Minnetonka’s International Baccalaureate Program

Who said what?

Timeline of public comments by school board members and candidates,
including school board meetings, local newspapers, Candidate Forums

At the January 6, 2005 School Board Meeting, Bill Wenmark and Dave Eaton raised ideological and religious objections to IB, and said they were concerned about Minnetonka students' abilities to handle the class materials:

Bill Wenmark expressed concerns about the way the materials would be used to teach; he feels they are pro-Marxist and anti-American; not convinced Doug Kennedy has depth to teach these books effectively without other things to balance; concerned about developing a contrarian attitude in adolescents’ minds; brain research shows adolescents default to anger center; doesn’t believe 17 & 18 yr old children have capability to agree or disagree with what program is all about; “we suggested some texts to gentleman teaching this” but they’re not here.

Dave Eaton said Sagan and Campbell and some others promote atheism, which is a religion, so he feels the list not balanced and wants “both sides” of the belief systems represented. If eliminating theistic belief system, then eliminate atheistic; doesn’t believe 17 & 18 yr olds’ knowledge is enough to stand up to atheist Sagan and Campbell; books are against district policy.  continue reading here

At the February 8, 2005 School Board meeting, three community members spoke against IB, citing opposition to American values  read more here

At the February 24, 2005 School Board meeting, an organized group (which included school board candidates MaryLouise Bowe and Paul Borowski) with ideological and religious objections to IB attempted to remove the program from the district's budget, with help from Mr. Eaton and Mr. Wenmark   read more here

See a scan of the original petition, listing ideological and budgetary objections, and signed by MaryLouise Bowe; presented to the school board February 24  here    (This document was obtained in spring 2005 through a public records request to the Minnetonka Public Schools)

April 20, 2005 Minneapolis Star Tribune, West Metro section, article by Ben Steverman:

        "The biggest issue that I have with [IB] is it de-emphasizes national culture in favor of world culture and world views,” said Paul Borowski of Chanhassen, a father of three district students.

   He prefers AP, which is “homegrown American,” he said.  “I don’t like to subordinate our sovereignty on any issues, whether it is foreign policy or education.”

Sichting... shares some of Borowski's concerns about IB - that "the control is not at the local level," she said - but her top concerns are IB's cost and its effect on the AP program.

   MaryLouise Bowe, another parent, agreed. “There’s absolutely a place for IB,” she said, and if money were no object, I’d say add as many programs as you want.” But Bowe worries that the IB program is more expensive than the district says.

April 26, 2005 Letter to the editor of the Lakeshore Weekly News by Cathy Maes:

   I am a strong advocate for the International Baccalaureate Programme at Minnetonka High School...[the program] is one that I will definitely consider for my own children because of its rich curriculum and ability to captivate the learner...It offers the students the ability and time to ask "why?" and "why not?"  Any student who has an intense interest in a subject area and is highly motivated has the option to take an IB class...I believe that our district has held strong to make certain that even when the state has not kept to its funding promises our school district will find ways to innovate, accelerate and commit to excellence.  I applaud our district leaders (administrators, teachers and parents) for taking innovative steps to understand all learners and offering a menu of curricula to meet their educational needs.

May 3, 2005 Lakeshore Weekly News article by Brett Stursa

   The introduction of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program during a time of multi-million dollar budget cuts created concern for some parents in the Minnetonka School District...If enrollment is any indication, IB hasn't affected students' interest in AP yet. There are 48 students enrolled in the IB Diploma program next year. At the same time, there's an increase in registrations for AP classes next year. Erin Adams thinks the parents' concerns will be relieved when they see both programs succeeding in the district. "I don't think what they fear will come to pass," said Adams. "I think the proof will be in the success of both programs. AP will remain strong."

May 4, 2005 Minneapolis Star Tribune West Metro section,  article by Shruti Mathur:
   Julie Light, a teacher of high-potential students at Minnetonka Middle School West, said she was so concerned about some of the IB program's international ties that she doesn't think it ought to be continued at the high school level... In her minority report opposing the IB program, Light cited its association with the Earth Charter.

   Mary Louise Bowe, a Minnetonka parent, said the parent group organized to express concerns about the IB program consists of a core group of about 25 to 30 people, but that they also have collected petitions signed by more than 100 people sharing their concerns.  Bowe said her concern is that the district has been implementing the IB program in a year when it also had to make cuts to other programs. Bowe is also worried that some of the best AP teachers are now moving to IB.

May 11, 2005: CityPages article by Brett Stursa   see the original article here

   Several parents, after getting pegged as Christian fundamentalists by supporters of the program, shy away from some of the statements espoused in the petition.  Paul Borowski, a parent of three children in the district, does not.  “Our education system is the envy of the world,” says Borowski, citing the IB’s origins.  “Why would we want to subordinate that to some organization connected with the United Nations?”

