Shayla Owodunni, 34, is running for an at-large Minneapolis school board position. All Minneapolis voters will have the opportunity to vote for this seat. The other candidate for the at-large position is Kim Ellison.
Name: Shayla Owodunni
Age: 34
Current day job: Background in accounting and internal audit; currently self-employed with two businesses: one as a consultant in governance, risk, and compliance, working primarily with retail and hospitals on program management strategies, and the second as an interior stylist focused on plants.
Kids in the district: None. Has been volunteering at Pillsbury Elementary School through Early Learning Corps since last school year.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why are you running for Minneapolis school board?
Through my experience at Pillsbury, my eyes were opened to how incredible our teachers and our students are. It was around April when I started to plug into learning about the school board. The teacher whose classroom I was volunteering in wasn’t sure if she was going to have a position in the coming year, and the associate educator was deciding that she wasn’t going to pursue teaching anymore. With my internal auditor hat, I was like, “Okay, why don’t we have the budget for this? And who does make these decisions?”
Also, looking at the statistics around our children, primarily our students of color. I was essentially a volunteer interventionist, and it really opened my eyes. A lot of parents would opt out of interventions because they would say things like “My child doesn’t need an intervention.” I was like, “Oh, the wording of these things, it’s very confusing. How do we make the learning fun?”
I was looking at the winter assessment data and seeing how there was a decline and how only 44% of our children are reading at grade level as of the winter assessments, and then only 39% were proficient in math. Being from an immigrant household, I know the doors that having those literacy skills and math open, whether you want to go to college or not.
So from seeing the experiences in the classroom, and then also having a government accounting and internal audit and compliance background, I was like, you know what, my skill set is uniquely positioned to be able to help out with the district.
What do you love about Minneapolis Public Schools?
I love the people. I’m very much driven [by] community, and I am very excited about all of the potential that is within MPS. I was working with children at the beginning of the year who were unable to count to 10. Some were unable to count to three. Really being able to personalize what works for them, and seeing that spark when they were excited and understood.
For some of the students, who were unable to count to three, the initial practice that we were doing during our groups, wasn’t working. So then I started asking, what do you want to be when you grow up? [One said] she wanted to be Ice Spice. She likes her outfits. So I was like, well, you’ll need money to be able to have that. Money drives me as an adult, that drives a lot of people.
So I got some school dollars off Amazon and some wallets, and my mom used her Cricut and put their names on it. Instead of calling it interventions or assessments, I just called it, we’re math masters. So then all of the children became so excited to be math masters. Some of them were calling themselves superduper math masters. Just by using these dollars, they were able to learn counting.
By the end of the year, we had some of our 5-year-olds doing multiplication and looking forward to groups and telling their parents about it. Just seeing the energy that is possible when children are excited to come to school, and learning and understanding. Even when we’d have playtime, they would say, no, we want to play math games.
So that’s what has me excited about MPS. I would love to be able to be that voice to connect all community members around Minneapolis Public Schools.
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? What do you think needs to happen to shore up district finances so cuts are not necessary in the future?
One thing I would like to look at is a zero-based budgeting standpoint. Really analyzing what is a direct impact to our students. I feel like that would allow for more transparency and clarity of, are there areas where we can trim or pause or reconsider?
I feel like adding that layer of clarity and transparency around the budget, where everyone is very clear and understanding around why we’re doing what we’re doing and in what order, I think that allows for better projections long-term as well. Especially now that we’re approaching statutory operating debt, it is definitely something that we need to take a new approach on.
What are your thoughts on the school transformation process? Do you think the district needs to close or consolidate schools? What else do you hope comes out of the transformation process?
What I hope comes out of the transformation process is, again, community engagement and transparency around what happens next.
When you look at the potential for school closures, that is a very sensitive topic on all sides. I would love to get on looking at the budget of what is in the best interest of our students and our families, to have that conversation of really analyzing the budget and knowing, what numbers do we need to hit? What schools?
I have talked to parents where they’re saying there’s either large class sizes, or where there’s only one fifth-grade class. I’ve heard the wide spectrum of this. If we close, I would like to see projections: What does it look like if we don’t close any? If we close two, what does that look like?
I think it is taking a more pragmatic approach and being thoughtful about what is the impact to our families, especially when we look at the number of families leaving the district as well. That is something that I wouldn’t take lightly.
What are the most important steps you think the district can take to reverse enrollment declines?
Looking into what were the key reasons that families are leaving or considering leaving. Being very clear on what are the top reasons that our families are leaving the district, and then coming up with a remediation plan to address those needs, so we’re not still facing the same issues two years from now or five years from now.
Ultimately, what I’ve heard from all parents is that they want the best for their children, and so that’s really my goal in running: to make MPS a destination that families want to stay in and also that families want to come to.
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?
Look at our curriculum around how that would be incorporated. I know it’s something, when teachers already have a full load in their day, of having the time to thoughtfully implement new support, new curriculum.
And I think it is having that conversation about what is collaborative and a best practice to incorporate those learnings, which ultimately, I feel would benefit all students when what they’re learning every day is relatable and able to be understood. In my class this year, the teacher I’m working with and I are taking a Spanish for educators course, because we do have a growing population of Spanish-only speaking students.
So to think creatively how we address those needs so that students are able to feel supported when they come to school, while also finding that balance of teacher development and support as well to make that available.
How do you think Minneapolis Public Schools can support and retain new immigrant families?
The biggest thing is for parents to feel that they are a part of their child’s educational journey with resources and support. For example, last year, we had families who had newly immigrated. By just having conversations with them about what we were working on in the classroom, and then providing tools and resources where they could continue that journey at home, it really was a partnership.
I feel like that is one of the pivotal points for families: to feel that they are in partnership in a way that is relevant to them and their community. If a parent has newly come, their first thought isn’t, let me join a PTA group. How can we look at culturally relevant organizations and happenings within Minneapolis, and be able to get them connected to community that also pours into Minneapolis Public Schools?
What’s another school board priority of yours we haven’t talked about?
I would love to look into authentic assessments. As we look at the pillar around academics, to really take a look at how we are around academic achievement, is how we are assessing our students in a way that is authentic and actually representative of what they are going to experience in the real world.
