Owatonna School Board Meeting

It was another packed house Monday, but it went more smoothly than nearly everyone expected.
If the public forum was any indication, the crowd was about evenly split between those who supported the Owatonna School Board and its equity efforts and those who were “concerned and disappointed citizens,” as one woman put it.
But after a rocky start to the meeting, the rules laid out by Board Chair Mark Sebring – “no slander, no profanity, no name-calling, no interrupting” – were followed.
The crowd of more than 80 exceeded the fire marshal’s limit of 70 for the district board room, meaning some people had to leave the room.
“Cabinet members and the press should step out,” said TC Pearson of Rochester, who guides parent groups in their protests of Critical Race Theory.
“How about everybody who doesn’t have a child in the district leave?” another man said.
“What does it matter? We’re taxpayers – the state of Minnesota pays these wages,” Pearson said.
He said after the meeting that for the past two months, “at least eight people have asked respectfully for a change of venue” for the board meetings, “and they wouldn’t do it.”
Of the 20 people who took advantage of their three minutes to address the board members, four of them were students who had taken a CRT class offered at OHS as a post-secondary class through Minnesota State-Mankato. It will not be offered this semester because of a staffing issue at MSU.
Joanne Egbert’s daughter took the class but couldn’t attend Monday’s meeting. In a letter her mother read, Elise Egbert said the class “had a positive impact on my life … and taught us to form our own opinions.”
Nataly Hurtado, Jenna Dahlenbach and Ruvieanna Skaalerud also took the CRT class through MSU. Hurtado called it “one of the most important classes I’ve ever taken … and holds us responsible for our own actions.”
Sarah Zimmerman, though, called it “a vile, Marxist ideology that’s being taught in our schools.” This is perverted, rewritten history,” she said, telling the board members to “educate (the students), not indoctrinate them.”
Marlene Nelson, who has been addressing school boards and city councils for decades, took exception to how she said some of the board members were standing during the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I saw some of you with your left hand behind your back. That’s a strange stance. I was told that meant you aren’t proud of your country. If that’s the case, there’s a jet waiting on a runway somewhere for you – feel free to take it.”
Nelson then called CRT a “Communist, Marxist agenda.”
Rebecca Moore, who has five biracial children – three still in the district – had a suggestion.
“The problem is not CRT; the problem is racism,” she said. “Let’s start saying that. Just because something is uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It seems like equity is only a problem when it comes to race.”
Superintendent Jeff Elstad, who came under fire a few times during the public forum, said after the meeting that he respects people’s opinions, “even though they might be divergent from my own. It’s always good to hear different perspectives.”
Though some criticize his call for equity, Elstad said for him, “it’s just giving every student what they need to be successful. We’re providing unique opportunities, not just assuming everyone’s going to college.
“I’m committed to the students,” he said. “I want the same thing both sides commented on here tonight, and I want equity, centered on love for the students, like everyone else.”