School board chair Erin Adams says she's surprised by the attacks and disagrees with the parents' ideological arguments. "I think intellectual freedom is a profound American freedom," says Adams. "Respecting people is in keeping with all the faiths in the world."

The anti-Christian critique was brought to the forefront during a January school board discussion about the required reading for the "Theory of Knowledge" course...Dave Eaton and Bill Wenmark voted against the book list, but the entire board voted 5 to 2 to support it... From Borowski's view, the program is anti-American in the sense that it teaches students that the United States is equal to other countries. "My fear is that my kids are going to be taught America isn't better than any other country in the world," Borowski says.

 May 31, 2005 Letter to the editor from Paul Borowski to the Lakeshore Weekly News

    "A recent open letter to Minnetonka "community leaders" outlined a defense of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program currently being implemented in the Minnetonka School District.  The letter, and an associated Q&A document, (see the original here) charged a group of concerned citizens who presented opposition to the program of asserting conclusions about the program, its costs and its ideology that are not supported by facts...I am appalled and outraged by the charge that the ideas of the concerned citizens' group were not supported by facts.  To level what amounts to slander and libel charges against these citizens is inappropriate..."

    “What were those statements and assertions about the ideological aspects of IB that I made?  That the IB curriculum de-emphasizes U.S. culture, values, and education in favor of a global worldview.  IB is undeniabley linked to the UN and its ideology.  How did I substantiate this assertion?  By examining the IB web site.  UNESCO, the educational arm of the UN, is a founding sponsor and contributor to IB.  UNESCO, in turn, is a sponsor and member of other UN organizations.  The argument could be made that UNESCO’s alliance with IB in and of itself is harmless, but by virtue of UNESCO’s association with other UN organizations, there is cause for considerable concern – concern in the sense that the other organizations that UNESCO is associated with are at times blatantly anti-American.”

July 27, 2005, Minneapolis Star Tribune West Metro section,  article by Shruti Mathur:

Two people who spoke out against the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Minnetonka High School earlier this year have filed to run for the Minnetonka School Board. Mary Louise Bowe, of Minnetonka, and Paul Borowski, of Chanhassen, both questioned whether the international curriculum would hurt the school’s Advanced Placement program, and whether the program emphasizes world cultures at the expense of an American viewpoint in the classroom.

   Bowe said the IB issue is not the sole reason she is running [for Minnetonka School Board], but was the catalyst for her examination of the school board. She and Borowski have talked about running as a slate, Bowe said, because they both feel strongly about the same issues and have worked on boards together in the past... Bowe said she is “concerned that our school board isn’t asking a lot of questions.  I have questions and I would like answers.”

   Other candidates running in Minnetonka are incumbent Chairwoman Erin Adams, Cathy Maes, Pam Langseth and Robert C.H. Schmidt...Maes said her decision to run grew out of her volunteer work with CASE, a grooup that lobbied the Legislature on education issues.  She said she is looking forward to talking about budgets without any cuts in the next two years and about expanding educational opportunities in Minnetonka. Maes said IB curriculum falls under that category, but she is not campaigning specifically for the program...Langseth said she thinks the IB curriculum will be part of the debate among the candidates. "I think it's important to be a venue for all students," she said, supporting the program. Langseth decided to run for election after volunteering in the district for many years. She thinks that maintaining excellence in the schools after recent years of budget cuts will be part of this fall's campaign.  Schmidt said if he were on the school board, "I would just vote against everything the rest of the board votes for because somebody ought to. That would be the default position," he said, noting that the board often votes as a bloc. Schmidt said he is running to counter what he believes are leftist ideals on the board. He advocates going back to smaller, multiple high schools with less administration and less "union-dominated faculty," he said. Schmidt said he believed that the IB program was part of a superintendent sales pitch to lure students back to public schools and that it is part of an effort to indoctrinate students into internationalism.

September 27, 2005  Clear Springs Elementary Candidates' Forum   (go here to see summary of entire forum)
At this forum, questions #4 and #6 pertained to IB. Responses appear here in the order in which candidates were called on.
Mr. Robert Schmidt sent a written message that was read before the Candidates Forum:

When I retired and returned to Minnesota after 30 years I found that things had changed in the schools.  Many had been consolidated, administrative empires had been built.  Students had fewer opportunities …

If I am elected my first priorities will be to:

2. Terminate the International Baccalaureate Program

QUESTION 4:   Budget cuts of foreign language but yet we funnel all this money that just kind of got passed though into the IB program, when parents make comments like that what’s your justification?

