Keith Tate runs for Osseo School Board: 'Let's trust our teachers'

Minneapolis Labor Review, November 3, 2024

03 Nov, 2024

Photo above: AFL-CIO endorsed candidates for Osseo School Board (left to right) Keith Tate, Kelsey Dawson Walton, Tekoa Cochran.

By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor

MAPLE GROVE — Keith Tate wants to see the Osseo Area Schools move forward, not backward. He’s running for the District 279 school board with the endorsement of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and Education Minnesota Osseo, the union which represents the district’s teachers, nurses and KidStop instructors.

Six candidates are running, with the top three vote-getters to be elected. No incumbents are running this year.

As much as possible, Tate says, he’s campaigning with Tekoa Cochran and Kelsey Dawson Walton, who like him also are running with the endorsements of the AFL-CIO and Education Minnesota Osseo.

The other three candidates are backed by the so-called Minnesota Parents Alliance, a culturally conservative group which purports to speak for all parents.

Tate, his wife Jane and family have lived 16 years in Maple Grove. All four of his kids have attended the Osseo Area Schools, with two kids now graduates of Maple Grove High School and two more kids still in middle school.

As a school parent, “I started getting into what was happening,” Tate says.

He joined the Osseo Area Schools’ District Planning Advisory Council, which put forward recommendations like offering better after school activities and planning to address AI.

But he also saw sitting school board members talking about “crazy stuff,” like giving guns to teachers.

He decided to run for school board.

“I’m pretty excited about implementing the READ act,” he says, noting the Minnesota legislation passed in 2023 which aims to see every public school student reading at or above grade level, beginning as early as kindergarten. “It’s getting back to phonetic reading methods,” he explains.

“Whatever we can do to ensure everyone has access to the same opportunities in the education system, the better,” Tate says.

The Osseo Area Schools enroll an increasingly diverse student population and the district is the second largest in the state.

“We’ve been doing a lot of hiring, trying to get teachers reflective of the community,” he notes. “The bigger challenge is creating an environment where they want to stay.”

“One of the frustrations of late is the attacks and questioning of teachers,” he says. “Let’s trust our teachers. They’ve dedicated their lives to teaching our children… They are experts in their field… The constant attacks need to stop.”

Tate grew up in central Illinois, where family members worked for Caterpillar. Both of his grandfathers were union members and activists. One grandfather was a UAW member and union representative. Another grandfather was a shop steward for the meat-packers union. “Both were very active in protecting workers’ rights,” he reports.

“The rights and things that union workers get carry over to everybody else,” Tate says, including the 40-hour week.

Tate works in the financial services industry at Thrivent and would bring his financial skills and tech savvy to the work of the school board.

Website:
keithtateforschoolboard.com/

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Keith Tate for Osseo School Board