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St Paul School Board Sprint Race

by: Grace Kelly

Thu Jun 11, 2009 at 22:35:37 PM CDT

St Paul is adding a special two year election for school board, since Tom Conlon is stepping down. On June 25, the DFL will endorse an additional school board candidate for this additional election. So far, there are six candidates and probably more coming. Based on two minute speeches from tonight's planning meeting, I will give you brief notes. A standard questionnaire will be sent out to each candidate.

The important backdrop to the St Paul school board race will be the recent exit of Meria Joel Carstarphen, who was superintendent. Meria was hired as a white knight savior superintendent, with many financial benefits. While St Paul exceeds in offering parents many diverse school options, Superintendent Carstarphen was trying to do a one solution fits all standardization. She also just used the St Paul superintendent job as a stepping stone. So many voters are concerned that school board not buy into a second superintendent like Carstarphen.

Grace Kelly :: St Paul School Board Sprint Race

Louise Toscano Seeba - "Teaching our kids to be citizens"

Louise is an assistant St Paul attorney working in civil rights. She speaks of identifying failures/successes and of strongly supporting teachers as professionals. While she speaks of superintendent as not a stepping stone, she still seems to buy into solving problems through getting a white knight superintendent. She is the only person who provided a handout.

Brian Joyce - "Education is the Foundation"

Brian is a long time political activist and a board member of "Support Our Schools".

Meg Luger-Nikolai - "Our Teachers are our Most Important Resource"

Meg is a labor lawyer. She believes in early childhood education and the importance of after school activities.

Al Oertwig - "Experience + Innovation = Bold Leadership"

Al is a experienced previous school board member, who has advocated for education at the state level and the national level. He said that the superintendent should not be the superhero, the school board should be the superhero. Al advocates for better partnerships with parents and the community. He believe that early childhood education is important. Al wants special programs to close the gap.

Valley Varro

Valley is an education policy director. She wants leadership in a superintendent. She wants to solve the $25 million dollar deficit. She wants a change in large scale systems. She believes we can leverage local and national partnerships.

JoAnne Ellis (not attending)

Tags: local elections, Meria Carstarphen, St Paul, school board, Louise Toscano Seeba, Brian Joyce, Meg Lugor, Al Oertwig, Valley Varro, JoAnne Ellis, (All Tags)

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St Paul School Board Sprint Race | 3 comments

The biggest issue the board should have an answer for is restructuring (0.00 / 0)

2 major schools being restructured this year with more next year.

Restructuring is a huge, huge disruption to all people involved, especially the students. Restructuring is necessary, but right now it is being done in a superficial manner. Tell a bunch of teachers they are no longer wanted at the school, based on secret and seemingly arbitrary criteria. Here is what I would ask the school board candidates:(Full disclosure, my school was restructured but I was asked to stay)

You have a school that high school that is almost completely segregated by poverty, with 90% of students on free or reduced lunch. How do you plan on dealing with this concentration of high needs kids?

You have a high school almost completely segregated in that there are only 5% white kids. Is this segregation acceptable to you?

If your plan to "fix" schools is to get rid of teachers, which is the current plan, how do you plan on identifying, attracting and keeping good teachers at schools that are extremely challenging and not the first choices for many teachers?

You have a 49% mobility rate at some schools while you have a 6% rate at others. Do you think this is just a statistical anomaly, or a structural deficit in the way the district is organized?

How are you going to identify teachers, in a transparent way, that you deem not qualified to remain at a school? Right now some teachers being told to leave have never, ever had a bad review.

If you believe getting better teachers is the solution, then just getting rid of those you deem "bad" is only half the solution. It would be like excising a cancer only to leave the patient on the operating table.

Restructuring is a HUGE issue in our schools and for our students. When some schools have really poor math/reading scores, then some major intervention is necessary. Can we please do it the right way though, and not in just some superficial way that looks like we are taking a strong stand?

by: Alec @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 05:14:46 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Good points (0.00 / 0)

I have not been following as closely since my children graduated. I would like to actually cover the school board and the meetings. However, we are all volunteers here so the limited time is an issue. Some people cannot cover events closely related to work. These are good points to post here and to ask delegates to pursue.

by: Grace Kelly @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 08:33:01 AM CDT

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