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set forth by the state instead of established by the people through their representatives in the legislature in the recent past we have seen how bureaucrats used administrative rule to enact academic standards like the profile of learning without consent of the people through regular order in the legislature public hearings debate vote the amendment is widely opposed by members of the homeschool community who fear a government school monopoly or worse imposition of united nations mandates on the sovereignty of our state and country katherine kersten of the center of the american experiment says in her excellent critique the amendment mandates an outcome we don t know how to achieve and doesn t specify how we are to accomplish it ironically the amendment is also opposed by education minnesota which seems to see something quite different private school vouchers education minnesota the teachers union opposes the amendment stating the strategy paves the way for taxpayer funded vouchers for private schools which may discriminate against certain students kstp com proposed constitutional amendment aims to eliminate minnesota achievement gap gains prominent supporters january 8 2020 so who is supporting the amendment besides page and kashkari the senate bill sf 3977 has two co authors jeff howe and eric pratt both republicans the house bill hf 3658 has thirty three co authors as reported in february by the pioneer press on twincities com several prominent republicans including house minority leader kurt daudt and senate majority leader paul gazelka are at least not opposed to the idea attorney general keith ellison and at least two members of the legislative people of color and indigenous caucus also support the amendment the amendment has the strangest bedfellows i have ever seen if the amendment passes the minnesota house and senate by a simple majority it will appear on the november ballot if the amendment is approved by at least 51 of those voting a blank vote counts as no it becomes the law of the land since 2006 minnesota voters adopted three constitutional amendments and rejected two posted by scholar at 8 07 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels achievement gap education saturday december 15 2018 jury duty summation the words i would use to describe jury duty are interesting intense and gratifying the court system of which jury service is a part is interesting everyone is entitled to equal protection under the law the right to have the same access to and to be treated equally by the law and courts it was interesting to experience and gain a juror s perspective of how the court works in hennepin county we found that everyone from the security screeners to the jury office to the officers of the court to the deputy sheriff bailiffs to the people running the cafeteria conducted themselves with professionalism and courtesy criminal trials are intellectually and emotionally intense if a case goes to trial the defendant has pleaded innocent and is presumed innocent until the state proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury not to the judge or prosecutor in spite of all of the law degrees and titles in the room the outcome hinges on the decision based on the experience and judgment of twelve everyday residents of hennepin county every day when we entered the courtroom the jury was seated last the jury has the final word with that power comes the ability to change the lives of those involved in the case defendants victims and their friends family and acquaintances at times we were overwhelmed by the gravity and tragedy of the case it was gratifying for us as a jury to play a role in the justice system jury duty required us to interrupt our regular lives but we gained a real appreciation for how important a responsibility it is to keep the courts running for the people it was a privilege to meet and do important work with a group of honest hard working kind generous intelligent decent women and men on the jury but also the judge clerk court reporter and the attorneys on both sides even though now we are free to discuss the case with anyone there are still only twelve people in the world who experienced the case as we did from jury selection through the verdict this experience renewed my faith in the admittedly flawed but fundamentally good people of our state and country and taught me that keeping our society free and just is up to all of us posted by scholar at 7 48 pm 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2018 jury duty friday december 14 2018 jury duty the verdict after less than an hour the judge clerk court reporter defendants and the attorneys returned to the courtroom and the bailiff opened the door to the jury room we assembled in the anteroom and the bailiff let us into the courtroom we filed into our assigned seats in the jury box for the last time but now empty handed without our pens and stacks of legal notepads the scene was at once familiar and foreign the officers of the court defendants the judge s bench and witness stand tables and chairs jury box gallery seal of the great state of minnesota and the clock on the wall and the american flag were all arranged as they were during trial and seared into our memories for the first time the defense and prosecution tables were bare of notepads and three ring binders of evidence same courtroom but this was a very different day the judge read each charge and asked us to confirm verbally in unison the verdict indicated on the verdict forms that our foreperson signed just minutes before the defense accepted the option of having the jurors polled individually to confirm the unanimous verdicts so the charges were read again and this time we were asked one by one whether we agreed with the verdicts as read in those long minutes we felt the full terrible weight and responsibility of our decision we were unanimous in our verdicts and felt that justice was served but that did not make it easy to face the accused the judge thanked us for our service and the bailiff led us back into the jury room some jurors later remarked about the reactions of the defendants and attorneys but i found it too difficult to look in their direction during the reading of the verdicts one juror remarked that she could feel her heart pounding so hard that she was afraid she was going to have a heart attack eleven days after jury selection began our jury service was over posted by scholar at 10 56 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2018 jury duty thursday december 13 2018 jury duty deliberation day 1 of deliberation was a flood of repressed questions and thoughts we were finally able to discuss and opine as the attorneys would say about what was on our minds and in some cases in our dreams for the past couple of weeks after the two alternates were dismissed a bailiff who was a uniformed hennepin county deputy sheriff was assigned to us to prevent inappropriate contact with the outside world and to ensure that all twelve of us deliberated ate lunch and generally spent the whole day within sight of each other the deliberation room is equipped with a tiny private bathroom and we were provided with some snacks so the room barely larger than its conference table was to be our world for the duration during the trial we were permitted to have our cell phones with us in the courtroom but they had to