Erin Adams:  We eliminated Foreign Language in elementary a number of years ago.  Her reflection as a parent is that when she moved here in 1993, thrilled that her kids would have a language, but the experience and depth was uneven.  Curriculum was not written for emphasis on mastery, it was more an exploratory program.  It was a budget cut decision a number of years ago.  Listening to parents they are more interested in mastery, very passionate about immersion instead of exploration.   As we learn more about brain development we should be offering language at age 3 and we need to see about doing that through ECFE.  People accepted the budget decision at the elementary level and appreciated the increased time on reading, writing and math.   The language in the middle school was a budget-driven decision.  It wasn’t eliminated, it was restructured;that may feel like mincing words if you feel its loss.  50% of our children have chosen the foreign language path and 50% have chosen the encore, FACS/Art/Tech.  For the first time in our history our children, if they so desire, can achieve 5 yrs of high school level foreign language.  In terms of IB, if it were eliminated today there would be no staff people fired.  The children would still be in class being instructed, they would just be teaching a different subject.  Governor Pawlenty and President Bush have allocated federal and state dollars to IB to push for higher levels of achievement.  In contentious and tight budget, Gov. Pawlenty approved $7.4 million to schools offering to expand their AP and IB programs; it’s a choice. Our coordinator’s a long-term staff person; if the position was to be eliminated she would go back to full time teaching.  50% start up cost paid for by federal grants.  It was a deliberate opportunity to increase enrollment, raise potential and achievement for all students.  All curricular programs are determined by enrollment.  If it’s not serving the community, if enrollment declines, it will fail.  Just like other courses over the course of time fail. Thinks it was a good decision, a strong decision, we were able to strategically avail ourselves of dollars in a very tight market.

Paul Borowski:  Good question, he finds it ironic that we did cut at the elementary school and restructured, or whatever we want to call it, at the middle school level while we built the IB program.  He would like to see the math between the costs of IB vs. the cost of eliminating Foreign Language at the elementary and restructuring at the middle level.   In our zeal to become international, to keep up globally with the rest of the economies around the world, what better way than to speak a foreign language when you get to high school?  The one thing I know about Foreign Language if you speak it over and over again throughout elementary, middle school and HS you are going to have a pretty good chance of being literate; can’t help but believe that our competitors around the world are doing just that because seems to me by the time they get out of high school they have 4 or 5 languages under their belt.  He took 5 yrs high school Spanish (middle and high school) he thinks it was just too late of a start.  He agrees that there were a lot of the cultural elements to it; like to see strictly language.  We have to be careful when we talk about Federal and State grants, they are tax dollars anyway you look at them so they are not a free lunch kind of thing.  So, when we refer to Federal and State grants that fund our programs, that’s you and I that are funding those programs. It’s contradictory in the sense that we are cutting foreign language program and we’re starting up a very expensive International program.  It seems contradictory to me.

MaryLouise Bowe:  After living overseas in Brazil she found it fascinating watching how easy it is for young children to pick up a foreign language.  She found it frustrating to return to Omaha where her children were learning a foreign language at the elementary level and they were learning Spanish and learning colors for 3 years.  So when Foreign Language was lost at the elementary level a few years ago she wasn’t too upset, she was grateful they had it at the middle school but was frustrated when it was cut a few months ago. She’s relieved that the 8^th grade curriculum is more rigorous and IB adaptable.  She considers IB Foreign Language a more rigorous curriculum as a function of the IB program.  Would love to hear what the current board thinks about a language immersion program. Our Groveland Principal is fluent in Spanish. She knows those programs were presented in the spring. She doesn’t know what the plan is with how they will re-look at IB, immersion, High Potential; all very interesting. Would love to hear more board conversation about that; would love to see more rigorous Foreign Language opportunity for our children, the earlier the better.  Of course, it all depends on funding and most importantly what community dialogue there is, what interest there is.

Pam Langseth:  How to justify it?  Changes and cuts are hard and people suffer.  She believes that the School Board has looked at enhancement of our kids’ overall experience.  Although cuts in elementary, there are programs through MCES for language. In middle school, kids can soon take Spanish before school if they choose to. In the midst of having to cut, we’ve been able to come up with alternatives to meet the needs of  children who want to.  Hopefully, what we’ve done in terms of  making the 8^th grade program a full year program, and every day, it will strengthen those skills if they take 5 years of language.  If we find out it’s not working, we’ll address it another way.  But right now, based on everything that the board knows, they had a hard decision to make, not one that any of us would have liked to have made.  But I think they looked at what was the good for the district; I think they made the right choice.

