On Oct. 16, an article was published by Alpha News about how failing test scores and student altercations are leading Hopkins toward a downward spiral.

Alpha News was founded back in 2015. Private investors and ad revenue fund the smaller news outlet. The group tries to focus on stories that many mainstream media fail to cover, as said in their mission statement. 

Alpha News has written about HHS on multiple separate occasions. Articles dating back to 2020 have covered the school and its administration, mostly targeting the district.

Sheila Qualls, journalist, and husband to Minnesota politician Kendall Qualls, has been covering Hopkins the most recently. She has written two articles on Hopkins over the past three weeks alongside other Alpha News staff who have written some as well. 

The two also host a show called “Fully Charged,” which covers the same story as the article and  includes more opinionated statements about HHS. 

Sheila’s first story was in response to a fight between two HHS students fighting, leaving one unconscious.  

She illustrates how parents have become worried about the future of the district. Interviews from current and former HHS parents all had negative outlooks on the education system at Hopkins.

“She [Mhiripiri-Reed] doesn’t understand that the money follows the student. So we moved and we’re having a great experience. The school is going to continue to suffer under her regime.” said an anonymous HHS parent in the Alpha News Article. 

 After reaching out to members at the Hopkins District Office, they were unable to give any additional information on the stories.

Although she continuously made remarks dissing the school and its student body, she does cover some very prevalent issues at our school.

To begin, enrollment at HHS has been a big issue. Over the past year, Hopkins has lost 1,800 kids in our district who have decided to enroll at different schools, with 1,100 of those students going to Minnetonka. However, to begin this year, we have been meeting our enrollment predictions.

Hopkins and Minnetonka get involved in many comparisons due to their close proximity. Sun Sailor, another news outlet, just wrote an article called, “Minnetonka, Don’t Make Hopkins’ Mistake.”

Like the Alpha News story, racist remarks were present throughout the article. Stacy Cranbrook, author, blames our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program for the recent academic downfall at our school.

These news stations aren’t being subtle about their comments either. 

“When you take fathers out of the home, suspend discipline of black kids in school and villainize the police it’s a recipe for disaster,” Kendall said. 

They are only a part of the problem. The comment section below the article is brimming with hateful and racist remarks by even more anonymous users.

The false narratives started by these articles are causing strong opinions among people who have no idea what the district is actually doing to strengthen its education model.