Osseo School Board: Tekoa Cochran, Kelsey Dawson Walton, and Keith Tate run with AFL-CIO endorsement

By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor

OSSEO SCHOOL DISTRICT — The Osseo Area Schools are on the front lines of a battle over the direction of public education. Educators and community members are pushing back against the efforts by a vocal group who seek to impose their conservative values and religious beliefs on a public institution. The public schools are taxpayer-funded public schools, after all, and should be welcoming for all students and families with diverse backgrounds and values. The freedom to learn is at stake.

The current arena for this clash over the schools is the coming November 5, 2024 election for three school board members for the Osseo Area Schools (ISD 279).

Three of the six candidates vying for three spots on the board are associated with the so-called Minnesota Parents Alliance, a culturally conservative group which purports to speak for all parents.

Three other candidates — Tekoa Cochran, Keith Tate, and Kelsey Dawson Walton — are running with the endorsement of Education Minnesota Osseo and the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

“Our [candidate] screening team were Osseo workers —teachers, nurses, KidStop instructors,” reported Ternesha Burroughs, math teacher and Education Minnesota Osseo’s president.

Evaluating candidate questionnaires and interviews, the screening team voted for  the endorsement of their top three choices: Cochran, Tate, and Walton.

“They are not about banning books,” Burroughs said. The three labor endorsed candidates also support Policy 508, “which is our gender inclusion policy,” Burroughs noted. “They also support the LGBTQ history and culture resolution passed by the school board.”

Kelsey Dawson Walton, Burroughs noted, served on the board when the policy was written and passed. (Walton lost her next bid for re-election).

Cochran and Tate, Burroughs said, also “support students’ ability to be their authentic selves.”

Debates about school curriculum also are at issue, but calls to ban books are a flashpoint. “This whole book thing has been a huge issue in Osseo,” Burroughs said. Books are picked for the school libraries, she noted, by licensed staff who are trained to select age-appropriate books. That decision shouldn’t go to parents acting from their personal belief systems.

“If you’re not willing to listen to the workers, that’s a problem for me,” Burroughs said.

The Osseo Area Schools includes five high schools (Maple Grove Senior High, Osseo Senior High, Park Center Senior High, and Osseo Area Learning Center, plus an online high school, 279Oline), six middle schools (Maple Grove Middle School, Osseo Middle School, North View Middle School, and Park View Middle School plus Brooklyn Middle STEAM School and an online middle school, 279Online), and 17 elementary schools.

To volunteer to help elect Tekoa Cochran, Keith Tate, and Kesley Dawson Walton

Education Minnesota Osseo is waging an active independent expenditure campaign on behalf of Cochran, Tate, and Walton. “We have volunteers that are out doorknocking, we have volunteers that are out phone-banking,” reported Burroughs. She welcomed members of other unions to help.

To volunteer, contact Ternesha Burroughs at [email protected]

Two coming phonebank shifts at the Education Minnesota Osseo offices at 9210 Wyoming Ave. N. Suite 200, Brooklyn Park,include:
• Wednesday, October 30, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. (Arrive by 5:30 p.m. for a light dinner)
• Saturday, November 2, at 4:30-6:30 p.m.
To sign-up for a phonebank shift, click on this link: https://forms.gle/AdmWSLmNeK3qDXBbA

An additional phonebank shift will take place at the offices of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, located at 312 Central Ave. SE, Suite 542, Minneapolis:
• Friday, November 1, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
To sign-up for this phonebank, contact [email protected].

Candidate websites and Facebook pages:

Keith Tate:
keithtateforschoolboard.com
Facebook

Kelsey Dawson Walton:
kelseyforosseo.com/
Facebook

Tekoa Cochran:
tekoacochran4osseo.com/
Facebook