Minnesota State Wire

Parent Mariah Hines is still looking for answers about what direction the Pequot Lakes School District 186 Board plans to take regarding equity practices.

“Some other issues that we have are the transparency between our school board and the administration and the parents,” Hines said. “So parents are not allowed to talk at any of the public school board meetings. We're allowed to attend, but we're not allowed to talk.”

Hines also has questions about the $87,500 paid to SEED to give teacher training to Pequot Lakes faculty.

Superintendent Chris Lindholm also recently came under fire after he was featured in a video addressing the issue.

“Basically in this video, he was very demeaning toward our small town,” Hines said. “He said that he moved here from Minneapolis eight or seven years ago and was really distraught by how racist and bigoted we were. And he knows that his previous neighbors in the cities who were gay and biracial couples; they wouldn't have been accepted here. And he goes on to basically say that and that upset the community members because we don't think that we're a bigoted, racist community.”

Hines said Lindholm’s explanation to the board was almost as damning as his message itself.

“He said, 'I'm sorry that you guys saw it because you weren't the intended audience,'” Hines said. “So I think that angered more people than anything. But we weren't allowed to talk and we respect that. Then we were told April 29, you guys will be able to talk. We'll have a public forum where you guys can all voice your concerns.”

“About a week before April 29, we were told that they had spoken with the Minnesota School Board Association and their lawyers had advised that they not hold the public forum meeting because it could be dangerous if any parents mentioned the names of any administrators or teachers or students,” Hines said. "And so they canceled our public forum. So I actually made a Facebook group called The Parents of Pequot United. We have over 370 members right now, and we held our own public forum on April 29 after they canceled the other one.”