Heritage Academy students walk out in protest over firing, demand leadership change

Updated: 3:50 p.m. | Posted: 8:46 a.m.

More than 50 students at Heritage Academy of Science and Technology in Minneapolis are back in school after they held a protest Friday morning, demanding leadership changes.

The students, who walked out of the school at 7:30 a.m., said the principal of the school is not listening to their concerns.

The walkout was sparked by the firing of Abdihafid Maxamed, a former Heritage Academy graduate who was hired as an assistant coach in 2014.

Students say they want Maxamed to be brought back and the principal to be replaced. Heritage Academy's student body is mostly Somali-American and it has operated as an independent nonprofit for seven years.

Minneapolis Public Schools declined to provide further statement about the situation at the school. The principal of Heritage Academy was also unavailable for comment.

The Minneapolis alternative school was wracked by internal divisions since June last year when the now-disbanded board of the school decided not to renew the contract of former school director Abdirashid Abdi for the 2015-16 school year.

In November, Minneapolis Public Schools assumed direct management of the Heritage Academy, after alleged irregularities and conflicts of interest by the nonprofit school's board members. At that time, Jean Sorensen, who was hired as assistant director in June, became the director of the school.

Maxamed, who mentors some of the students at the school, said the main reason he was fired is because the school administrators thought he had a "big influence in the students' voices." He said he sometimes gives rides to students who might need transportation after school activities, and the principal might found that "out of line."

"Nobody told us that we cannot take students home, we cannot give students ride home, that we cannot do those any of those kinds of activities," he said.

Interim Minneapolis schools Superintendent Michael Goar said in a statement Maxamed "was terminated for making false statements related to concerns of inappropriate interactions with students."

Senior Khadar Abi said the "dramatic change" at the school in the past six months has had a negative impact on the students' morale and "the school has fallen into pieces."

"There have been many students leaving the school," he said. "There are seniors right now that are trying to graduate, but there has been many distractions."

The school leadership and the community have a culture clash, according to Abdi Abdulle, a staff member and spokesperson for Heritage Parents Leadership Council, one of two parent leadership groups at the school.

Abdulle said they were expecting the school to have a new leader from the Somali community when Minneapolis Public Schools intervened.

"She wasn't hired as a leader, but MPS decided not to put a new leader who can understand all the roles," Abdulle said. "Simply she self-promoted to the principal position. And now she's the principal who doesn't understand anything about this Somali immigrant community and you have 300 Somali students."

"We've a decreased enrollment due to this lack of understanding," he said. "This is really a disaster."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story identified Abdihafid Maxamed as Abdihafid Ali. He has recently changed his last name.