Update: Valerie Silva, Charles Hopson, Deborah Henton are the finalists! The St Paul School board had many positive comments about each candidate, however it was an easy almost unanimous consensus. Public interview times are Valerie Silva - Wed at 5 PM, Charles Hopson - Mon at 5 PM, and Deborah Henton - Thurs at 5 PM.
The legacy of previous Superintendent Maria Carstarphen haunts these superintendent interviews, at least for me. One wants a superintendent who speak eloquently before a board, a legislature or a community gathering. That is well tested by this interview process. However, a St Paul superintendent has to be both a leader and a manager, in large urban school system known for its diversity. Since I took my children through these schools, I can assure you that there is a huge culture change, including management, from school to school. Superintendent Maria Carstarphen actually tried to "standardize" this diversity. I moved here to St Paul because of high quality and diverse public school options. I settled on A+ arts model school, Linwood, where I was a very active parent. In the reign of Carstarphen, Linwood was "merged" with another school, instead of letting the successful popular Linwood school continue intact.
So my questions are : Are these interviews, just a simple great theater performance like Maria Carstarphen's great interviews were, or is there really substance and performance behind these interviews? Do these candidates have the ability to switch modes and adjust to a wide variety of management cultures and needs? Or are these one-hammer-fits-all-needs managers? I don't know that I have the time to find the answers directly. I will find what indirect answers that I can find.
Three of the 6 St Paul superintendent interviews were tonight. The St Paul school board is finally listening to the community preferring local candidates.
Ms Nancy Stachel: Current St Paul staff promoted by the previously unfit and unpopular superintendent should be explaining how her or his leadership would be different than that previous superintendent. I have no problem that Ms Stachel does not have a doctorate. I do have a problem in that she seems to be a controlling type. She admitted she had problems working in community meetings, where the community felt unhappy afterward. No mention of successful money recruiting, or legislative persuasion. Her management style sounded like a top-down top-heavy style, where she was "pulling together" support for the teachers, and "pulling together" review. She calls herself intense. I like that she cited turning around Como school, if that was true and done without extra resources.
Mr Mark Bezek:This gentleman has way too much small talk, including suggesting that a "goalie grudge" was instrumental in his decision to go for St Paul superintendent. This gentleman made it his mission to read a list of words to drop: respect, accountability, leadership, pride, faith, trust, integrity, positive attitude, dream within boundaries, kindness, understanding, hope and passion. He had the list on a notecard. He apparently gave plastic protocol cards to his last school board. I wonder if he has the cliff notes to being a superintendent. I was impressed about his description of running many community meetings to get referendum passage and his "fish and wildlife" model funded school. He likes to stay as "visible" as possible. We are supposed to ask him why he required parental permission slips to hear Obama's speech.
Dr Stan Mack: Dr Mack seemed like a nice person in way over his head in St Paul complexity, with frequent mentions of "read the manual". He did secure funds for his area and talk the legislature into automatically bonding for replaced a mold-destroyed school. He has allies in legislation, because he makes sure that no one knows when he disagrees. Why would I trust anyone who says that? He says that he learned from fighting the "right to lie" group in a referendum, how to be more proactive in telling the truth.
I hope that tomorrow is better. Maybe I am just very tired and cranky, and all the candidates will look better in the morning.
In a special election to fill a resigned school board seat, Vallay Varro with a very active campaign won easily.
The interesting election was the school board race because the St. Paul Federation of Teachers endorsed for Jean O'Connell, who did not even seek DFL endorsement. So the DFL endorsed three generally liked candidates: Elona Street-Stewart, and Tom Goldstein, who the St. Paul Federation of Teachers did not endorse. The St. Paul Federation of Teachers and generally everyone had issues with the last school superintendent choice and the incredibly slow start to this superintendent search, including conflict over choosing an internal St Paul style superintendent.
It became obvious that Jean O'Connell was well liked and had a great campaign. Therefore she was going to get a seat. Then it became a race between the DFL endorsed candidates who generally run cooperative campaigns. It was a case of who could campaign the best.
In the school board race, the top three vote getters will become school board members. There is only an 82 vote difference between second and third place and 394 vote difference between third and fourth place. In fourth place, a generally well liked incumbent Tom Goldstein lost, which is probably a case for the record books.
There is a push in St Paul for a local search based on local candidates without the costs of high powered search team. I am part of that push. The last St Paul superintendent, Meria Carstarphen, was the result of an expensive national search with an expensive salary. It was a trophy white knight candidate who failed. In addition to disrupting what already was working, she only lasted three years. We knew in March that Meria Carstarphen was leaving, yet the school board is only now taking input on what to look for?
Saint Paul Public Schools seeking input on next permanent superintendent Saint Paul, Minn. - What are the most important qualities for the next permanent superintendent of the capitol city's public school district? Now is your chance let Saint Paul Public Schools know your list of priorities at a Public Input Session. The District is developing the profile of leadership qualities for the next permanent superintendent and is inviting families, students, staff and other community members to share feedback about what is most important to them. It is the District's expectation that the next permanent SPPS superintendent will be named by the end of the calendar year. What: Superintendent Search public input session When: Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. Where: Rondo Education Center - Red Atrium 560 Concordia Ave. St. Paul, MN 55103
(from email).
