Recently, Tom Kiekhafer, of Coon Rapids, submitted a letter (Editor’s note: The letter was published on Sept. 1 in the Anoka County UnionHerald) that makes a series of bizarre, false claims about Minnesota Parents Alliance, ostensibly as an indirect attack on the achievement-focused candidates endorsed by the Minnesota Parents Alliance who are running for seats on the Anoka-Hennepin School Board.
Kiekhafer asserts that MPA, a grassroots, non-partisan organization in Minnesota, is responsible for newsletter content issued by a parental rights group in Indiana and are therefore “anti-education”, “ultra-conservative” book banners.
Paradoxically, after Kiekhafer claims to know what MPA’s real agenda is, he asks “what is MPA’s real agenda?” As Executive Director of MPA and author of our mission statement, I can definitively answer that question. Our agenda is simply to unite parents across the state in an effort to restore K-12 education in Minnesota.
Minnesotans of all backgrounds and beliefs are coming together to insist that our public K-12 schools return to their statutorily defined mission of ensuring individual academic achievement by cooperating with students’ parents (see MN Stat. 120A.03).
Minnesota is in an education crisis. Academic achievement has been steadily declining since before the school closures of 2020. Currently less than 50% of students can read at grade level. 64% of 11th graders can’t do math at grade-level. Students and teachers report that violence...
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