Education Minnesota welcomes urgency and attention to summer school and students’ pandemic recovery

For more information, contact:
CHRIS WILLIAMS
651-292-4816 (work) 
651-247-5539 (cell)

ST. PAUL, Minnesota. March 11, 2021 – Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said the union of educators welcomed the spotlight Gov. Tim Walz and leaders in the Minnesota Legislature are putting on the urgent need to design and fund expanded learning opportunities, including summer school. 

The following statement may be attributed to Specht: 

“We are only starting to understand the full scope of how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect a generation of students and educators, so our lawmakers should be careful about relying too much on one-time infusions of funds when long-term solutions are needed. It’s clear, however, that our state needs to quickly create high quality, equitable extended learning opportunities and provide educators the resources they need to start restoring and healing the collective trauma and learning disruptions students have experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other moments of social and civil unrest.  

“Our union stands ready to work with anyone to build a program that accounts for past inequities while acknowledging the new scope of the problems caused by the pandemic. COVID-19 is not the cause of systemic inequities in our public schools, but if it proves to be the catalyst for change, we’re more than willing to work with the governor and the Legislature to move forward.”

About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota is the voice for professional educators and students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and education support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.