As if we have not told them : local, St Paul style, inexpensive, competent. The next superintendent has to hold quality in the face of ongoing cuts, not take on new expensive dream programs.
So how long should it take to fill a superintendent's position? In 1984, the superintendent resigned and a new superintendent made the opening address for the beginning of the fall school term. In 1991, the superintendent resigned and a superintendent was hired by summer. In 1998, the board originally planned on one month, but took longer. The hiring in 2005-6 was the longest so far. This time, it has taken 6 months and we do not even have search criteria yet.
Is the board deliberately delaying to avoid making the local candidate/local search folks mad during election time because they will ignore them - again? Hmmmm. In politics, one always has the option for putting a major critic, like myself, in charge of finding great candidates under the criteria of local candidates suitable to a St Paul cooperative style. I would be willing to put up or shut up.
Does it matter that we have temporary superintendent administration, without leadership making decisions? Apparently, the people working in the schools think it is real bad. The three incumbents have NOT been endorsed by the local teachers union, Saint Paul Federation of Teachers and by the local workers union, AFSCME. Labor withholding endorsement form DFL endorsed candidates is huge, no one seems to recall when it happened before. However, the newest DFL school board candidate Vallay Varro has the endorsement of both the teachers union and labor. So this superintendent search is a simmering pot in politics, for three different people urged me to write this story. To stop the simmering pot from going to a boil, I think the current school board needs to implement a local search now. If no local candidate is acceptable (high burden of proof), then a national search could be instituted. Act now folks!
Vallay Varro is pictured here holding the microphone. She won unanimous endorsement after two votes. Vallay came in with the most big name support, and with the most initial supporters who showed up. She had 110 supporters on facebook, apparently 98 of them showed up for the convention. As the early leader, she attracted more votes. There were only two ballots and then the convention moved to unanimous endorsement. The first round was Bran Joyce 23 - 12%, Meg Lugar-Nikolai 15 - 5%, Al Oertwig 65 - 25%, Louise Seeba 44 - 16%, Vallay Varro 98 - 31%, no endorsement 5 - 2%, spoiled ballots not counted - 5. Then Meg Lugar-Nickolai dropped out. Brian Joyce dropped out, supporting Vallay. In the second round, Al Oertwig 66 - 25.1%, Louise Seeba 44 - 16% and 2%. So 263 very loyal people came on a very hot day to make an endorsement happen. It was a clearly a case of activating supporters.
I was surprised because compared to all of the other candidates, I did not sense political activity in the Varro campaign. I did not get a call, see an email, see her comments on St Paul Issues Forum, on Facebook or here. Except in one area, Vallay did have more signs and cute little kids in tshirts. Vallay was a good speaker, although the speeches were light on actual details. However the political action was done well, however it happened, for Vallay won the endorsement in an easy two votes. So Kudos for Vallay.
Thursday night, the St Paul DFL will be endorsing for a school board candidate to fill out the short term of a recent school board resignation by Tom Conlon. For me, the most important criteria for my vote is what criteria the school board candidates will use for picking the next superintendent. St Paul needs a locally developed moderate-salaried great administrator who understands that the diversity of St Paul school options is a strength. Instead the St Paul School Board has a bad case of seeking a "white knight" non-local excessively-paid superintendent. The St Paul School Board has been sold on an expensive national search, an expensive candidate and an expensive "new approach". In a few years, it all falls apart with rancor and the expensive candidate goes on to a bigger better job, leaving a mess behind. The latest version of this story is Meria Carstarphen, named the superintendent of the St. Paul schools on March 28, 2006!
St. Paul school board chooses Washington, D.C. administrator as superintendent
March 29, 2006
The St. Paul school district has a new superintendent. In a unanimous vote, the Board of Education chose Meria Carstarphen, the chief accountability officer for the Washington, D.C., public schools. ......
"Meria is clearly a rising star. She's grown professionally under some of the best superintendents and administrators in the country. She's in a powerful and influential position doing excellent work in a politically-charged environment. St. Paul is a natural next step for her," Street-Stewart says.
Al Oertwig, the senior member of the board, said the selection was difficult because all of the candidates were so qualified. He said it was Carstarphen's history of helping students succeed that swayed him.
"She talked about going to Appalachia and going to a school where all of the students were expected to be failures. And in her class all of the students but one of the students passed the test, where no one was supposed to," said Oertwig. "That is somebody who knows how to make school improvement work and that's, frankly, exactly what we need in this district." ....
"She's got clear talent. She's got inspirational and strategic leadership abilities. We have a referendum this summer and I think she's going to help us gather the community around that for the future of our kids," says Carroll.
Hello, Thanks to MPP for providing another way for St. Paul School Board candidates to reach out to DFL delegates and St. Paul residents.
