My day at the state capitol- lesson two

After I arrived at the state capitol and met the other participants, we were asked to think about what we wanted to talk with our legislators about- what was important to us. Honestly, I hadn’t really thought much about it because as a school administrator because I wasn’t sure if I would actually get out of the building that morning. After some contemplation, I jotted down some notes regarding the licensing problem that is a reality for me.

I believe that our current system of licensing in Minnesota is a system of exclusion. It excludes teachers who are not like me- born and educated here in Minnesota. During the education committee meeting, I noticed how few teachers there were as representatives and how confused some representatives were about how we license teachers in this great state. It was disturbing to me how many of them did not know the process by which a teacher is licensed in Minnesota. I wondered if they knew that our licensure system is broken in Minnesota and they must all provide the political pressure to make it change. As a school principal, I see masterful teachers with more preparation than I had have to pay thousands of dollars in going back to college in order to earn licensure here in Minnesota. The process is arbitrary and it is wrong. I also rarely see diverse teacher candidates – so rarely that I can count them on one hand. We must aim to attract masterful immersion teachers, teachers of color and teachers licensed in other states in order to serve the needs of our educational system. I need Minnesota to rise up, while holding the bar of excellence high, and demand that the process for licensure be improved.

As I stated yesterday, I believe that public education in Minnesota should be the highest quality and in order to do this we need the brightest and the best teachers. In order for these best and brightest teachers to do their job, we need to change how we do assessment. Much like a Kindergarten teacher would say: we all need to be kind to one another, work together and figure out a solution. For my part, I want to change the narrative in education to the positive. I want people to respect my profession, and the professionals who dedicate their lives to it, so that we can move forward from the broken place we are today. We need the voice of the people, our legislators, to enact change for equitible licensure.

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-Naida Grussing-Neitzel, Ed.S.