Those Making a Salary of $100,000 or More at the Minneapolis Public Schools Should Now Vow to Earn that Level of Remuneration or Make their Exit--- with a Special Note to Michael Walker, Anna Ross, and Terry Henry

The median income for an individual wage earner in the United States is $31,099.

 

The median household income in the United States is $55,775.

 

Of the 444 staff members currently occupying positions at the Davis Center (central offices of the Minneapolis Public Schools, 1250 West Broadway), almost all earn above the median wage;   staff members totaling 409 earn above that amount.  This means that 92% of all MPS staff members earn an income in excess of the United State median.

 

Even more notable, a majority of MPS staff members also earn above the median household income;  staff members totaling 329 earn above that amount.  This means that 74% of all MPS staff members earn an income in excess of the United States median.

 

And of the staff members working at the Davis Center (central MPS offices, 1250 West Broadway),

257 (58%) earn $70,000 or more, 183 (41%) earn $80,000 or more, 110 (25%) earn $90,000 or more, and 68 (15%) earn $100,000 or more.

 

This must mean that Maggie Sullivan, MPS Chief Human Resources Officer, must be mighty proud of decision-makers who send graduates off to college prepared so abysmally that one-third of them need skill remediation.  She must be happy with academic assessments showing that fewer than 25% of African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Hmong, and Somali students of the Minneapolis Public Schools are reading or performing in mathematics at grade level.

 

Or perhaps assigning these wage allocations is not ultimately within the purview of Sullivan.

 

Perhaps the directive for such salaries comes from MPS Superintendent Ed Graff.

 

Or maybe it is the nine members of the MPS Board of Education who are so proud of the central office staff.

 

Identifying the actual locus of power and decision-making at the Minneapolis Public Schools can be difficult. 

 

At some point, though, we have to have what Confucius called zhengming:  rectification of names.  If the human resources officer would logically appear to bear responsibility for wage decisions, then we must hold her responsible.  With overall responsibility for conveying values and expectations at the Minneapolis Public Schools, Superintendent Ed Graff would also have responsibility for indicating to Sullivan the value attached to certain positions.  Likewise, members of the MPS Board of Education approve hiring and wage decisions, so they must be assessed responsibility, as well.     

 

Now consider the following staff members in key roles for making academic decisions or the remuneration provided for people in such roles:

 

Staff Member                                   Position                                                 Salary

 

Edward J. Graff                 Superintendent of Schools                         $225,000

Suzanne P. Kelly              Chief of Staff                                                   $177,000

Michael Thomas              Chief of Academics & Leadership              $163,761

Cecilia M. Saddler           Deputy Chief of Academics                         $151,980

                                                                & Leadership

Maggie Y. Sullivan          Chief Human Resources Officer                  $147,900
Eric Moore                       Chief of Accountability, Research,              $147,900
                                                                &  Assessment

Ronald V. Wagner           Associate Superintendent                           $144,330

Lucilla Davila                     Associate Superintendent                          $144,330             

Laura L, Cavender            Associate Superintendent                           $144,330             

Carla Steinbach                                Associate Superintendent           $144,330

                    -Huther

Kevin J. Bennett               Principal, Special Assignment                    $139,518

Nilo P. Guanzon               Principal, Special Assignment                    $131,471                                             

Michael Walker                 Office of Black Male Achievement          $125,468

Martha L. Amundson     Director, Special Education Programs       $125,468

Maureen J. Seiwert        Executive Director,                                         $124,338

Early Childhood Education

Sara M. Stack                     Director, Special Education Programs     $122,407

Rochelle M. Cox               Director, Special Education & Health        $119,340

Anna L. Ross                       Indian Education                                          $116,509

Amy LE Johnson               Director, Special Education Programs       $116,509

Muhidin Warfa                 Executive Director,                                        $115,000

English Language & Global Education

Naomi R.Taylor                Director, Secondary Education                   $110,895

Carrie Seeley Dzierzak    Director, Elementary Education                 $108,191

Peter P. Ronza                  Director, Total Compensation                    $108,120

Terry Henry III                   Executive Director,                                       $107,406

                                              Department of College and Career Readiness

All of the above wage earners at the Minneapolis Public Schools must be made to feel an enormous responsibility for the failures of the academic program at the district.

 

Three members---  Michael Walker, Anna Ross, and Terry Henry---  are currently remiss for having been in their positions for three years or more with meager results.  Ross and Henry have been in their positions for many years beyond three. 

 

Walker has been in his position for over three years now but still has only organized what must be regarded as a pilot program for only 298 of the approximately 7,000 African American males at the Minneapolis Public Schools, without addressing the lamentable performance of the general MPS population of African American males on reading and mathematics assessments.   

 

Ross heads a program that emphasizes worthy culturally specific programming but has achieved very little toward improving academic performance of American Indian students.

 

Henry’s program has numerous funded initiatives with praiseworthy goals, but when we assess the “college and career readiness” appellation for rectification of names, we must regard the unpreparedness of MPS students for either college or career as indication that Henry's program is a dismal failure.

 

And all of those decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools with responsibility for the academic attainments and therefore life futures of the precious young people whose fortunes are in their hands must accept responsibility for results, improve those results, or make their exits.

 

My book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect is nearing completion. 

 

Decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools should be feeling the heat.

 

The K-12 Revolution is imminent.

 

Those making high salaries well in excess of the prevailing individual and household medians must assess their own positions from the perspectives of academic results and rectification of names.

 

Or they must go.