Previous MN Autism Task Force Chair, Dawn Steigauf is running for Bloomington School Board this year. The following words are my opinions and do not represent previous or present autism task force or any committee.
Bloomington school district has a good percentage of African Americans as well as other minorities. Their current board is made up of 7 members – 4 men and three women. Zero are persons of color including zero African American. Not a shock there.
When Ms. Steigauf was the MN Autism TF chair, she wrote language that included most non-minority autism agencies in Minn to be represented in the current task force, but took off all minority autism agencies. Her reasoning – (not everyone likes that minority autism agency). I kid you not, my response “does every non-minority autism parent like Ausm, Arc or Pacer? Not really.
As the lone person always fighting for under-served autism families – I protested & made sure that the language of the bill had diverse autism agencies or mention no agency. To make a long story short, the ever calm and reasonable Rep Mack (R – Apple Valley) took off any names for any agency and just put representatives from advocacy agencies including one from a minority group.
In addition, Ausm Previous President Ms. Kenny (an amazing inclusive leader) apologized for Ms. Steigauf since she represented Ausm in the last MN Autism TF.
And, for the current task force – Ms. Steigauf represents a parent and has voted against the letter of support that had minority agencies sharing the HRSA autism grant. (Remember all of the hoopla with that). So many members wanted to vote against minority and rural autism families behind the scenes while pretending to be fair and inclusive in public. Imagine if folks voted what they said and said what they voted for. That might be a wishful thinking here, but we can all hope.
So, I guess my question is how can anyone with such views that are not inclusive and defiant represent a growing diverse school district that has many needs and challenges?
My take is Ms. Steigauf should not be elected to such important seat.
There is a large and growing Somali residents in Bloomington and I hope you all use your votes and voices wisely. Choose those that will represent you and your issues.
Oh, you might hear Ms. Steigauf’s adopted kids are minorities. Remember Sen. Thurmond had an African American daughter, yet he voted against every possible civil rights legislation. Judge them on their policies and not their words, or family members.
Bloomington school district already has a bad achievement gap between Black and White students, adding Ms. Steigauf will only make it worse. We need diverse school board members to reflect Bloomington.
Thanks!
Idil – Somali Autism Mom and Minority Advocate