Very Strong Recommendation for Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools >>>>> Brenda Cassellius Has the Intellect, Knowledge, and Empathic Sensibility to be a Transformative Leader

Brenda Cassellius, more than any fellow educator I have met in a very long while, has the empathic sensibility to understand the thematic relevance of this poem (“Prejudice,” by Harlem Renaissance literary exemplar Georgia Douglas Johnson) to students and families who have been historically underserved:


These fell miasmic rings of mist, with ghoulish menace bound,
Like noose-horizons tightening my little world around.
They still the soaring will to wing, to dance, to speed away,
And fling the soul insurgent back into its shell of clay.
Beneath incrusted silences, a seething Etna lies,
The fire of whose furnaces may sleep but never dies.


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At a Community Reception event on Monday, 16 May, I asked Cassellius very tough questions regarding her policies as Minnesota Commissioner of Education to which I have objected: waiver from No Child Left Behind stipulations; initiation of a Multiple Measurement Rating system for assessing school effectiveness across all student demographic descriptors (replacing dominant reliance on results of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments [MCAs]); elimination of high school graduation requirements; and a seeming willingness to do the bidding of teachers unions (Education Minnesota and Minneapolis Federation of Teachers), entities with which she would now have to enter into contentious negotiations in the best interest of students and their families.


When answering those questions, Commissioner Cassellius looked me straight in the eyes and gave responses that were not rejoinders or disputations but reasoned explanations for her policies.


I am very hard to convince.  I have firm principles and have written voluminously as to policies that should flow from those principles.


Remarkably, Brenda Cassellius’s responses to those queries moved me not one whit from my objection to the indicated state-level policies but strongly suggested that she and I share numerous principles that when applied to policy at the central school district level (Minneapolis Public Schools [MPS]) could have a transformative impact on the academic and therefore life prospects for historically underserved populations.


Cassellius and I continued our exchange of ideas in the aftermath of that Community Reception, and in subsequent cell phone conversations. The Commissioner publicly gives out her cell phone number and vows always to get back to anyone who calls. She got back to me within ten minutes of my two calls to her, and we also have shared text messages. She is amazingly responsive and accessible, especially given the fact that she occupies the top administrative position for education in the State of Minnesota and at this particular juncture is heavily involved in policies under discussion as the Minnesota Legislature winds down its Spring 2016 session.


During our first cell phone conversation, I was faced with the amazing situation of having to tell the Commissioner that I just had to interrupt our discussion (at that point 25 minutes in duration) to go run the New Salem Tuesday Tutoring Program as part of my seven-day-a-week New Salem Educational Initiative. She was that enthusiastic about discussing students and their families, and the educational policies and programs for implementation at the Minneapolis Public Schools that would have life-transformative impact. She even discussed the specific situation of a student athlete at Edison High School who could benefit from my academic assistance.


On issue after issue, Cassellius and I agreed on principles, including those flowing from my key emphases:


>>>>>    knowledge-intensive (she tends to say “content”-focused) curriculum;


 >>>>>   teachers trained (she would say “supported”) to deliver such a curriculum;


>>>>>    more aggressive, better articulated and coordinated tutoring program for students who are academically lagging below grade level;  and

>>>>>    much more vigorous outreach to families facing challenges of poverty or dysfunction.

Cassellius and I also agree that we need to do much more to ensure that students of all demographic descriptors are properly prepared to take International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses, and to achieve scores in the mid-20s and above on the ACT.


And we agree that the bureaucracy at the Minneapolis Public Schools needs to be greatly trimmed:


Cassellius said in her public interview with members of the school board on Tuesday, 17 May, that she expects principals at all schools to report directly to her. This was in the context of a question about the (six) Associate Superintendents of MPS and suggested that there could be paring of those positions in the offing.


My ongoing investigation of the central bureaucracy at 1250 West Broadway impels me to appreciate this inclination of Cassellius to move the focus of responsibility to building principals at the site level, a move entirely consistent with a stated theme of MPS Strategic Plan 2020 to make the school the unit of change. Redesign of school oversight would have favorable budgetary implications in a district currently bearing a deficit of $17 million, and in which Associate Superintendents command $141,500 apiece. With a referendum looming next November, officials at MPS need to demonstrate that they are going to be better stewards of public funds.


