Residents urge Red Wing district to reinvite Attorney General after withdrawal; speakers allege micromanagement and bias

Community members used the board’s public-comment period to press the Red Wing Public School District over the withdrawal of an invitation to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, saying the move harmed students and signaled bias.

Alan Mueller, a Red Wing resident, said he reviewed district documents and urged the board to “invite Keith Ellison to come here” so high school students could hear from the elected state official. Carol Overland, an attorney and Red Wing resident, said she filed a data-practices request after social-media posts about the cancellation and described public submissions as largely unsubstantiated. Overland said some board statements about the event amounted to micromanaging school principals and asked the board to review whether those statements fit its ethics rules.

Julie Martin, a parent, said withdrawing Ellison’s invitation sent a message to students of color. “Some people in this room did not want Ellison because he is an attorney general who is standing up to the Trump agenda,” Martin said, criticizing community members who opposed the visit and urging the district to do better for students of color.

Amber Plank, a Ward 4 homeowner, called for immediate accountability, requesting that two board members “publicly announce their resignations or be removed immediately,” and said she provided copies of emails obtained via a data-practices request as evidence. Plank described student walkouts and said the district’s response was inadequate.

Board members repeatedly said the decision to cancel the speaking engagement was administrative rather than a formal board action. A board member stated that the principal and district administration handled the invitation and cancellation, and several board members said they regretted the outcome while urging the district to learn from the episode.

The public-comments exchange did not result in a formal board motion to reinvite Ellison during the meeting. Board members said they would review the documents cited by speakers and that administrative staff would provide a summary of district actions in response to public comment at a later date.