My Counsel to the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education On the Cusp of Your Committee of the Whole Meeting, 26 January 2016

This evening you, members of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education, will take the first step in your efforts to restore your credibility with the public and to regain control of the process by which you will select a new MPS Superintendent.


My counsel is as follows >>>>>


>>>>>  Reflect that you should have never conducted a national search. As detailed in previous articles posted on this blog, the pool of candidates is not great enough, nor the tenure of a superintendent likely to be long enough, to justify all of the energy expended in the search for a new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.


>>>>> Remember and try to convey to the public that once having begun the ill-advised search, you actually did a very careful and classy job this past November 2015 as you winnowed the candidates down to three (Sergio Paez, Michael Goar, and Charles Foust) and interviewed those candidates.


>>>>> Remember that I counseled you to select Charles Foust (for reasons detailed in other articles on this blog) but that you opted for Sergio Paez. Then you began your retrenchment, panicking when the Disability Law Center made allegations that were old news, in a case closed (1 October 2015) by the State of Massachusetts after a two-year investigation and issuance of orders for corrections (ultimately deemed satisfactory) in Holyoke Schools centered on admitted abuses of special education students at Peck School; and when the Hampden County Attorney announced a criminal investigation.


>>>>> Understand that you should have had the spine to stand behind Sergio Paez but voted unanimously not to pursue contract negotiations. You then were seemingly poised to opt for Michael Goar. But NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds and a few other protesters shut your meeting down until you succumbed to their pressure and postponed the discussion on offering Goar a contract. Levy-Pounds and group were right on the matter of Goar not being suitable at this point--- but you looked weak in allowing a small group to take control of your meeting.


>>>>> Now, Goar has taken himself out of consideration and at this Committee of the Whole meeting, you should eschew a national search and signal that you are going to consider with great care the candidacy of Charles Foust and any of many internal and local candidates who could perform suitably. Indicate that you will vote on the candidates within two months.


>>>>> Then individually and collectively develop a philosophy of education . Strongly consider my definitions (given in many articles) for an excellent education, the excellent teacher, and the purposes of K-12 education.


>>>>> Use these definitions to guide you in selection of a superintendent who will move forward in fostering knowledge-intensive education, train the necessary knowledgeable teachers, and implement an aggressive program of knowledge and skill acquisition for every student in the Minneapolis Public Schools--- making full use of the existing programs of Shift, High Priority Schools, and Focused Instruction--- and making every decision on the basis of advancement of this knowledge-intensive education for students of all demographic descriptors.


>>>>>  Remember that your prime responsibility is to ensure the improvement in curriculum and teacher training that will bring academic excellence to the Minneapolis Public Schools--- and holding the Superintendent and all personnel in MPS responsible for advancing knowledge-intensive education and teacher quality.


>>>>>  On this eve of 26 January 2016, you must regain control the process of hiring a new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools and move forward on the basis of an educational philosophy that will eventually send all of our students forward according to the purposes of K-12 education  >>>>>  preparation for student lives of cultural enrichment; civic preparation; and professional satisfaction.


>>>>> Consider that you are a long way from educating students according to such purposes--- but that you can do so if you will follow my precepts for excellence in K-12 education--- which, after all, should be the central aim of everything that you do.