Brenda Cassellius does not pander or merely tell people what they want to hear. She clearly told me that she does not like the way Focused Instruction is designed. In expressing her objections, the Commissioner knew that I have consistently expressed enthusiasm for this program originating in the Bernadeia Johnson administration: I regard Focused Instruction as a potential conduit for a knowledge-intensive education such as articulated by E. D. Hirsch of the Core Knowledge Foundation.


Very important to me, though, is that of the eight candidates who have now been considered in the two phases of the MPS Superintendent search, only she has manifested full understanding of Core Knowledge. Only one of the other candidates (Jinger Gustafson, a first-phase semifinalist) had ever heard of the Hirsch approach. Cassellius is favorable to the content-focused implications of Core Knowledge.


I appreciate both Cassellius’s candor on the Focused Instruction question, even as I am struck by another area of agreement on principle, this entailing the conviction that we must send our students across the stage at graduation to receive a diploma that signifies that they will go forth as people of broad and deep knowledge, prepared according to the purposes of K-12 education for lives of cultural enrichment, civic preparation, and professional satisfaction.


.......................... 


Every time I converse with Brenda Cassellius, we connect over the most vital concerns of students and their families, particularly those who have been historically underserved or who struggle with issues of poverty or familial dysfunction.


I have taught children of the very poor for over forty years.


This is my life.


I work at least 16 hours most days in an all-out effort to raise the academic and therefore life prospects of children and families whom history has treated unkindly, a circumstance that we must rectify in the Second Stage of the Civil Rights Movement, in which better public education must be central.


Brenda Cassellius feels this mission in her gut more than any other person I have met in a long, long time.  You cannot fool me on this one. I know--- on spoken lines, in between those lines, in vocal cadences, in sincerity of expression, in temporal dedication to the mission:


You cannot fool me on this one.


Brenda Cassellius grew up in the context of a straitened familial economy. She has taken to the streets to sell flowers to meet the exigencies of such an economic condition. She has felt the sting of setback and has met her challenges with courage, perseverance, and triumph. She wants to see others triumph as a matter of social justice and because this is the role that she feels called to assume.


Those who work for economic and social justice cannot do so effectively under ordinary expectations of a mere job. They must feel a sense of mission, as did Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglas, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, A. Philip Randolph, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Gloria Steinhem, and Cesar Chavez.


Brenda Cassellius feels this sense of mission.


With her keen intellect, knowledge, and empathic sensibility, Brenda Cassellius can be a transformative Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools. If she does transform schools of MPS to deliver excellent academic performance from students of all demographic descriptors, she will make the Minneapolis Public Schools a model for other locally centralized school districts, which in the avowed local-control context of public education in the United States is where transformative change must happen.


Of the candidates who have come before members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education over the course of the last year, Sergio Paez would be a good superintendent. Charles Foust and now Ed Graff have the potential to be very good.


But Brenda Cassellius has those extraordinarily rare qualities that signal greatness. Her selection as the new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools is a singular opportunity that must not be missed.


For Brenda Cassellius knows that when those seething Etnas emerge from incrusted silences, the fires that burn in all human hearts must be directed away from dangerous urban streets and courses predictive of incarceration:


Those precious young people whose lives are in our hands must be directed instead toward schools where excellent education for human beings of all demographic descriptors honors the “soaring will to wing, to dance, to speed away” toward lives of cultural enrichment, civic preparation, and professional satisfaction.

Major Reconsideration >>>>> Look for My Forthcoming Recommendation for Either Brenda Cassellius or Ed Graff as Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools

On Sunday, 15 May, I posted an article on this blog that reviewed my objections to policies of the Mark Dayton gubernatorial administration and the Minnesota Department of Education under the leadership of Brenda Cassellius, current Education Commissioner for the State of Minnesota.


I still look with disfavor on the successful application of a waiver from No Child Left Behind stipulations;  the termination of graduation requirements that had required students to demonstrate grade level performance on a Grade 9 Writing Exam and a Grade 10 Reading MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment);  the creation of a murky new Multiple Measurement Rating system to replace determination of school effectiveness on the clear basis of student performance on reading and mathematics MCAs at grades 3 through 8;  and policies that seemed to forecast eventual jettisoning of the MCAs in favor of assessments aligned to the ACT college readiness exam and college and university expectations (which rang false, given that teachers had been unsuccessful in preparing students for the much easier MCAs).


