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Teachers and staff at STEP Academy laid off after budget cuts
STEP Academy serves a significant part of the Somali community in St. Paul and works to reach students underrepresented in STEM fields.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Charter School STEP Academy in St. Paul is at risk of shutting down after an Oct. 4 board meeting showed the academy had 117 fewer students enrolled than planned, leading to them being $775,000 over budget. In efforts to cut costs, teachers and other staff have been let go.
“I was asked to turn in my keys. I was asked to turn in my computer, and I was sent off,” said now former STEP Academy Literacy Coordinator Maureen Nelson. Nelson provided reading intervention services at the elementary level, and was one of a handful of teachers and staff let go on Monday by the academy.
STEP Academy serves a significant part of the Somali community in the Capitol City and works to reach students who are underserved by traditional schools and underrepresented in STEM fields.
“As a parent myself, I would like to know what happened and why is my student who’s struggling, why have you taken that support away from them?” Nelson said. “I had 33 students on my caseload, including fifth graders that were at first and kindergarten reading levels.”
Nelson said the other reading intervention teacher and two other math intervention teachers were also cut, meaning there are none left at STEP Academy.
“They still made the decision to cut teaching positions over cutting any of the higher administrators or the people making so much more than all of us as teachers,” Nelson said.
In a letter to the school board and administration, school authorizer Innovative Quality Schools (IQS) wrote that since the projected enrollment has not been actualized, the school was overpaid for quarter one of the 2025 fiscal year.
Charter Schools are public schools funded according to enrollment. In Minnesota, charter schools receive about $12,000 per student, depending on the student’s grade and additional services that the student receives.
IQS wrote “STEP Academy is in a financial crisis. If the Board does not take sufficient and responsible action, the school will be unable to continue operations.”
Nelson, who is a wife and mother of two, now needs to figure out what to do next.
“We’re now in October,” she said. “To try to find a teaching job, it’s not the easiest thing. We’re worried about, can we make our mortgage? Can we feed our children? I mean, this is absurd. I never, ever imagined that this is what it would come to.”
School officials told KARE 11 that no one from the school would be available to speak about the budget challenges Tuesday. The next board meeting is Oct. 21.
The BCA says all six officers are on critical incident leave.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Four officers fired guns and two shot “less lethal” rounds after officials say a man pointed a gun at officers Monday evening in St. Paul.
According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), the incident was captured on body cameras, dash cameras and nearby security cameras, but those videos have not yet been released to the public.
The BCA said the man, later identified as 40-year-old Earl Bennett, was shot by St. Paul Police officers after he pointed a gun at police during a confrontation Monday night near Allianz Field.
Officers Shawn Marlowe, Chase Robinson, Blake Steffen and Sergeant Lamichael Shead all fired their weapons, while Officers Austin Borowicz and Peov Suon fired “less lethal” rounds, according to the BCA. Officers Marlowe and Robinson have each been in law enforcement for 10 years; Officer Shead has been in law enforcement for eight; Officer Steffen has four years of law enforcement experience and Officers Suon and Borowicz had three. The BCA says all six officers are on critical incident leave.
Bennett was transported to Regions Hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition.
Minneapolis Police say Bennett was a suspect in two shootings since Sunday. Officers say the first shooting occurred Sunday afternoon when three people were shot at an encampment on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue. Two of the victims died and one was taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries. Bennett has not been officially charged in Sunday’s shooting.
However, according to court documents, Bennett is charged with first-degree attempted murder in connection to a second shooting after he allegedly shot another man in the neck inside a sober living facility on the 3500 block of Columbus Avenue Monday evening. The victim was transported to a hospital and is in critical condition.
Later that night, police were called to the 400 block of Pierce Street in St. Paul just before 7:45 p.m. on reports of shots being fired in the area. When police arrived, they found a man walking around the area with a gun. At one point, when police approached the man, he put the gun to his own head, according to St. Paul police spokesman Sgt. Mike Ernster.
Police began to negotiate with the man for a peaceful surrender, but he reportedly refused to drop the weapon and started walking in the middle of traffic on Snelling Avenue. Court documents say Bennett stopped in the middle of light rail tracks, and officers fired “non-lethal” rubber balls at him. Bennett then pointed the gun at police, according to charging documents, and officers responded by firing their weapons. Police recovered an unloaded 9mm handgun at the scene that prosecutors say was tied to the casings fired in Sunday’s double fatal shooting.
Bennett was charged Tuesday in Ramsey County with illegally possessing a firearm and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
Criminal charges were dropped this summer after the Hennepin County Attorney said there was new evidence that prevented her from establishing reasonable doubt.
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal civil case against Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan, who fatally shot Ricky Cobb II during a traffic stop in 2023, has been dismissed.
Cobb was pulled over on I-94 in Minneapolis for driving at night without headlights on. Londregan and other troopers approached Cobb’s car after learning he was wanted for violating a domestic no-contact order in Ramsey County.
Troopers ordered Cobb out of the car but he started to drive away, and Londregan shot the man twice. Londregan claimed he feared for the life of his partner, and said Cobb was reaching for his state-issued pistol.
In April 2024, Cobb’s family and attorneys said the traffic stop that led to Cobb’s death was unjustified and unlawful. They argued Cobb’s civil rights were violated by Londregan and another State Tropper, Brett Seide, when they “unreasonably seized” and “used excessive force” against him.
On Wednesday in federal court, a civil suit against Londregan was dismissed, with the court saying “Under this law the Court cannot conclude that Londregan violated a clearly established right when he made the decision to shoot Cobb.”
Londregan was cleared of second-degree murder charges in June 2024. The State Patrol confirmed in August he was being assigned to the West Metro District in Golden Valley after completing additional required training.
David Beckett pled guilty to 3rd degree assault in November for assaulting then 65-year-old Mark Henderson.
HASTINGS, Minn. — The man convicted of 3rd degree assault for beating someone outside a Lakeville Walmart in October 2021, was sentenced to 120 days in jail and three years probation on Wednesday.
63-year-old David Beckett pled guilty in November to assaulting 68-year-old Mark Henderson, and breaking his femur. The incident began when Beckett followed Henderson on I-35, near County Road 70 after he felt he cut him off. Beckett followed Henderson to the Walmart, where after verbal threats, Beckett attacked him.
Henderson’s wife Sharon spoke on his behalf Wednesday in the courtroom.
“The nine days I spent in the hospital were filled with pain and uncertainty,” Sharon read. “I underwent surgery resulting in two rods and six screws that are now permanently in my body.”
Sharon says the funny, joyful man she once knew is now a shadow of himself.
“I hope to move past this anger one day, but for now, it feels as though Mr. Beckett has stolen precious years we should have enjoyed together,” Sharon said.
Beckett apologized to the victim and his family today in court, as the severity of his action sat a few feet away from him.
“I really regret that day,” Beckett said. I am not a violent, malicious man. I am a Christian, but I’m a sinful man.”
The judge also ordered Beckett to continue paying restitution for three years, but he felt Beckett was not a threat to re-offend given no prior criminal history. He added that he believed Beckett did a terrible thing, but is not a bad man.
