The Edina School Board meeting on Dec. 11 adjourned early following protests concerning the suspension of two Edina High School students for their alleged antisemitic comments last month after the walk-out for Palestine.
30 minutes before the meeting, protesters surrounded Door 3 at the Edina Community Center, chanting in solidarity with the student activists at EHS and for people speaking up against what they view to be the mistreatment of Palestinians.
The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR Minnesota). It was scheduled as “a Community and Student Protest” set to take place at 6:30 p.m. “It’s very important for us to stand with our students, our Palestinian students, our students who are standing up to fight in solidarity with the kids who are being killed in Gaza,” Julia Pearlstein, a member of MIRAC, said. “I really think it’s amazing what [the EHS students] did, and I think it’s absolutely awful that they’ve been punished for it. This is something we should reward students for…taking a stand.”
20 minutes into the protest, Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR Minnesota, took the mic. “Shame on those who are silent. Shame on those who want us to be silent. Shame on those who think we are now gonna give up,” he said. Hussein ended his speech by asking for 10 volunteers from the protest to sit in on the school board meeting, encouraging them to stay respectful.
Before the meeting officially began, Board Chair Erica Allenburg noted the importance of exploring multiple perspectives, practicing civil discourse, encouraging empathy, creating interpersonal connections, and embracing diverse identities. “As a board, we wanted to share this with our guests in the hope that as adults we model for the students of this district what civil discourse and embracing multiple perspectives looks like,” Allenburg said. “This shared understanding will enable us all to complete the important business of the district for the benefit of all our students.”
As she called the meeting to order, she spoke to the importance of the meeting’s timing which was the last of the 2023 calendar year. The agenda consisted of community comments, five presentations on taxation in the city, a discussion on the Legislative Action Committee platform and action plan, the 2024-25 secondary course general change recommendations, and policy review. At the start of the meeting, Vice Chair Julie Greene proposed a motion to limit community comments to nine speakers adhering to their three-minute limit per person, noting the full agenda. With a second from board member Michael Birdman, the motion passed.
The Board moved into recess for the Truth in Taxation hearing, led by Director of Business Services Mert Woodard. “Great to see a good crowd for this topic,” he joked. His presentation ended with a public comment period. Comments were required to relate to the topic of taxes.
EHS alum and Edina resident Eva Hadjiyanis came to the floor. “Okay, to be fair I don’t have any questions about taxes—” she said as her mic was cut off. “I am so disappointed to be from Edina,” she continued off-mic.
Members of the crowd roared in agreement, chanting “shame,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” the chant that caused the suspensions, amongst others. Members of the Board moved to a back room, calling a short recess. Community members took over the floor, expressing their grievances with EHS’s administration and their response to the students’ suspensions. “I’m really disappointed. We all came here peacefully, to express our voices. And the first action that they took tonight was to silence us,” Hussein said to the audience.
During this time, arguments broke out as community members expressed frustration at the disruption of the content-filled meeting. “Why not follow the process and speak in those nine slots?” a community member said. Others responded that “those nine slots are meant to silence the others,” and “[i]t’s okay to admit you’re racist,” amongst other comments.
The Board returned to their seats after their recess but were met by chants of “shame.” They left again to the back room. “When it became clear that the meeting was officially adjourned [and] we weren’t going to be able to get back to the agenda that had been planned, the school district personnel welcomed us back into another room,” English department Area Leader Theresa Bademan said. “I was [at the meeting] with Ms. Degener…we were there to present our vision for the new iteration of language arts at Edina High School for school board approval.” The topic wasn’t reached and Bademan said she doesn’t know when it will be discussed next. “I fear that this will slow down [the] process. Some of these changes are supposed to take place next year, 2024-25, so we’re feeling the urgency.”
As the official meeting came to an end, community members continued to use the platform to speak about why the response of EHS’s administration matters to them, sharing personal experiences. “My kids go to this school because we thought it was a good school,” a community member said to the crowd. “Then when we came here, my daughter was in eighth grade and they have complained about [her] hijab… When my daughter is speaking they’re not giving her a space. And then… she was crying. I don’t know why she was crying when she would come home from school [but] I would have to comfort her.”
Presenters were escorted out of the building around 8:30 p.m. while the Board, the Superintendent, and her cabinet remained in the building with police affiliates.
Allenburg sent out an email to families of Edina Public Schools around 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, recapping the events of the meeting. “Our school board will work as quickly and efficiently as possible to complete the work that we weren’t able to finalize in our 12.11.23 board meeting,” she said.