But under my close questioning at the community gathering at the Davis Center (central offices of the Minneapolis Public Schools, 1250 West Broadway) on Monday, 16 May, Brenda Cassellius spoke effectively to issues raised by my still-abiding objections.  I came away with an inclination to reconsider my negative evaluation of Cassellius as a candidate for Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools, given that she seems honestly receptive to major changes for which I advocate:


>>>>>  knowledge-intensive curriculum specified grade by grade throughout the K-12 years


>>>>>  teachers retrained to teach knowledge-intensive curriculum


>>>>>  well-articulated and coherent tutoring program for students who lag behind in reading and mathematics


>>>>>  greatly improved outreach to families of students who are struggling in school


In view of my reconsideration of the Cassellius candidacy, I have removed from this blog an article that I recently posted. 


Please look for an article to be posted on this blog in the coming days that gives my recommendation for either Brenda Cassellius or Ed Graff as new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Update >>>>> Please Be Aware of Events Related to the Search for Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools >>>>> Tuesday, 17 May; Monday, 23 May; and Tuesday, 24 May

Please be aware that the opportunity for community members to ask questions of the two finalists (Brenda Cassellius and Ed Graff) for Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) transpired on Monday evening, 16 May, at the Davis Center (central office building), 1250 West Broadway, from 6:00 (actually late-started at 6:40) until 8:00 PM.


The remaining events related to the superintendent search are listed below.  Events on Tuesday, 17 May, are those still given on the website at MPS.  But since the search committee only recommended two candidates (rather than the three originally thought likely) the interview for Candidate C will not occur.  Interview times are likely those given for Candidate A and Candidate B, with a business meeting probably now to occur from 7:45 until 8:15 PM.  I will be attentive to updates and pass these on to my readers as time allows.


>>>>>    Tuesday, 17 May

8:00-12:00 p.m. School Tours
11:00-12:30 p.m. Lunch at Schools
12:30-4:00 p.m. Candidate Personal Time
4:00-4:15 p.m. Board Process Overview by DHR
4:15-5:45 p.m. Candidate A INTERVIEW WITH BOARD (televised and open to the public)


5:45-6:00 p.m. Break
6:00-7:30 p.m. Candidate B INTERVIEW WITH BOARD (televised and open to the public)
7:30-7:45 p.m. Break
7:45-9:15 p.m. Candidate C INTERVIEW WITH BOARD (televised and open to the public)
9:15-9:45 p.m. Board Discussion on site visit




>>>>>      Monday, 23 May


There will be an opportunity to give your view on the two candidates during Public Comment, to take place from 5:30 until 6:30 PM on this day.


>>>>>      Tuesday, 24 May


The Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education will vote on the candidate who shall be the new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Please Be Aware of Important Events Related to the Two Finalists for Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools >>>>> Monday, 16 May; Tuesday, 17 May; Monday, 23 May; and Tuesday, 24 May

My readers should be aware of four looming events related to the finalists for the position of Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools >>>>>


>>>>>      Monday, 16 May


Various opportunities are available throughout the day for people to meet the two finalists (see note on these finalists below), culminating in a Community Reception at the Davis Service Center at 1250 West Broadway from 6:00 until 8:00 PM.


>>>>>      Tuesday, 17 May


Members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education will be interviewing the candidates during a period running from 4:00 PM until 9:15 PM.  Originally, there was an assumption that there might be three finalists, so that Candidate A was to be interviewed during 4:15-5:45 PM;  Candidate B, 6:00-7:30 PM;  and Candidate C, 7:45-9:15 PM.  These are the times still listed on the Minneapolis Public Schools website as I post this article, but I'll be looking for an update.  Logic would suggest that the two finalists will be interviewed during those first two times and that the school board will thereafter hold a brief business meeting that was originally scheduled during 9:15-9:45 PM, now most likely to run from about 7:45 until 8:00 PM---  but I'll be looking for those updates.


>>>>>      Monday, 23 May


There will be an opportunity to give your view on the two candidates during Public Comment, to take place from 5:30 until 6:30 PM on this day.


>>>>>      Tuesday, 24 May


The Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education will vote on the candidate who shall be the new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.