North Minneapolis Teacher: Nice Guy, Finishing First

February 24, 2016

Minneapolis Public Schools teacher Ben Knaus is a nice guy. We agreed to meet on a Sunday, after he got out of church. I was already parked at a southside coffee shop, scribbling notes and reading articles on my phone, when he walked in, all khaki pants and unassuming smile. 

Ben Knaus

We met so he could tell me the story of how, in December and January of this school year, he secured a box load of brand new computers for the kids he works with at Olson Middle School in north Minneapolis.

Olson sits in the very northern corner of the city. If you pay attention to what people in that part of the city say about their schools, you will hear that Olson has long been something of a red-headed stepchild–neglected, forgotten, left to muddle on without such things as proper lighting, or a coveted, competitive IB program.

But that’s all changing. I hear Olson will now have an IB program, along with perked up lighting and a revamped swimming pool.

And, Olson has teachers like Knaus. He lives near the school and teaches in the AVID program, which is a national model Minneapolis uses to help historically underserved kids prep for college. Students have to want to be in the program, which offers them smaller class sizes, and the extra support and resources needed to get their work done and develop good study habits. 

“The cool thing about AVID,” says Knaus, “is that I have kids who are super focused on education.” Many of them are the first in their families to think about getting to college, and less than half of them have computers at home, even though lots of school work today is done through Google Drive and other online tools.

So, when Knaus heard about a deal being offered through a site called DonorsChoose.org, he acted on it. Donors Choose is an online donation site specifically for K-12 classrooms across the United States. Teachers can post a specific project or need that they want funding for, and donors can jump in and make it happen. In a way, it’s heartbreaking, if you stop and think about it. 

But if you don’t think about it too much, and just dive in and ask for funding, you might get what you want or need for your classroom. Knaus saw that Donors Choose had a program going where an outside funder would cover fifty percent of the cost of a student-led project. He showed the email to his AVID students, and three of the kids wanted to help make it happen.

They brainstormed with Knaus, and said they wanted to shoot for new laptops for their classroom. Knaus was cautious, and realistic with the kids. A whole new pile of computers? That’s a big project to fund.

But the kids were undeterred. Together, Knaus and the students wrote up a grant proposal, outlining why they wanted and needed new laptops. At that point, Knaus’s naturally understated style gave way to enthusiasm: “The students came up with really great ideas. It was fun to see them take ownership of the project, and they worked together and edited the proposal. It was really cool to watch.”

The group submitted their grant proposal just before winter break. When they came back to school, they had one question on their minds: “Did we get it?”

They did. They won the initial fifty percent of the grant right away, which meant their $6800 project was now down to $3400. But they still had $3400 to raise.

Knaus took over, and pitched the project to a wider audience on Donors Choose. Mostly, he says, it was his family and friends that pitched in. Then, he threw the project into the social media stratosphere, not knowing for sure where it would land. He put it on Twitter, and posted the project and funding request onto a Facebook group he says is dedicated to helping north Minneapolis teachers get what they need for their students.

Then, the funds rolled in. Knaus’s pitch was simple: “For $60, you can get a laptop in a kid’s hand.” It struck a chord: “One lady–I was blown away–she worked with the AVID program here before, but lives in New York now.” She kicked in money. In just three days, Knaus had what he needed to put in a purchase order for the laptops.

Ben's Computers
Brand new

“I was sitting at home eating dinner, and my phone kept buzzing. I looked, and it was a message from Donors Choose, saying my project was funded.” Knaus’s disbelief made him reluctant to tell his students about their good fortune, until he knew for sure the laptops were coming. 

And before he knew it, they were. In class one day, he got a call from a Best Buy rep, asking where to put the computers. “The kids were in shock,” Knaus remembers. The three kids who had helped write the grant for the laptops stayed after class to help unpack them. “It was a great opportunity. Kids with little technology in their lives got to take a new laptop out of a box. Hopefully, it’s one of those things they’ll never forget.”

I’m guessing they will never forget Knaus, either.

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5 thoughts on “North Minneapolis Teacher: Nice Guy, Finishing First

  1. Great story! I hope the finance department of the District was eaiser to navigate, for a teacher, than in the past.
    Kiva is a project funding network that can empower students to lend money around the world.
    I immagined schools having a fund to lend and classroom teachers accessing the fund for classroom
    activities in economics. It was difficult, at the time (2003), to set that up in schools and it seemed to hinge on moneys in the building and district moving through a byzantine process armored in “accountability” but not transparency.

  2. Bravo to Ben Knaus and his kids! May they enjoy the fruits of their work with pride.

    But yeah, Donor’s Choice? Teachers begging strangers on the internet for the tools they need to do their jobs. ☹️

    1. Hi Christine! Thanks for the comment. For the record, I skipped working with any district funding. There were two reasons: 1. It’s not easy. There are so many levels and intricacies that I didn’t want to deal with. 2. I got exactly what I wanted. The district often has contracts and I would have been at the mercy of a contract for computers.

  3. This story brings a huge smile to my face. Fantastic example of a dedicated teacher whose passion for learning and making things happen empowered his students’ sense of self-efficacy. And I LOVE that headline!

    1. Thanks for the kind words Mr. Templeton. I’m honored to know you and have you say such wonderful things.

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