A stint teaching in Minneapolis’s north side taught me about how rough it is in these neighborhoods, and how tough it is in these schools.

I walked into my classroom at a K-8 public school in north Minneapolis expecting that it might be a little tougher than other places I had taught. Yet this was no run-down inner-city school.

A new, sharply designed brick-and-glass exterior surrounded an elegant interior of tiled floors, wood paneling and bright natural lighting. The students also looked sharp in their dark-bottom/white-top uniforms.

Soon after I arrived, a preteen black boy walked in early. Thin and outgoing, he looked at me, walked over and asked, “You the sub?”…

Featured as the cover story on the Sunday, May 4, 2013 Minneapolis Star Tribune Opinion Section