Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis NAACP calls for investigation into North High principal being put on leave
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Minneapolis NAACP is looking for an investigation into Minneapolis Public Faculty’s resolution to place North Neighborhood Excessive Faculty Principal Mauri Friestleben on depart.
On Sunday, Minneapolis Public Faculties stated Friestleben shall be staying on as principal via the tip of the 12 months, strolling again its earlier announcement that she was on depart. The district apologized for the issue this case has brought on the North group.
However Minneapolis NAACP President Cynthia Wilson, throughout a information convention Monday, stated the group and the Black group nonetheless have questions they need answered, and he or she known as on the district to research how the choice was made and if the district adopted its insurance policies and procedures.
Mauri Friestleben, the principal at North Neighborhood Excessive Faculty in Minneapolis. (FOX 9)
“You left the Black group excessive and dry. You left North Excessive college students excessive and dry. You left the Black dad and mom and the dad and mom of those college students excessive and dry. And we’d like some solutions to what occurred,” Wilson stated, addressing the varsity district. “We’re feeling very unease. We’re feeling disrespected. We really feel like there was no transparency on this entire course of.”
Fox 9 reached out to MPS for a response.
Khadija Ba, a senior at North Neighborhood Excessive Faculty, known as the district’s resolution to place Friestleben on depart “bogus,” and stated that college board members had not been knowledgeable forward of time.
Minneapolis North Excessive college students stand by principal amid uncertainty about her future
“The individuals who made that call are going to be at fault for it, as a result of how do you decide and the individuals in your board did not even learn about it? That is the slick habits that we hold speaking about. You guys are grown, you guys are adults, and you are making these infantile choices {that a} 17-year-old has to return up right here and inform you the way to do your job. That is embarrassing,” Ba stated.
College students stated they plan to proceed to attempt to strain the district till Friestleben is reinstated completely.
“We’re not achieved combating at this level and we will nonetheless hold pressuring them as a result of Ms. Mauri is for our faculty,” North Excessive pupil physique president Ramiyah Jackson, 16, informed FOX 9. “I’ll combat for Ms. Mauri as a result of she’s fought for thus many people.”
Minnesota Teen Activists, a gaggle of pupil organizers throughout the Twin Cities, is supporting the scholars at North Excessive of their marketing campaign. Government Director Jerome Treadwell, 18, stated the group plans to take their message calling for Friestleben to be reinstated completely to the varsity administration and the varsity board.
“We’re not solely pushing, however we’re demanding this. And if it doesn’t happen, then we’ll act quick or reply responsibly,” he stated.
Friestleben, a extensively admired chief within the college system, stated in a letter final Friday she was terminated for encouraging college students to conduct a sit-in and protest at Minneapolis Metropolis Corridor on Feb. 9 following the police capturing of Amir Locke. The district later stated she had not been “terminated” however “placed on depart.”
After the protest, North Excessive pupil and star athlete Deshaun Hill Jr. was shot whereas on his means residence after brushing shoulders with a person whereas strolling close to a bus cease, seemingly killed randomly and in chilly blood, in line with the charging paperwork.
Treadwell stated the protest was student-organized and led, and that Hill had made a flyer.
Jackson stated college students had been grateful Friestleben had attended the sit-in.
“They (the district) stated she should not have walked out with us … however us college students, we’re grateful that she walked with us within the sit-in that day as a result of we wanted her. She did not communicate, she did not run it. She was simply there for our assist. She was there to only be with us and to guard us,” Jackson stated.
Jackson added she felt Friestleben had left a long-lasting optimistic affect on many college students, together with her.
“If Mauri wasn’t right here, I would not have develop into pupil council president. I would not even have ran in any respect. And he or she’s helped me be stronger and optimistic and assist me be who I’m and never really feel afraid to be myself,” Jackson stated. “And, she’s achieved the identical for thus many different college students. She’s made leaders and warriors. We’re actually robust due to her.”