EXCLUSIVE:A local private school superintendent believes Gov. Tim Walz's policies have had a “negative impact” on education in Minnesota, suggesting he “broke the trust” of 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 betrayed the trust in rural Minnesota because of education because he hasn't listened or visited the place or been there.”
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.
“Most of Gov. Waltz's thinking was all metropolitan-based. He didn't take into account some of the unique issues we face in rural Minnesota, for example, connectivity,” Friesen said of the state's COVID-19 rules. “It's been a little difficult to see the negative impact that's taken place under Gov. Waltz's leadership.”
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Minnesota school administrator Kim Friesen spoke to Fox News Digital about education in the state. (Fox News Digital)
Friesen said rural families faced obstacles to online learning requirements during the pandemic, such as not having internet access.
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“Rural Minnesota suffered greatly during that time,” he added. “I don't think he cared about all of his people. He cared about the center of our state. North, south, rural areas, east and west, we didn't get his attention, and we deserved it.”
Friesen also said he doesn't think Walz seems to want to connect with rural Minnesotans.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, Aug. 9, 2024. (Robyn Beck)
“I think some of the things he's said are more self-centered than people-centered. And I need a vice president who's focused on us,” she said. “He's got to know his people better. And if he's not willing to do that in one state, how can he do that for the nation?”
Asked about a potential Harris-Walz administration, Friesen said policies enacted in Minnesota could be reflected nationally, such as on social issues and illegal immigration.
Walz signed an order making Minnesota a “transgender haven state,” where minors from other states could receive transgender surgical procedures and hormone prescriptions.
“Their ideas about allowing children or encouraging children from other states to come to have transgender surgeries or therapies breaks my heart,” Friesen said of the order. “It takes away authority from parents. And I don't believe that's God's design. God gave children to parents, not to the government.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have come under fire on social media for sharing an “embarrassing” video of themselves interviewing each other. (RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
“Neither of them are prepared to lead a nation. Neither of them. They don't have the experience or the wherewithal to fight for the people who are here. And I think they have some distorted views on how to move forward. That would not improve our state or our nation,” he said. “So that's concerning.”
Before entering the political scene, Walz worked as a high school teacher in Minnesota.
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One of Walz's former students, who asked to remain anonymous, told Fox News Digital that he was a “very dismissive professor.”
“He would constantly yell at students. He would treat conservative students poorly and disregard his teaching. If you were liberal he liked you, and if you were conservative he treated you like dirt. He was not a nice person. I nicknamed him 'Hitler' because he was so strict and he was constantly yelling at kids in the hallways,” the former student told Fox.
“Not to mention he was a traitor and abandoned his crew during the war. There's nothing honorable about that!”
