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.
"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 from out of state could receive transgender surgical procedures and hormone prescriptions.
"His ideas on allowing children or encouraging children from other states to come for transgender surgery or therapy, it just breaks my heart," Friesen said of the order. "It rips parents' authority away. And I don't believe that's God's design. God gave children to parents, not to the government."
"Neither one of them are ready to lead a nation. Neither one. They don't have the experience. They don't have the wherewithal to fight for people who are here. And I think they have some distorted views on how to move forward. That would not better our state, nor our nation," she said. "So that's of concern."
Before entering the political scene, Walz worked as a high school teacher in Minnesota.
One of Walz's former students, who asked to remain anonymous, told Fox News Digital that he was a "very belittling teacher."
"He yelled at students constantly. He would treat conservative students poorly and he would one side his teaching. If you were liberal he liked you, and if you were conservative he treated you like garbage. He was not a kind person. I nicknamed him "Hitler" because he was so strict and was constantly yelling at kids down the halls," the former student told Fox.
"Not to mention he was a traitor and left his crew behind during war. There is nothing honorable about that!"
