Hopkins School Board members are still concerned about mask-wearing, made obvious by the board’s most recent meeting, which was held virtually.
Even though the meeting was held by means of a virtual Google Meet, almost every single person who attended the meeting wore a mask.
The objective of this is unclear. The meeting hosted one public commenter, who also wore a mask, as seen in the livestream of the meeting.
One speaker in the virtual meeting wore a mask below his nose, further begging an explanation for the purpose of the mask.
The meeting was held June 1, more than two weeks after the governor lifted Minnesota’s mask mandate. Masks were still required in schools but only inside school buildings during in-person learning.
Hopkins School District is known for its left-wing leaders, including a superintendent who began the 2020-2021 school year with a video message to staff and students urging them to examine their “whiteness.”
Superintendent Dr. Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed referenced a “dual pandemic” of COVID-19 and systemic racism in Hopkins Public Schools in her welcome message.
She explained that becoming an “anti-racist system” requires “white people and all people to self-educate, to listen to people of color, and to identify and interrupt racist policies, practices, and behaviors.”
Mhiripiri-Reed also encouraged educators to examine their own policies and instances in which they have “reinforced a racist policy.”
“If you are white and/or if you are privileged in another way, I ask you to engage in the same self-analysis to see your own privilege and to examine your whiteness,” she continued.
The school district recently partnered with an organization called Black Men Teach, a group that “recruits, prepares, places, and retains Black male teachers in elementary schools.”
Last summer, Hopkins organized an “Antiracism Task Force” of students and teachers who studied white supremacy and “how systemic racism has been embedded in our district.”
Hopkins High School students also participated in a statewide April walkout to protest police brutality and “the injustices occurring against the black community.”
Rose Williams
Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.
