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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/01/1990.� � MINUTES MAPLEWOOD HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Tuesday, May 1, 1990--7:00 P.M. Maplewood City Hall Attendees• Sr. Claire Lynch Scott �ostron Pat Wi 11 iarnson Karla Sand Paul Sand Dawn Vassar Carol Engel Mike McQuire Gail Blackstone Gretchen Maglich I. MINUTES--M/S/A minutes o-F the April 3 meeting as amended in section II C 3--Materials from St. Paul HR department. II. NEW BUSINESS A. Karla presented 1989 Annual Report to the city council in April. Council members asked her� about the John Glenn incident and monitoring city personnel policies. One member suggested a Maplewood Human Rights Day in April 1991. Brief commission discussion of this idea included suggestions to invalve government, schools, the business community, churches, the Chamber of Commerce, and local civic groups. It was suggested that we could use it as an educational/awareness tool and possibly involve the state Dept. of Human Rights. This will be a major agenda item next manth. B. Kar-la reported that there was no substantive legislation on HR issues in the session just concluded. III.OLD �USINESS A. John Glenn Middle School incident--Chief Ken Coliins and Officer Mike Herbert of the Maplewood Folice Department attended this portion o-F the meeting at the commission's request. Mike Her�bert is assigned full time to District b22 and spends most oF his time at North and the two middle schools. He descr-ibed the incident at John Glenn as one with racial overtones. He stated that the people involved were primarily present and for�mer North High students and that o-F the 200-225 present, perhaps 25-50 represent a"hardcore" group most of whom have been e;;pelled for a variety of reasons. Several of these same individuals have been arrested by the police for- other� cr-imes. Herbert stated that there were a variety of racially motivated fights and other incidents at North during the la�t school year and that tl-�at climate contin- ues to be present. He stated that the school admini- stration has dealt swiftly and equitatrly with these incidents and that a-Fter a few of the "hardcore" � N individuals had been removed from the school, things calmed down. Her�bert and Collins indicated that the current problem is best dealt with by the police, but that sensitivity training is very much needed especially at the elementary level. Chief Collins said that as far as he�is aware, the school boar-d has never addressed these issues. The commission decided that our revised report to the city council should cover- the foilowing issues: --r-acial overtones of John Glenn incident --criminal element involved in these activities --possibility of dialogue with the school boar�d on these issues. B. Thoughts cnncer�ning commission involvment in this issue included working through the -Following areas: — Paul's ur-ban/sububan program -For dialogue among ni nth and tenth grader-s ---District bz2's PEER council--Scott serves on the curriculum por�tion of tf�is body --Multicultural/6ender Fair� issues ---HR Essay on a topic such as "Does freedom of speech include ethnic slurs?" i'v'. REPORTS A. No current grievances. B. Kar-la reported that the state League is working on procedures to respond to incidents such as the recent ones in White Bear Lake and Inver- Grove Heights. C. Scott reported that the committee on Seniors and Others with Special Living Needs is proc�ressing. The seniors component will be a key one for the proposed Maplewood community center. D. City Of Maplewood--passed out copies of Scott's ar�ticle. Next month's rneeting will be Monday, June 4, 1990 at 7:n0.