By Doug Berg
Mini-School, because of its very nature, is always being observed by central administrators and board members. There is little that is done by this program which escapes their critical eye. Occasionally their observation results in a grateful or complimentary acknowledgment, but more often their communication with us is of a less positive nature. So much happens so often and so fast in this program that these people often feel that we are intentionally hitting them with surprises. We on the staff sometimes feel that if we moved as slowly as they seem to think we should, we’d be moving backward.
The latest major hassle has been the fees bill which the last legislature passed into law. Basically, the intent of the fees law is that no student should be denied an educational opportunity because he is unable to pay. We support this law, and, I feel, the very existence of Mini-School is an attempt to abide by it before it ever existed. Since it is a law, and is written very generally, it is open to interpretation. The interpretation of Minnetonka is very conservative, and while we can live with it, it makes a trips program which in itself is difficult to institute, even more difficult.
It would be nice, just once, to have a board and administration whose attitude was “You guys are the educators. We have confidence in you. Let us know how we can be of the most help to you.” Our board and administrators rarely actively oppose Mini-School. Rarely do they actively help it either.