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I am certain I am not alone in being disturbed by the letter writer who laid all that is wrong in our country at the feet of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party ("The Democrats doom themselves," Readers Write, April 7). The easy response is to make your reaction about the individual and the like-minded thinkers you assume the 74 million Trump supporters to be. The harder response is to look in the mirror and confront yourself on the responsibility you have in creating this frightening dynamic in our society.

We hear a lot about the villains in our societal woes — biased media, bad actors in social media, echo chambers, on and on. What about you? Do you determine yourself to be an innocent bystander? Unable to control the forces around you? You like the Republican/Democratic Party, but you don't agree with everything? If you repost without verifying authenticity, if you believe CNN/Fox is voice of objectivity over Fox/CNN, if you are unequivocally certain, if you understand the issues and those on the other side just don't get it, you are part of this problem.

The path to healing is laden with listening, thinking, humility and a massive dose of self-reflection. None of these are easy, but easy doesn't exist with any of these dynamics. It will be hard, but I still believe as a country, we can do hard things. We just have to start by looking in the mirror.

Paul Standal, St. Paul

As Minneapolis Public Schools tackles enrollment imbalances across the city, it faces a significant missed opportunity ("How to rightsize Mpls. schools?" front page, April 3). The school district can retain more students while better supporting Spanish-speaking newcomers by expanding the Spanish dual-language (formerly Spanish immersion) program.

The district has a committed group of families who choose MPS because of its Spanish dual-language program, which is currently in three of the district's 43 elementary buildings, a portion of one middle school and one high school. There are long waitlists for pre-K and kindergarten and over 20 bilingual day cares in our city. The dual-language program at all grade levels is at or over capacity, which means there is no room for the almost 600 Spanish-speaking newcomer students who arrived in the U.S. this school year to benefit from the culturally sustaining practices of dual language, which also boost academic performance. As noted in the April 3 article, north Minneapolis schools are particularly affected by low enrollment. Many families who don't find coveted spots in MPS dual language opt to drive to Richfield, Edina or Robbinsdale for a bilingual education, rather than attending their MPS neighborhood elementary school.

We urge MPS leadership to consider the data and trends that support the massive potential for dual-language program expansion to allow it to grow to meet the growing demand across the city.

This letter was signed by the Colectiva Bilingüe board of directors and parents, including Tamara Caban-Ramirez, Molly Dengler, Ellen Enebo, Nicole Falk, Loring Harrop, Robyn Eliason, Jose Agustin Mejia Camacho and Jane Tierney, who have students in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

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Consider this. The public schools in north Minneapolis have excess capacity in their school buildings. The families of north Minneapolis desperately need pre-K (and high-quality day care). Sure seems like a match made in heaven.

Jack Kohler, Plymouth

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I am a proud member of Education Minnesota and have taught in rural Minnesota for 27 years. I am also a member of our local negotiating team. But I disagree with Education Minnesota pushing for class sizes to be a required negotiating item ("Bill adds teachers union leverage," April 8). This is an area fraught with potential problems, especially for those of us outstate. We already have a hard time filling all our teaching slots, and putting hard and fast numbers on class sizes makes it inevitable that we'll fall short of being able to provide quality educators for all our kids.

My largest class ever was 32, a pleasant group of seniors who caused few problems. This year, I have a class of 14 eighth-graders who cause some distress. Class size matters, but it's not an absolute for success. Forcing us to negotiate that is another example of the metro teachers, who have a very different environment for teaching, being heard without the rest of us even being asked.

Mark Domeier, Ellendale, Minn.

We all agree that students and staff have the right to be safe at school. As chair of the Hopkins school board, a school district represented by Rep. Dean Phillips, I am deeply concerned by his recent call to put an armed guard in every school in America. Study after study has shown that the presence of police or armed guards in schools does not deter school shooters. In fact, it's been proven that in tragic situations where shooters are trying to achieve their own death, they seek out schools where someone with a gun is present. Research also shows that putting more police in schools exacerbates the school-to-prison pipeline, disproportionally criminalizing students of color, low-income students, students who access special services and LGBTQ students. Further, a study by the Giffords Law Center cites over 100 publicly reported incidents of mishandled guns in schools, leading to dangerous situations for students and staff.

Instead of fighting violence with violence, I urge our congressman to follow the research and engage with students, educators and educational leaders about more effective solutions. He would hear ideas like more funding for the implementation of restorative practices, community schools, mental health support, practical building-safety measures and increased pay for our educators and staff who do the essential work every day of building strong relationships with students. More guns in our schools will not make us safer.

Jen Westmoreland, Hopkins

The writer is chair of the Hopkins school board.

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The proposed red-flag legislation (HF 15) is concerning as it has the potential to increase discrimination and racial profiling by law enforcement. It's worrying that departments with a track record of discrimination and bias are being given more tools to attack already marginalized groups. The criteria used in the proposed legislation are vague, subjective and likely to be abused, leading to unequal application of the law.

Fortunately, Minnesota already has a civil-commitment law that requires medical professionals to assess at-risk individuals before stripping them of their civil rights. This process can be used to prevent imminent violent threats without giving those who aren't medical professionals the power to discriminate or further violate due process. Rather than creating new legislation, we should use the current laws and focus on actual violent criminals while leaving law-abiding gun owners alone.

Marc Ohmann, Finland, Minn.

I was alarmed when I read U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar's commentary in the April 10 edition until I checked some of her numbers ("Minnesota child tax credit proposal should be a national model," Opinion Exchange). I will leave many of her facts and figures for others to verify.

She claims that 2.5 million Minnesota families will benefit from a $1,000-per-child tax credit. The Minnesota State Demographics Center states there were 2.275 million households in Minnesota in 2021. Not every household has children, but those that do are way less than 2.5 million.

She also states that the tax credit is for families earning less than $50,000 per year. The Census Bureau (2021) states that the median household income in Minnesota is $77,706. Significantly less than half of Minnesota households earn less than $50,000 — way less than 2.5 million. She also states the cost is $3.9 billion, which means 3.9 million children. There are not that many children in Minnesota in families earning under $50,000.

I don't know the actual number of children or families who will benefit from the proposal (nor does Rep. Omar), but it is more helpful to have real numbers on which to base a decision on than what she wrote. There will be many discussions by many people going forward using her facts and figures, which just muddies the waters for all.

Dale Walker, Chaska