The Minneapolis school board swore in its newest member last week.
Lucie Skjefte, chair of the Minneapolis Public Schools’ American Indian Parent Advisory Committee represents District 3, which includes much of south Minneapolis. She replaces Faheema Feerayarre, who resigned her post in September.
Skjefte and five others applied for the open position. After interviewing finalists, school board members used a ranked-choice voting process to select their new colleague. When all the ranked-choice votes had been tallied, Skjefte and another finalist, social worker and district parent Fatimah Hussein, tied. A coin flip put Skjefte over the top.
“It was like the Creator decided,” Skjefte said.
Skjefte will be one of two new school board members next year. Former teachers union president Greta Callahan, representing southwest Minneapolis, will join the board in January. She won the election in District 6, replacing Ira Jourdain, a citizen of the Red Lake Nation. Jourdain did not seek reelection.
Skjefte, 42, grew up attending Minneapolis Public Schools. Her ninth-grade son currently attends Southwest High School. Skjefte, a citizen of the Red Lake Nation with a background in graphic design, works as operations director for the Mni Sota Fund, an urban Native community development financial institution.
“My design work has been very rooted in social activism,” Skjefte said. “I want to create something that is going to provoke critical thinking and challenge the status quo, and always shine light and positivity in a way that is bringing awareness for our people.”
Skjefte collaborated with Maria Isa Pérez-Vega, now a DFL state representative from St. Paul, on a “Not Your Land, Not Your Lakes” design that called attention to the “Indian maiden” imagery on Land O’Lakes packaging; the agribusiness company has since changed its logo. She also partnered with the moccasin company Minnetonka to redesign its Thunderbird collection.
She joined the district’s American Indian Parent Advisory Committee, or AIPAC, in 2018, and has chaired it since 2019. Since she joined, she’s seen the committee grow, and has supported parents as they advocate for their children.
“I think what I’m most proud of is how much community has come to the table, and how we have grown our AIPAC over time,” she said. “A lot of other districts have been asking what are we doing that’s different to get our parent buy-in, our community buy-in. … It’s being sought as a model to emulate in other districts.” She credited others for the committee’s success, including the district’s Department of Indian Education and the participating community members.
This spring, Skjefte presented AIPAC’s report of nonconcurrence to the school board. Under state law, these committees vote annually on whether they concur with districts’ educational offerings to American Indian students, and provide recommendations if they do not. This year’s recommendations included culturally appropriate mental health support, addressing high numbers of suspensions in middle-school students, and a seventh-generation framework to emphasize long-term thinking.
Skjefte joins the school board at a challenging time. Though enrollment numbers are starting to turn around after years of steep declines, Minneapolis Public Schools is grappling with serious financial challenges. The district recently started its “transformation” process, which could include school closures and consolidations.
Sahan Journal asked Skjefte about how she plans to approach her tenure on the school board. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Why do you want to be on the Minneapolis school board?
I saw this as a window of opportunity for Native representation to still remain present on the board with the departure of Ira Jourdain. I didn’t anticipate me ever stepping in and putting my name in the hat. I have always felt like the work that I’m doing with our AIPAC is great, and there’s so much work that still needs to be done, even with our last vote of nonconcurrence to the district and the things that we’re asking for in order for us to get back on a vote of concurrence.
I feel very passionate about serving our community — not just the Native community. I understand that this is bigger than just serving Native students. It’s about serving all of our students within District 3. And so I am going to do that. District 3 does represent a very diverse student population that is Native and Somali. I trust that I can show up to support both communities. I’m receptive and wanting to learn how to show up and advocate for all of our communities in our district.
What do you love about Minneapolis Public Schools?
I love the community that it brings. And I think there are many things that need a lot of work. The things that stand out the most for me is how intentional they are at creating understanding, or wanting to gain better understanding, of how to work in the communities better. Their outreach and their community engagement is really good, I think.
Minneapolis Public Schools enacted painful budget cuts last year when COVID relief funding expired, and is expected to cut more this year. How do you think the school district should approach budget cuts when they’re necessary, and what do you think needs to happen to shore up district finances so cuts are not necessary in the future?
There’s a lot of discussion around the transformation process at the district. The board is going to release more information specific to that. I want to lean heavily into what that looks like and better understanding before I make any comment about that.
What are your thoughts on the school transformation process? Do you think the district needs to close or consolidate schools, and what else do you hope comes out of the transformation process?
I won’t speak anything specifically about school closures. I don’t know what that looks like right now. I haven’t been officially onboarded yet for the school board. But what I do hope that comes out of this is identifying a space for Anishinabe Academy. I know that that is a big thing that is underway right now. I am sitting on the advisory planning committee for Anishinabe identifying what the spatial needs are going to be for their own building, their own space to grow and thrive. I don’t know what that’s going to look like, but that is what I can speak to right now.
What are the most important steps you think the district can take to reverse years of enrollment declines?
I think I would have to really look at and understand what the census data has demonstrated in terms of how many students are within our school district in total, and where there’s opportunities to promote bringing students back into our district. And I can’t answer that right now, because I haven’t dived into that topic too deeply yet either.
There’s a growing demand in the district for language and cultural programs. How do you think the district should respond to those demands in a time of financial strain?
The schools that are at full capacity are Spanish immersion schools. That is something that is standing out for me. If there’s a desire for students to be in a Spanish immersion school, then like creating more opportunities for that, and more schools to have that. If it’s going to bring more students in, and that would be something that would draw in students even from outside of the district, I think that would be something worth exploring, and I’m in support of that.
How do you think Minneapolis Public Schools can support and retain new immigrant families?
Strengthening their outreach into those communities: this is what we have to offer in terms of our second language English learners. Just being more intentional about how they’re stepping into those communities and communicating out this is what they have to offer, and this is what they’re going to get out of coming to the district.
