Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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It was frustrating to read "Last dance at South High?" (Front page, June 6.) Teachers, principals and school boards are continually voicing the need for mental health services in schools, and yet the Minneapolis district is thinking of cutting arts programming at its schools. Music, dance and visual arts provide a safe environment for students to express themselves and do so in creative ways. There have been hundreds of research articles written about the need for arts programming in schools and in particular that students involved in music programs generally do better academically as well.

I hope the district will reconsider cutting these programs and look into ways they could actually increase the programming so that students continue to have safe outlets where they feel accepted, can be part of a peer group and learn from caring teachers how to navigate the world through music, dance and art.

Kimberly S. Donley, Mounds View

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Shame on Minneapolis Public Schools, again! The arts are an equalizer and stabilizer for many students. There seems to be little respect for the significance the arts can have on a student's academic career. For years, with the support of the Annenberg Foundation, the district was committed to integrating the arts into the traditional curriculum so that the curriculum would have an impact on students often left out.

There seems to be an attitude that the arts are disposable. The arts can be a source of energizing students in their academic efforts, thus reaching and touching students for whom traditional schooling has been a struggle (see the Star Tribune article from last week, "Taking steps to heal," singing the praises of the North High dance teacher and her poignant connection to students). There surely are ways to find resources to sustain the arts in schools, perhaps with sacrificing some questionable administrative positions and funding — and reviewing staff positions that seem to be ineffective.

There has never been a time when the arts have been more important in having an impact on the lives of students, reaching students left adrift in the midst of the pandemic and recent events. This move will just cause MPS to lose more students. What family would support this decision for their child? The arts must be sustained and strengthened if the district is to have a rich impact on the lives of students.

Susan N. Kalin, Minneapolis

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I was dismayed to read about possible cuts in arts programming in Minneapolis Public Schools. It seems to me that 10 to 20 years in the future, we will not need more football players (for example), but we surely will need more writers (like Amanda Gorman), more stellar actors to perform on stages such as the Guthrie's, and more musicians, such as Prince, to write and perform music, whether it be rock, pop or classical. An engineering professor at my undergraduate college could not have expressed it more succinctly or eloquently when he said that science and engineering make contemporary life possible, but the arts and humanities make it worthwhile.

John D. Tobin Jr., Westerly, R.I.

It is time to recognize that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is not up to the moment. First he was "shocked" by the Department of Human Rights report. I am shocked that he is shocked. This 72-year-old white women was not shocked. This has been going on for the entire 50 years I have lived here. No doubt longer. I've been repulsed by the behavior of too many Minneapolis police officers for that many years. We knew. We all knew.

Now a legalistic pushback on the report ("Minneapolis again asks state to back up charges of police racism," June 3). You need proof? Have you listened to anyone? Asking for more information and clarity is one thing, a legalistic pushback is another. Hint, it's more than 20 cops using disrespectful language. Want to know what to do?

Don't have the Derek Chauvins of the world be field trainers. Fire cops who are disrespectful for another. Fire cops who fabricate evidence. That will make it harder to police? Public safety in Minneapolis is already made harder by too many officers we can't trust.

Mayor Frey, in case you didn't notice, you did not get even 50% of first-choice votes. Hardly a ringing endorsement or even a vote of confidence. We cannot afford to lose another three and a half years to inaction and tinkering around the edges. Voters gave you the tools to fix this. You have control. Now either lead or get of the way.

Alice Johnson, Minneapolis

The news media are full these days of images and quotes from horrified drivers complaining about the cost of filling their tanks, but rarely if ever do they mention one glaring factor: the capacity of these gas tanks.

For the last four decades (since the Arab oil embargo and President Jimmy Carter), Americans have been relentlessly giving up on high-mileage private cars and indulging in gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks, the most popular vehicles today. This so even though global warming/climate change began to penetrate popular awareness. Although electric vehicles are trending, and successfully avoid gas-price shock, the numbers are still low, and of course any progress in deferring global warming depends on how that electricity was produced. It's not magic.

John C. Green, Duluth

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Minnesota should consider raising its gas tax.

(Please don't throw things. Give me a minute to explain.)

The gas tax is 28.5 cents per gallon. It's been like that for roughly nine years. With road and bridge maintenance a constant issue here, additional funding would likely be put right to work.

Here's the idea: We raise the tax to, say, 35 cents per gallon; but we don't start collecting it until gas prices come back down (they will). The increase would be put in place gradually. For example, when the price drops by four cents the tax would increase by two cents. This could be done on a monthly, bimonthly or quarterly basis. In this way the state could obtain needed revenue without shocking household budgets.

Bob Gordon, Minneapolis

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C'mon voters, the science is clear, and the choice is simple — replace fossil fuel use with clean electricity ASAP or doom future generations to a devastated planet ("CO2 highest in human history," front page, June 3). The fossil fuel industry, with Republican collusion, continue to spread the lie that our climate is not in crisis while secretly burning our collective house down around us.

Individual and corporate action will not address the problem quickly enough to avoid the worst of what is to come. We need quick government action and policy to support this transition. Your vote has never mattered more than it does right now.

Mark Andersen, Wayzata

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Want to save 10% or more on the price of a gallon of gasoline? It's simple. Try driving more slowly. There's an elegant website published by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy (fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.jsp) that allows you to enter your vehicle data and will tell you the estimated fuel saving by simply slowing down. Even 5 mph at highway speed can save you up to 10% on a gallon of gas.

As we enter the summer driving season, we all want to get out. Slowing down even a modest amount can be a real cost savings. Incidentally, it will also improve your safety and chances of avoiding real injury or death if you have an accident. As a practicing emergency medicine physician, I promise, I don't need the work.

Jeffrey Hill, Minnetonka