Eden Prairie had to suffer a foolish plan

Nowhere are liberalism's failures on greater display than in the race-based busing schemes of recent American history.

For decades, social planners—armed with elaborate maps—have sought to impose their vision of perfect racial balance on other people's schools and neighborhoods.

In the process, they have run roughshod over the lives of real people, and have failed to focus on what students need most to thrive: improved classroom instruction.

We've seen the bitter fruit of this social-engineering legacy in Minneapolis, where a disillusioned black mayor led the charge to abandon race-based busing in 1995.

This year, St. Paul Superintendent Valeria Silva dropped race-based busing after a yearlong study revealed that kids tend to do best in their neighborhood schools.

But, for some, the itch to organize other people's lives never seems to die. Recently, we've had to relearn the lesson in Eden Prairie.

In December 2010, Superintendent Melissa Krull and her administration railroaded through a plan to bus students on the basis of income—a proxy for race. Cheerleading was provided by advocates who saw the scheme as a potential first step in a metrowide race-based busing plan.

The administration's reaction to parental opposition was predictable. Krull dismissed parents who questioned her plan and modus operandi as "dissenting noise."

Not surprisingly, parents resented what they saw as a high-handed attempt to silence debate by using inflammatory rhetoric and by insinuating that questioners were motivated by racism.

The media piled on as well, implicitly taking parents to task. Generally, the underlying assumption seemed to be that small-minded, possibly racist parents were obstructing the progressive agenda of an enlightened, caring superintendent.

But here's a rarely noted irony: Eden Prairie schools have been "fully integrated" for years. The district has had one giant high school, one giant middle school, and one school for grades five and six, where kids of all races and ethnicities have happily mixed.

Parents opposed Krull's plan, in part, because it involved busing the youngest children—kindergartners though fourth-graders, who benefit from being close to home—away from their neighborhood schools.

But boundary changes were just one piece of the story.

A provocative 300-plus-page report, compiled by parents, documents what's been summarized as a tale "of obfuscation, fiscal mismanagement, cronyism, special interest, and wasted tax dollars."

Today, parents of small children who are newly assigned to Oak Point Elementary School—designed for older students—say their kids can't reach the bathroom facilities or lunch counters; must climb long, potentially dangerous flights of stairs, and teeter on art room stools that are too high.

Parents assert that the administration's poorly conceived plan to disband a popular fifth- and sixth-grade program and to disperse it among six separate K-6 schools is proving costly and inefficient. In the process, formerly top-notch music and "gifted and talented" programs have suffered, they say.

Are these just the complaints of cranky parents? Far from it: Throughout the debate over the administration's planned changes, many teachers have also been up in arms.

A spring 2010 survey—conducted by the Eden Prairie Education Association during the midst of the debate—documented overwhelming concern about the administration's arrogant ways.

In the survey, 71 percent of teacher respondents said they would worry about "retaliation" if they shared a concern about school-related business with the district administration.

And while 91 percent of respondents expressed trust in their building principals, 39 percent reported they had "no trust" in the district administration.

In this toxic environment, some parents are moving their children out of the Eden Prairie district. The district is down about 300 students from last year, including some who were not affected by the boundary changes.

If those who have chosen charters or private schools or who have open-enrolled elsewhere stay away in coming years, says new board member Dave Espe, it will cost the Eden Prairie district millions of dollars it can ill afford to lose. In September, Krull left her position as superintendent after the board bought out her contract.

And on Nov. 8, Eden Prairie parents resoundingly elected a new school board majority in a groundswell of grass-roots, bipartisan support.

Eden Prairie has learned a bitter lesson, which such a fine school district should have been spared.

But there's one heartening lesson: In America, determined citizens can still mount an insurgency that successfully pushes back against out-of-touch social planners.

Now the Eden Prairie school district can get back to doing what's best for all kids.