‘He ignored us’: Local Minnesota school superintendent slams Walz’s ‘negative impact’ on K-12 education

EXCLUSIVE: A local private school superintendent believes Gov. Tim Walz’s policies have had a “negative impact” on education in Minnesota, suggesting he “broke trust” with residents during the coronavirus pandemic.

“He’s ignored us,” Kim Friesen, who has lived in rural Minnesota for 21 years, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “I think he’s broken trust with rural Minnesota because of education and how he hasn’t listened or visited or been out here.”

Friesen, who works as an administrator at Mountain Lake Christian School, detailed the effect she has seen Walz’s policies have on education in the state.

“The majority of the thinking that Governor Waltz did was all Metro. He didn’t consider some of the unique problems that we face in rural Minnesota, for example, connectivity,” Friesen said of rules enforced in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s been kind of hard to see the negative impact that has taken place under Governor Waltz’s leadership.”

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Friesen said that rural families faced roadblocks to online learning requirements during the pandemic, such as not having access to the internet.

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“Rural Minnesota really suffered during that time,” she added. “I don’t think he cared for all his people well. He cared for the center of our state. North, south, rural, east and west, we did not get his attention, and we deserved his attention.”

Friesen also said that she does not think Walz appears to want to connect with rural Minnesotans.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on Aug. 9, 2024. (Robyn Beck)

“I do believe that some of the things that he has said are very self-focused rather than people-focused. And I need a vice president that is going to be us focused,” she said. “He needs to know his people better. And if he’s not willing to do it in a state, how can he do it for the nation?”

When asked about a potential Harris-Walz administration, Friesen said that the policies enacted in Minnesota could be reflected at a national level – such as social issues and illegal immigration.

Walz signed an order making Minnesota a “trans refuge state,” where minors…