Journal of a Black Teacher

By Don Allen, M. A. Ed./MAT “Autoethnography is a qualitative method— it offers nuanced, complex, and specific knowledge about particular lives, experiences, and relationships rather than general information about large groups of people” (Adams et al., 2014, p. 21).   Hennepin County foster care and adoption     Last week was quite difficult for our school community. We faced the heart-wrenching situation of a seventh grader being separated from his family and placed in foster care. Despite the challenges he faced, this student demonstrated incredible talent as an artist and a deep passion for science, taking great care of the fish in our three tanks. He has always been a model student at our performing arts and academic school, which serves the Black community. I was informed about the events that happened during our morning cabinet meeting. The leadership team, too, was devastated hearing the news about one of our scholars. A report by Kate Miller, Root cause analysis on foster care

By Don Allen, Educator and Truth Teller  The Black Lives Matter fundraising movement left the Twin Cities with $90 million dollars (plus) ignoring the need to address systemic racism, institutional racism, education, and economic justice in the Twin Cities. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) saw to it that the local (Minnesota) organization Feeding Our Future quickly scaled up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and received $193 million in federal grants in 2021 after having gotten $307,000 three years before. The rapid rise came crashing down in January (2022) when dozens of federal agents raided locations owned by subcontractors who have been accused of stealing millions of dollars (Fox 9 News).. Of course, we don’t know where the money went, nor can we find a family that was saved from this mysterious agency funded by MDE.  When Black Americans in Minnesota lose, our losses are monumental, devastating, mostly man-made, a

  Written by Don Allen, M.A. Ed. /MAT Economically Disadvantaged Students K-12  According to a study done economically disadvantaged students are the ones that mostly belong to a household that meets the income standards for free or reduced-price meals. This is because they live in poverty. This information about the economic status of individual students has been a result of county data on scholarship information and post-secondary options information. Economically disadvantaged children have a hard time succeeding in school. Most of the students in this state tend to drop out of school and choose a low-paying job because it is hard for them to keep up with their well-off peers. They become a center of ridicule because they cannot be able to afford to dress in fashionable clothes or even pay a fee for an educational trip (Thompson).  There are various reasons as to why there are economically challenged students, first is the income status. Poverty either situational or generational ma