Flanagan returns to Mpls school board temporarily

Peggy Flanagan, a former Minneapolis School Board member is returning to the board for the next six months, to fill the vacancy left last month when Pam Costain resigned.

Flanagan made history in 2004 when she became the first Native American to win a seat on the Minneapolis School Board. She's a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and served one term.

Her return to the board will be short-lived. She's filling the final months of Pam Costain's term, and she will not run for another term in in this fall's school board election.

Flanagan says she thinks that's one reason she was picked to fill the vacancy.

"I think it would have been difficult to put someone in that role who's currently running, and it allows the board to focus on the work at hand," said Flanagan.

Costain stepped down last month to take a new job with a nonprofit organization called AchieveMPLS.

The Minneapolis school district is in transition. Bernadeia Johnson assumed the superintendent's job just last week, and the makeup of the school board will change with this fall's election. There will be one more board member, and some members will now be elected from districts, instead of citywide.