I'll be seeking the DFL endorsement this coming Thursday, and I hope that delegates will support me as a candidate. I am running for school board because I am a parent and a District resident. As a graduate of Minnesota's public schools, it is so important to me that my son have a great and productive public education.
I am also running to put a spotlight on Early Childhood and Family Education programm, which is an important way to address the student achievement gap. Getting our kids on track to be learners as early as possible is necessary to ensure that they hit the ground running in kindergarten.
In a similar vein, ECFE programming may be one way to identify students with special learning needs early, so that the District can make necessary behavioral interventions before a child is "hard wired" to learn a particular way. In this area, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the District may be able to avoid some of the more costly interventions that are necessary as a child grows older.
Finally, I am also running because I believe the District can tap into partnerships with colleges and nonprofits in our community to expand co-curricular programming. Examples include the Public Achievement project undertaken by Harry Boyte at the University of Minnesota and the Urban Debate League, which is sponsored by Augsburg college.
I am always hoping to hear from delegates about the issues that are important to them- please feel free to contact me at meg@lugernikolai.com.
Thanks for reading and please support me on June 25!
www.lugernikolai.org
DFL Special Endorsing Convention
6:30 p.m.
St. Paul Johnson High School
1349 Arcade Steet
St. Paul MN
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.
Today the Supreme Court ruled that Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) or ranked voting does not violate the constitutional principal of one-person, one-vote. While Minneapolis voters already have approved instant runoff voting, the petition for a St Paul ballot was held up by St Paul City Attorney John Choi's warning that IRV might not have the state constitutional support, based on a 1915 ruling where the Minnesota Supreme Court struck down another alternative voting system used in Duluth. John Choi said that this recent supreme court ruling satisfies his legal concerns.
I spoke with Melvin Carter, St Paul city council person who will be putting forth the IRV on the ballot resolution, along with my esteemed city council person, Russ Stark. Melvin is a long time supporter of "Every vote counts", the mantra of instant runoff voting.
That would mean that IRV would be on this year's St Paul November 9 ballot of mayor and school board elections, a very low turnout race. In the mayor's race, Chris Coleman is expected to have an easy win, along with Elona Street-Stewart, John Broderick and Tom Goldstein. However one more school board position just opened up, from a note on facebook from Darren Tobolt, Chair of the Saint Paul DFL:
Tom Conlon has announced that he will resign his seat on the Saint Paul Board of Education. There will be a special election to fill his seat for the last two years of his term. The special election will be on the same ballot as the regularly scheduled election this year.
The Saint Paul DFL Executive Committee has recommended to call the Delegates and Alternates of the 2009 Saint Paul DFL convention to a special endorsing meeting to be held on the evening of Thursday, June 25 at 6pm (Location to be determined).
Al Oertwig would definitely have a good chance if he wants to run. However, this is a wide open opportunity for someone who gets their supporters out.
So with the St Paul low turnout race, I expect this new school board candidate will have huge impact on the IRV vote and visa versa!
Chris Coleman was endorsed for mayor, without any challengers. In the proposed rules, the question period was supposed to be dropped if there are no challengers. The Coleman campaign staff decided to proactively advocate for the question period. This was a good political move because I was personally campaigning for a question period. Politically it is always better to discuss issues and concerns rather than trying to bottle them up.
The first question that Coleman answered was a combined question, starting with "What would you did differently if you did the Republican National Convention (RNC) again?". Chris Coleman's answer was along the lines that he will be discussing and making changes based on the U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger/U.S. Attorney Andy Luger commission recommendations. St Paul people most wanted to hear an acknowledgment that many police actions were not the St Paul way, and Chris Coleman did say that. This is a change from the previous position that everything went well, with only a few minor problems. Also, Chris Coleman said that what we learn will be applied to other cities who will be taking on the Republican National Convention. While this was not a strong commitment, it implies that St Paul will not be taking on the Republican National Convention again, which has near universal support among the St Paul folks.
In a special election to fill a resigned school board seat, Vallay Varro with a very active campaign won easily.
Vallay Varro is pictured here holding the microphone. She won unanimous endorsement after two votes. Vallay came in with the most big name support, and with the most initial supporters who showed up. She had 110 supporters on facebook, apparently 98 of them showed up for the convention. As the early leader, she attracted more votes. There were only two ballots and then the convention moved to unanimous endorsement. The first round was Bran Joyce 23 - 12%, Meg Lugar-Nikolai 15 - 5%, Al Oertwig 65 - 25%, Louise Seeba 44 - 16%, Vallay Varro 98 - 31%, no endorsement 5 - 2%, spoiled ballots not counted - 5. Then Meg Lugar-Nickolai dropped out. Brian Joyce dropped out, supporting Vallay. In the second round, Al Oertwig 66 - 25.1%, Louise Seeba 44 - 16% and 2%. So 263 very loyal people came on a very hot day to make an endorsement happen. It was a clearly a case of activating supporters.
