International Baccalaureate at M

Updated 12-9-06: The School Board heard presentations on Dec 5 from Dr. Mark Larson, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, and Bill Jacobson and Pete Dymit, middle school principals, about the possibility of adding Pre-AP and Pre-IB choices to the regular middle school curriculum. Board members expressed great interest in having these programs available for the 2008-09 school year. Mr. Wenmark said he'd be in favor of Pre-AP but not Pre-IB, and spoke at length about his ideological objections to the IB program. See a summary of the 12-5-06 study session discussion.

Read Mr. Wenmark's July 6, 2006 guest column in the Chanhassen Villager. He describes IB as a "Trojan horse" which will "eventually and substantially infiltrate the nationalistic view of the world in our public education in the United States" and says IB has a "world agenda to conquer/discredit the United Sates and our nationalist view of the world without firing a shot." Mr. Wenmark was among the seven board members who voted unanimously in November 2003 to bring IB to Minnetonka.

IB is working at Minnetonka High School! When our School Board (Erin Adams, Carol Eastlund, Dave Eaton, Judy Erdhal, Peggy Stefan, Bob Quam, Bill Wenmark) voted unanimously in November 2003 to bring IB to Minnetonka, they knew we’d be facing budget cuts. But they were committed to the excellence Minnetonka is known for, and to providing appropriate options to help our 7,600+ students achieve their goals.
It worked! From a modest beginning in the Fall of 2004 with 11 Diploma candidates, IB at Minnetonka has grown to 46 students enrolled in the 2-year Diploma program in 2005. These students take 6 traditional classes each day, such as English, history, math, biology, foreign language, and art. There are 122 other students taking individual IB classes in combination with other classes. continue reading

What about the criticisms of IB? Do the criticisms of IB at Minnetonka have any merit? Anti-American? Anti-Christian? Compromises the Advanced Placement program? Too expensive, serves too few students? We at TonkaFocus don’t think so. Here’s why

What happens when a community elects school board members who run on a platform of "fiscal responsibility" and then immediately get rid of the International Baccalaureate program once they've taken the oath of office? Read more about Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania here The criticisms of IB sound very much like Minnetonka's anti-IB petition, which appears to be drawn from the EdWatch web site. Allen Quist, former candidate for MN Governor, has written there against IB since 2004.

The Anti-IB petition presented to the Minnetonka School Board on February 24, 2005
Go here to see a scan of the original from the public record of the Minnetonka School District
(This document was obtained in spring of 2005 through a public record request to the Minnetonka Public Schools)
The original petition with about 100 signatures is available by asking at the District Service Center.