Cathy Maes: When we looked at Foreign Language at Groveland it was Foreign Language on a cart.  Not everyday, and lots of colors and numbers.  She expected by middle school for her son to have some conversational skills, and he did not.  Today his favorite subject is Spanish because he “gets it”, he has it every day.  He understands it.  Looking at IB thinks you have to look at Strategic Plan, it’s in the plan and it wasn’t something that we quickly got.  Minnetonka wanted it, it was a rigorous application and IB had to accept Minnetonka.  It was over a year in the making.   Remember, the Strategic Plan was community members, teachers, administration, and conversations on “what would take us to the next level?”  IB was definitely was one of them.   Of course there were cuts made along the way, we can go back, we can look, we can see what we can change or alter if possible.  If we do go back and look at a Foreign Language, we can investigate as an immersion program; it’s a choice parents in our district could make.  She was on the steering committee; they looked at Art Magnet, Math Magnet, IB, Spanish Immersion, with expert presentations. She’s proud of what we’re doing and in Language and IB.

QUESTION 6:  In March and May in City Pages and the Star Tribune there was much written about Minnetonka and the International Baccalaureate program with statements about anti-American and anti-Christian.  Like to know your feelings and whether you would support IB or cut it?

Pam Langseth: She supports IB as providing another way of learning for students.  Whether it survives long term, we’ll see.   She sees it as an opportunity for all, not just High Potential Students.

MaryLouise Bowe:  She is in favor of IB in our schools.  She is in favor of strong academics.  She questions the dollars and who it serves and also who we are benchmarking against.  She said she had a conversation 2 years ago with Ann Swanson (MHS teacher in charge of IB) for more information. She's concerned this issue is dividing our community with misinformation being presented on candidate’s positions. She would like the Advanced Placement classes and IB classes be of similar sizes.

Paul Borowski:  IB is an internationalized curriculum; he has a problem with  the ideology of IB. Our American education system is second to none.  He said he can’t speak to the anti-Christian point.  He’s spoken to the community, students in IB that like the program.  IB diploma is a choice for high achieving 11-12 grade students; there are a small number of students in it.  Whether it goes forward remains to be seen.

Erin Adams:  Suggested that what the question is referencing is the petition that was presented to the board at the February 24 meeting with language regarding budget and ideologies. She supports IB.  The differences between Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate are:  AP is more rigorous, accelerated, high stakes with possible college credit awarded by taking the national test at the end of the school year. IB is deeper, slower, smaller and not exclusive to high potential/gifted and talented students.  It challenges rather than accelerates.  The benchmark here will be compared to global IB students taking the same tests, not national or local.  She’s excited to see how our school does. Scoring and curriculum for IB is done on an international basis including American representation.  We are not leaving American history education behind;  by 11^th grade our students have had extensive education in US History.

Cathy Maes:  She fully supports the IB program. This program provided depth in all subjects; for example, in the Renaissance period, they learn about history, cultures, art, and politics. 

October 11, 2005 League of Women Voters' Forum at District Service Center  (go here to see a summary of entire forum)

 Question 7:  Did any of you sign an anti-IB petition and how would you vote on IB now?

MaryLouise Bowe: Loves this question – she can set the record straight. She signed a petition asking questions about the budget; that’s still a concern. She’d vote to keep it in place now. She will be watching, as she will with all the programs, as to what we’re doing and prioritize them.  Make sure 7700 students get everything they need.

Paul Borowski: Didn’t sign petition.  However he does have several ideological and financial objections in terms of the program.  There was a suggestion that we should implement it K-12 and he spoke to a number of board members in neighboring districts.  They talked about financial challenges they face and said they looked at the IB program and they said not at this time based on the financial challenges.  The program is here – we should evaluate it as any other program.

Robert C. H. Schmidt: IB says students are life-long learners and should recognize that others can be right.  If those other people are Al Qaida, Do you want your children thinking that they may be right? Wants to get rid of the IB program and make America first in Minnetonka Schools again.

Erin Adams: As a Board member, I didn’t sign the petition, I received it.  IB is the gold standard of rigorous college preparatory work in our country, with wide support.  Has the support of Gov. Pawlenty and President Bush and she’ll continue to support IB if it continues to meet the needs of our parents and students.   The program is growing and delivers great promise; Americans value exploring the world we live in, choice and flexibility.  She will continue to support it as long as the enrollment numbers merit the expense.

Pam Langseth: Didn’t sign petition, and had she been presented with it, she wouldn’t have signed it.  Believes that even in time of cuts you have to look at ways to improve the quality of education.  Any time you initiate a new program you will not have mass numbers; it doesn’t happen overnight.  We are seeing a steady growth; it obviously is meeting a need of our community.  If we see a steady decline then we have to look at other ways.  If IB meets the needs of our community, we should have it; is glad we’ve brought it here.

Cathy Maes: Didn’t sign petition. Supports IB because it supports the needs of a different kind of learner. It allows a child to ask why? And why not? How come? It’s an in-depth curriculum.  It fits our Strategic Plan; she sat on an instructional model board that looked at IB K-12. There are school districts that do this very well – Minnetonka should continue to investigate this to meet the needs of all students.