Education

Former Robbinsdale principal Mary Lynn Donaldson, 67, has been charged with first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Hennepin County. FOX 9

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said 46 federal, state and local agencies have agreed to a new framework to address recent gang and group violence across the Twin Cities. FOX 9 Top officials — including BCA Superintendent Drew Evans, the FBI and ATF special agents in charge and Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges — are scheduled to outline operational details at a joint news conference. FOX 9

Minneapolis Public Schools paused planned school closures after Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams withdrew her closure proposals, and Board Chair Collin Beachy outlined a new enrollment and pre-K strategy. FOX 9

The University of Minnesota plans to cut $225 million from its budget over the next two years, a reduction officials say will affect all campuses and units. FOX 9

Derrick Lee Pfeffer, 42, a former teacher and athletic director at Hope Christian Academy in St. Paul Park, was arrested Sept. 24 and charged with multiple sex crimes against minors. FOX 9

Lakeville North and Lakeville South High Schools in Lakeville were closed Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, after anonymous threats were reported the day before, district leaders said. FOX 9

Danielle Heller, a 40-year-old former secretary and activities coach at Stillwater Middle School, was charged in Washington County with stealing about $90,613.50 from the school's Sunshine Fund. FOX 9

Elk River High School was evacuated and students were dismissed at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday after school officials received a threat directed at the school. FOX 9

Minnesota Unplugged convened parents, educators and politicians at the Iron Ranger on Grand Avenue to push a statewide K-12 bell-to-bell cellphone ban. FOX 9

Concordia University-St. Paul will cut in-person undergraduate tuition by $5,500, lowering the price to $21,700 beginning in the 2027-28 academic year. FOX 9

The University of Minnesota Police are increasing patrols on campus and in Dinkytown after a shooting and a stabbing, the department said. FOX 9

Gov. Tim Walz proclaimed Aug. 27 "Annunciation Day of Hope, Resilience and Love" as Minneapolis held a one-year remembrance and supply-drive at Pearl Park. FOX 9

NASA named Minnesota State's Transportation Center of Excellence one of seven national aerospace skilled technical workforce State Hubs, making it the only hub in the Midwest. FOX 9

A Prior Lake daycare teacher, Rachel Lowe, 36 of New Prague, is charged with six counts of malicious punishment of a child after surveillance video allegedly showed her striking six children. FOX 9

Donald Trump on Aug. 10 issued an executive order proposing to space out childhood vaccines and separate the measles-mumps-rubella shot, a move that collides with falling Minnesota vaccination rates. FOX 9

CDC's 2025-26 kindergarten data show Minnesota's MMR vaccination rate fell to 85.7% while the state's exemption rate rose to 6.9%, leaving coverage well below the 95% herd-immunity benchmark. FOX 9

A firefighter died after a mid-morning medical emergency while working the Bear Trap Fire near Ely, officials said. FOX 9

A federal appeals court ruled Minneapolis Public Schools may keep a union-contract clause that gives layoff protection to teachers of color. Minnesota Reformer

The Minnesota Office of Higher Education awarded $2.8 million in Student-Parent Support Initiative grants for fiscal year 2027 to 24 colleges and community organizations across the state. FOX 9

A new analysis says student opt-outs from Minnesota's statewide Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments have nearly tripled since 2019, undermining confidence in the test data. FOX 9

The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation Friday into a University of Minnesota-backed MyGenderDolls project after parents said the dolls were used in Minnesota classrooms without notice or an opt-out. Alphanews

SmartAsset ranked the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro the eighth most expensive of 48 large U.S. metropolitan areas to raise a child in 2026. FOX 9

A St. Louis Park teacher, Steven Samuel Burth, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County with gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child after an alleged May 5 dragging of an 8-year-old at Aquila Elementary. FOX 9

Young America's Foundation filed a federal lawsuit challenging the University of Minnesota's gender-identity and pronoun policies, seeking policy changes and $1 in nominal damages and alleging the rules chill speech. FOX 9

Facebook permanently disabled the account of AMPERS president and CEO Joel Glaser after it flagged two news posts as child sexual exploitation, a move tied to a June 25, 2026 suspension notice in Minnesota. FOX 9

Fahima Egeh Mahamud, the former CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center in Minneapolis, pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and conspiracy for stealing more than $5.4 million. FOX 9

Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Park began offering Workforce Pell Grant-eligible short-term programs on July 1, 2026, making it one of only two Minnesota colleges to do so. FOX 9