be powered off during deliberations the bailiff took custody of our cell phones and laptop computers and sat with them in the small jury anteroom the jury foreperson s primary responsibility was to check the verdict boxes on the verdict forms and sign the form with the date and time on behalf of the jury all of us on the jury very much wanted to deliver a true and just verdict we took our responsibility and the possible consequences to all involved very seriously some to the point of losing sleep most thinking about the trial even during recess we represented a cross section of livelihoods and ages but these intense subjects and proceedings were foreign to us outside john grisham or law order it was an entirely different experience to be part of the legal process for real than watching it on tv day 2 on day 2 of deliberation we reviewed the testimony of key witnesses and recorded salient points on large flip chart sheets attached to the walls of the deliberation room i think that differences of opinion were expressed respectfully and thought processes evolved in good faith after lunch we voted on each charge for each defendant our foreperson signed the verdict forms and we informed the bailiff that we reached our verdicts the judge clerk court reporter attorneys and defendants were called back to the courtroom posted by scholar at 4 35 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2018 jury duty thursday december 06 2018 jury duty the trial if you are a fan of courtroom dramas on tv or in the movies you are probably familiar with the basic format of a trial opening statements from the prosecution and defense presentation of the prosecution case with witnesses and evidence including defense cross examination and prosecution redirect of the witnesses presentation of the defense case with witnesses and evidence including prosecution cross examination and defense redirects closing arguments jury instructions from the judge deliberation and delivery of the verdict s defendants are presumed innocent under the law until proven guilty by the prosecution in this case the state of minnesota defendants are not required to prove innocence only introduce reasonable doubt in the prosecution s case our verdicts guilty or not guilty were required to be unanimous the rules of the court after the fourteen of us were selected as the jury and the trial began we always entered and exited the courtroom through a side door that led to a jury deliberation room for the duration of the trial this was our home base in the mornings on breaks and during deliberation we the jury were not allowed to directly speak to any officer of the court judge and attorneys except through the judge s clerk a recent law school graduate if we had a question we would ask the clerk who would relay the question and answer we were not to have contact with the defendants or witnesses at all although the proceedings were recorded by a court reporter and audio recorder the jury would not have access to either record we took copious handwritten notes and were to told to rely on them our memory and our own experience and common sense during deliberations our life during the trial until the trial began and we took our assigned seats every day in the jury box we the jury were strangers to each other over the course of the trial we had lunch together in small groups took sudden breaks for scheduling and legal maneuvering to play out sometimes for half a day we could talk about anything except the case we discovered common interests and personalities gradually learned each other s first names we were always mister or miss whomever in the courtroom some jurors pretty much kept to themselves until the alternates were excused and deliberations began without knowing for sure i guess that the ages of our fellow jurors fell into every decade between 20s and 60s with a couple of exceptions the women on the jury seemed to quickly find interesting things to talk about in the mornings and during the breaks shopping vacations happy hour bars restaurants food children mobile phone games the five men generally did more listening than talking not even broaching reliable guy topics like sports with each other testimony and evidence witnesses were admonished to answer verbally with words for accuracy and since the court reporter would not be able to transcribe head nods or non verbal responses like uh huh we would often hear an attorney ask a witness to clarify a non verbal response with is that a yes when the attorneys approached the judge to confer a white noise generator would prevent any chance of the jury or court reporter or audio recorder overhearing the conversation some audio and video evidence was introduced but we would not receive the printed transcripts during deliberation replay of recording excerpts would only be permitted by asking the judge witness testimony was intense we took as many notes as we could not knowing what small fact or observation would be critical in forming a verdict we heard from alleged victims family acquaintances expert witnesses law enforcement child protection services family members and finally the defendants during morning lunch and afternoon breaks i often fled to the skyways jury assembly room or just climbed the stairways up and down for a complete change of scenery and to recover mentally and emotionally until we were called back into court checking email and doing some work remotely was possible but on some days the length of the breaks was unpredictable after the prosecution and defense presented their closing arguments the judge provided us written copies of the charges and the law gave us instructions and dismissed us to the deliberation room with our stacks of legal notepads posted by scholar at 12 53 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2018 jury duty tuesday november 27 2018 jury duty jury selection not us but this is what the jury box looks like photo hennepin county after my name was called in the jury assembly room i joined a group of thirty prospective jurors in a group called a jury panel the criminal case to which we were assigned required a jury of twelve plus two alternates there were two defendants each charged with three felony crimes the jury therefore would be asked to return three verdicts for each of the two defendants because the defendants were charged separately they each had their own defense attorney despite the fact that they were husband and wife to reduce the panel to the final jury size we underwent jury selection known legally as voir dire the court administers a jury questionnaire the judge and attorneys for the prosecution and defense are then allowed to ask each juror follow up questions based on the responses to the questionnaire the judge and attorneys try to ask probing questions to expose possible bias to understand how surprisingly intense this process was for the members of the jury most of whom including i were first timers consider the rules we were required to follow until the end of the trial to ensure a fair trail for both sides we were placed under oath to do our due diligence and render a true verdict only according to the law and the evidence presented during trial we were admonished by the judge to refrain from discussing the case with anyone including family members friends and even our fellow members of the jury until deliberation and from consuming any media reports of the case w...