Star Tribune
Election could reshape ‘dysfunctional’ Robbinsdale school board
Voters in Robbinsdale will have a chance in November to elect up to three new members to a school board that the district lawyer has deemed “the most dysfunctional board” he’s ever worked with.
A 34-page workplace conduct investigation, released last month, included a similar summary of the current Robbinsdale school board: Personal disputes and cross-complaints among at least six of the seven board members resulted in “a high level of dysfunction and animosity in the school board’s operations,” read the investigative report by Red Cedar Consulting.
Most of the allegations in the report were not sustained. Of those that were sustained, most qualified as violations of the board’s internal values of respect.
Seven candidates are now vying for three open seats on that board. Six of them — Barbara Breher, Greta Evans-Becker, Aviva Hillenbrand, Aileen White, Deborah Campion and Kenneth Wutoh — say moving past that discord would be their top priority if elected.
“We didn’t need an investigator to let us know that we were dysfunctional,” said Evans-Becker, the other incumbent running to keep her seat. “A lot of harm has been done, but we have to move past it.”
Evans-Becker was the only board member who wasn’t named in the multiple complaints included in the investigative report.
Helen Bassett, who is running to keep the seat she’s held since 2021 did not respond to requests for an interview.
Robbinsdale Area Public Schools has about 10,400 students and serves all or parts of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, New Hope, Plymouth and Robbinsdale. Its current superintendent, Teri Staloch, took on the role in July after a failed superintendent search to replace David Engstrom, who resigned in September 2023.
The Minneapolis school board on Tuesday night appointed Lucie Skjefte, chair of the district’s American Indian Parent Advisory Committee, to fill the vacant District 3 board seat in the city’s center.
Her selection ultimately came down to chance.
Skjefte emerged from earlier ranked-choice voting in a tie with Fatimah Hussein, and the two then deadlocked, 4 to 4, in a live board vote before a coin was flipped in Skjefte’s favor.
They were among four finalists to succeed Faheema Feerayarre, who resigned in September, too late for the seat to be placed on the November ballot.
The move throws two new members into the mix as the school board works to erase an anticipated budget deficit and dig into a “transformation process” that could include closing and merging schools.
Greta Callahan, a former president of the teachers chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, won election last week to the District 6 seat.
During an appearance before board members last Thursday, Skjefte, who is a Red Lake tribal member, spoke of her work as an Indigenous graphics designer and as director of operations for the Mni Sota Fund, a community development group that seeks to empower Native people.
She said she’d aim to “reach out and create spaces for every voice, especially for those from historically marginalized communities.”
Star Tribune
What to know about Forest Lake’s Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary
In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own.
Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth has lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.
Here are a few things to know about Hegseth.
He’s a Fox News personality and author
Co-host of Fox News Channel’s ”Fox & Friends Weekend,” Hegseth has been a contributor to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump through the president-elect’s regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth’s military knowledge, saying his ”insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.”
He’s also written a number of books, several for the network’s publishing imprint, including ”The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” In announcing Hegseth’s nomination, Trump complimented that book, noting its ”nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”
Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.
Election offices in more than half of Minnesota’s counties have been targeted with emailed bomb threats since Nov. 8, the office of the Secretary of State said Tuesday.
The threats come as election workers are still in the process of verifying the results of the 2024 election.
In a statement, Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is coordinating with local, state and federal partners to “ensure that our election officials can complete this important work and that those responsible for these threats are held accountable.”
“Threats of violence against election workers, aimed at disrupting our democracy, are absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
Turnout was high in Minnesota in 2024, but it was lower compared to the 2020 presidential election.
Unofficial 2024 results show about 76% of registered voters cast a ballot, down from the record-breaking 79.96% turnout in 2020, the office of the Secretary of State said last week.
The unofficial results, however, are higher than the 74.72% turnout recorded in 2016.
