Be Aware of Interviews This Week of Candidates for Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools

During this work week beginning Monday, 16 November, the members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education will be conducting interviews at this advanced stage in their process for selection of the new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS).


There are six candidates: Interim Superintendent Michael Goar has served in his position since taking over for Bernadeia Johnson last January. I went on record right away in making his case, asserting that most candidates have education establishment backgrounds and will typically be gone in 3-5 years anyway, so why go through all of the hullabaloo when Goar seems quite capable and willing to listen to good ideas. He has moved the process forward for improvements at the High Priority Schools and achieved the monumental success of reducing the central building bureaucracy of MPS from 651 to 531, a reduction of 120 positions that amount to a greater than 18% staff diminution. He has not continued to advance the development of Focused Instruction, so this is a disappointment that I will persist in rectifying, encouraging Goar and other decision-makers at MPS fully to develop Focused Instruction so as to establish a knowledge-intensive curriculum, well-defined grade by grade, accompanied by the necessary retraining of teachers.


Now that we have the hullabaloo that I sought to avoid, there are five other candidates:


The other candidates for Superintendent of MPS are Jinger Gustafson (Associate Superintendent, Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota), Charles Foust, (Assistant Superintendent, Houston [Texas] School District), Sergio Paez (a former superintendent in Holyoke, Massachusetts), Kenneth Spells (superintendent in Alton, Illinois), and Jesse Rodriguez (Regional Superintendent, Milwaukee Public Schools. Thus, Goar and Gustafson are the only two candidates working in Minnesota.


I'll be observing and listening carefully today and will hold off in making a final recommendation until all of the candidates have a chance to make their cases.


But, working under Bernadeia Johnson as he did, having achieved the great success in central staff reductions, understanding the importance of improvements at the High Priority Schools, and demonstrating a willingness to listen on matters of curriculum and teacher training---   make Michael Goar by far the perceptibly strongest candidate as the process for final selection begins.


Members of the MPS Board of Education will be interviewing the six candidates today and tomorrow (Monday, 16 November 2015, and Tuesday, 17 November 2015) and are scheduled to narrow the list to finalists on Wednesday, 18 November 2015.


Look for articles on my blog this week, particularly my own recommendation after listening to the interviews and considering which of the finalists is best positioned to give the students and families of the Minneapolis Public Schools the education of excellence that I have detailed many times.