while others are ignored.
Reverend Shawn Morrison, founder and executive director of Good in the ‘Hood, sees these intersections as opportunities for connecting and understanding.
“Three years ago, I just got a heart for this,” Morrison said, explaining that overlooking these moments was never an option. “Some might say it’s a calling that I was just compelled,” he shared, describing his deep motivation.
This project, “Will You See Me?” shares stories of people who are often unseen, aiming to create connections and build empathy. With each story, photograph and encounter, the team hopes to bring dignity and significance to every life they touch.
Ultimately, they plan to compile these stories and images into a book to serve as a powerful testament to the human experience.
“How can we not make it just an excursion but an encounter? How can we give dignity and significance a listening ear of understanding?” Morrison asked, hoping the project fosters empathy through shared narratives.
One participant, Wade Smith, reflected on the range of life experiences among the project’s subjects.
“I went to radio and television broadcasting school, yeah, and then I went to the service,” Smith shared.
Morrison’s approach includes photographing and recording participants’ words, preserving their voices authentically.
After initial challenges finding collaborators, Shawn Nielsen, owner of Nielsen Studios, and Elizabeth Korth, owner of Narrative Nuance, joined Morrison in his mission. Together, they approach individuals directly, offering respect, gift cards and a chance to be truly seen.
“People don’t even look at me,” Smith said. “It’s a problem for all Americans.”
Through each encounter, Morrison hopes to leave lasting impressions.
“I’m hoping that the people of our community start to see things differently, and they might ask this question, ‘What can I do?’” Morrison said.
Dre Woods, another participant, spoke about his family and dreams. Woods asked for help to take care of his four-legged companion, Oreo.
“I’m trying to feed her, right? That’s my baby,” Woods shared, revealing the motivations that guide him.
Dozens of stories and plenty of surprises, all things that give an often unshared perspective.
“I be asking God what it is why I’m still here. A lot of my friends not hear no more and I think about that,” Woods said.
Each interaction serves as a reminder of humanity’s shared connections.
“I think that it would encourage someone to do just something once. Each person could do something one day at a time, to be profound,” Nielsen said.
For Morrison, these stories are part of a larger mission.
“Boy, has there been a rest of the story for some of these beautiful people,” he said, hoping to inspire others to view their communities with fresh eyes.
Each moment and interaction serves as a call to action: look closer; adjust the community’s vision; and see the intersection they pass by more clearly — as part of their own destination.
Head to the Marcus West End Cinema to see some of this year’s up-and-coming movies.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — Editor’s Note: This video originally aired on Oct. 12, 2024.
Just in time for Halloween, the Twin Cities Film Fest has arrived and it features a movie perfect for spooky season.
“Don’t Move” will screen as part of the festival at 5:45 p.m. on Friday. Home grown directors Brian Netto and Adam Schindler visited KARE 11 News at Noon to share more about the showing.
The film is a thriller about a woman who is injected with a paralytic agent in a forest. She must fight for her life as her body slowly shuts down, according to a Twin Cities Film Fest release.
Netto and Schindler met at Woodbury Elementary School and have remained friends to this day. This will be their third film shown at the fest.
Tickets are $13 and you can learn more about this movie at this link. All film festival movies will be screened at the Marcus West End Cinema in St. Louis Park .
PRINCETON, Minn. — As many families fell on hard times due to hurricanes Helene and Milton, their pets have suffered too.
Ruff Start Rescue, headquartered in Princeton, Minn., rescued 24 animals from areas in Tennessee and North Carolina that were hit by hurricanes. Azure Davis, the founder and executive director, visited the KARE 11 studio to share more about these animals and how you can help.
For more information on Ruff Start Rescue and to look at adoptable animals, click here.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings