A correction in progress: links provided by Don Allen indicate Prince may have attended North High for as long as one year, although Prince graduated elsewhere. This post has been amended to reflect that, with further verification requested.
The Johnny Northside blog broke the story about Don Allen and his $15,000 contract with the Minneapolis Public Schools more than two weeks before the Star Tribune wrote about the topic. One of the intrepid reporters for the Twin Cities Daily Planet, Sheila Regan, has taken it upon herself to dig even deeper into the murky world of no-bid contracts at the MPS. Sheila has been threatened by Don Allen in relation to her investigation and reporting on him and his contract.
Instead of being cowed into submission, Regan redoubled her efforts to get to the bottom of the story, and has filed a request with the MPS for information related to Don Allen's contract. To be fair, she also requested information in regards to Al Flowers, as Allen has made frequent allegations that Flowers has received funding from MPS as well. Her account of MPS's response can be found here. It's telling that she was initially told such a request would cost her thousands of dollars, even though Minnesota statute 13.03 2010 states:
"(a) Upon request to a responsible authority or designee, a person shall be permitted to inspect and copy public government data at reasonable times and places, and, upon request, shall be informed of the data's meaning. If a person requests access for the purpose of inspection, the responsible authority may not assess a charge or require the requesting person to pay a fee to inspect data." (emphasis added)
Through the spot.us site, Regan is requesting funding that will support this story. Readers can fund through direct contributions or by simply creating an account and taking a survey. Five minutes of your time can help support local investigative journalism and hold our public school system accountable.
Jeff your an idiot. Prince did go to North High School and if any of your friends want a story, have them call me rather than speculate.
ReplyDeleteI normally don't post comments from Don Allen, Terry Yzaguirre, Jim Watkins, or the Jordan Hawkman here. But I want to point out that I'm basing my statement that Prince did not go to North High on the Strib article linked above, where Corey Mitchell wrote, "One placard with a likeness of musician Prince indicates he's a North High graduate; the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member actually attended now-closed Central High."
ReplyDeleteIf anyone can provide evidence that Mitchell was wrong and Allen is right, I will correct my post.
And rather than speculate, I'll wait to see what the actual documents from the MPS turn up.
@Donny: I believe what you meant to say was "Jeff, you're an idiot." Keep up the excellent work demonstrating, in everything that you say and do, the importance of a good education.
ReplyDeleteDonny said...
Jeff your an idiot. Prince did go to North High School and if any of your friends want a story, have them call me rather than speculate.
I will supply the information right here you hobbit.
ReplyDeletehttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_school_did_Prince_Rogers_Nelson_attend_for_elementary
John Hay Elementary School (1965), Bryant Junior High School (1970), Central High School (1972), North High School (1973), Central High (1973-76)
http://www.dawnation.com/menu1/biography.html
High school (Schools: John Hay Elementary School (1965), Bryant Junior High School (1970), Central High School (1972), North High School (1973), Central High (1973-76) - all located in MPLS)
The Dawnation site openly claims it is independent and unofficial. And if you Google the following question, "How reliable is Wikianswers?" A Wikianswers page comes up that states they do not consider themselves accurate.
ReplyDeleteAt this time, I stand by my statement in which I relied upon information from what I believe to be a credible source. I have emailed Corey Mitchell, who wrote the story, and asked him where he found his information.
Furthermore, the links Mr. Allen references indicate Prince attended North High for a year or part of a year and graduated elsewhere. I will correct the statement in this blog post accordingly.
ReplyDeleteEd Kohler at the Deets found this information, which backs up the statement that Prince did briefly attend North High:
ReplyDeleteIn high school, Prince was absorbed in his music. He did well in music theory, guitar class, and stage band. His music teacher, Jim Hamilton, who had played with B. B. King and Ray Charles, sensed that Prince and several other of his students at Central and North High (which Prince attended briefly during his sophomore year) had futures in music—Andre Anderson, Prince’s former bassist, who now records as Andre Cymone and produces others; Terry Lewis, who played bass in the Time and now produces records; Mark Brown, bassist in Prince’s Revolution; and Terry Casey, lead singer of Mazarati, a Minneapolis R&B band that Brown produces. “At that time,” the teacher observed, “when it came to business sense, performance, and playing, I would bet ten dollars to a penny that Andre would be the guy to make it.”
That statement can be found here and here.
Well, that's settled then. I stand at least partially corrected. And now back to the original point of the blog: Sheila Regan is investigating Don Allen, Al Flowers, and no-bid contracts at Minneapolis Public Schools, and she needs your support. Thank you.
Is anyone else puzzled and confused and perhaps a little creeped out that Don Allen has used two different blogger profiles within a short comment thread?? Like, how many identities DOES Don Allen actually have?
ReplyDeleteBernadette Anderson was a lovely lady. She was Andre's mother and a pillar in the old Glenwood-Olson housing projects and then the rest of North Minneapolis in her later years. Prince lived with them for a period of time in his life that was very stressful at home. They were both musically inclined as kids and, obviously, the rest is history. We all played together whether it was in the neighborhood or at Wells Community Center which was the hub of the area and run with a loving hand by a lady my mom was proud to call one of her best friends and called her "Bernie". The love that embraced this woman, my mother, and other pillars of the community will never be matched or replaced because they broke the mold on all of them. Harry Davis, Bernadette Anderson, Art Naftalin,Hubert Humphrey,Gleason Glover, Cozy Breedlove, Maurice Britts who was ,in the sixties and seventies, a leading educator,principal,author,poet and a very brilliant man, along with others who paved the way will long be remembered as true and honest people with alot of love in their hearts.May you all rest in peace and how i wish you were here to show these clowns what dignity truly is. Good Evening.
ReplyDeletePost-script on the Prince issue: I did get a response back from Corey Mitchell, who informed me that he got his information from the MPS communications office. Although he was apparently only told of where Prince graduated from.
ReplyDeleteWhich is another sticking point here. The image in question calls Prince a "notable alumni" of North High. While I suppose that is technically true, most people think of alumni as where someone graduated from or if no diploma was earned, then either where the bulk of the time was spent or the last place attended.
Calling Prince a "notable alumni" is a bit of a stretch.
In your (biased) opinion.
ReplyDelete@Nomi Passenger. It looks like Don Allen has commented on this post three times using three different usernames (the third anonymously). It's gotten to the point that anytime I read a comment on a blog that agrees with Don Allen, I assume that it's Don Allen agreeing with Don Allen using a different username.
ReplyDeleteEd, I think you are right. It makes you wonder how many of those anonymous comments on the infamous Jerry Moore works at UROC blog post were actually Don Allen, considering he is the one who took it upon himself to email Irma McClaurin and posted that in his own name. How many comments did he post with an anonymous name? Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteIf Ed Kohler is assuming that the anon comment "In your biased opinion" is from Don Allen, he is absolutely wrong. I wrote that comment and I am not Don Allen. I'm not black. And I don't like Don Allen. And, quite frankly, the more I read from Ed I don't much care for him either. Whatever your problem is with Don Allen you guys need to get over it and find something worthwhile to write about. He's a nobody and you guys seem to be obsessed with him.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon 11:15 and to Ed, I generally don't approve comments that speculate on the identity of anonymous commenters. That type of speculation rarely leads anywhere substantive.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon 11:15, I am frankly far more interested in the MPS response (or lack thereof) to Sheila Regan's request for information.
Three comments have been rejected on this thread. One by a known troll, one by an anonymous commenter who did nothing but name-calling, and one by a fellow revitalizer after I stated my position to not publish further comments that speculate on the identities of anonymous commenters.
ReplyDelete