Visiting with voters on National Night Out

It was fun going around to a few of the block parties for National Night Out earlier this week.

People asked me what I was running on/for. I continued to emphasize that I am running to continue the excellence of SLP schools. I could’ve gotten way more specific, but instead I wanted to hear what people were thinking/concerned about.

Here’s a list of some of what I heard

• mental health needs to be a priority; students have lots of anxiety issues
• we may not be reaching students at the extremes of the spectrum of learners (gifted/talented and those with learning disabilities) well enough
• we may be overlooking those who are right in the middle
• kids need sleep
• the high school has an excellent German program
• “I live in Minneapolis, but want to send my kids to St. Louis Park schools”
• “we love the diversity of students”

I appreciate hearing these comments. It shows how differently people experience our schools, how much people like our schools, how much people care about students and what we have to offer.

I’m not done listening yet, either. If you want to share your experience with St. Louis Park Public Schools, send me an email at colin@ccolincoxslp.org.