Failure of Sixteen Superintendents Since 1980 Strongly Suggests That the Time Has Come to Abjure Search Firms and Conventional Decisions

Among the sixteen (16) superintendents who have headed the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) since 1980, Richard Green and Carol Johnson are remembered favorably or are the subject of favorable accounts rendered by education establishment entities such as the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) and the Department of Teaching and Learning (the latter a perpetually failed cog in the unwieldy bureaucratic machinery of the Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway).

But the acceleration of the decline of the Minneapolis Public Schools occurred during the tenure of Green, and the academic performance of students during the Carol Johnson tenure was abysmal, belying the cheerful obliviousness of the superintendent and her retinue.

A certain pretense at corporate efficiency effected during the Peter Hutchinson tenure brought no favorable academic results.  The get-tough rhetoric of Thandiwee Peebles was in the end just talk as her short tenure ended ignobly.

The best of the sixteen superintendents from 1980 through 2022 was Bernadeia Johnson, who promoted such promising initiatives as Focused Instruction, High Priority Schools, and systematic teacher evaluation;  but the bureaucratic burden grew in the form of an overstaffed Davis Center during her tenure, and she was not able to prevail in confronting tremendous opposition to her most promising initiatives from the MFT and many members of the MPS Board of Education.

Thus, as the search ensues for a new superintendent now that Ed Graff has resigned, we must pursue a superintendent who understands the need for curriculum overhauled for knowledge intensity and logically sequenced presentation throughout the preK-12 years and for training teachers capable of imparting such a curriculum. 

And, just as critical, the new superintendent must enlist the services of a university-based or independent scholar to oversee the needed changes in curriculum and teacher quality.

The selection of Rochelle Cox as MPS Interim Superintendent was a favorable move by the MPS Board of Education.  The presence on the board of District 4 Member Adriana Cerrillo and District 2 Member Sharon El-Amin gives additional hope that we can secure the selection of a superintendent and senior academic officer capable overseeing the needed transformation.

In the interest of the future of our children, we must do much better than did the failed superintendents given below  >>>>>

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1980-2022

 

Richard R. Green June 24, 1980-Feb. 26, 1988 (Acting, for 1st week) 

William C. Phillips (Interim) (March 1-July 31, 1988)

Robert Ferrera (Aug. 1, 1988-Feb. 2, 1993)

Mitchell Trockman (Interim) (Feb. 2-March 8, 1993)

John B. Davis (Interim) (March 8-Aug. 1993)

Mitchell Trockman (Acting) (Aug.-Dec. 1993)

Peter Hutchinson (Dec. 14, 1993-May 27, 1997)

Katrina Reed (Acting) (May 29-Sept. 2, 1997 ñ

Carol R. Johnson Aug. 30, 1997-Sept. 30, 2003)

David M. Jennings (Oct. 1, 2003-June 30, 2004)

Mitchell Trockman (Interim) (July 1-19, 2004)

Thandiwe Peebles (July 20, 2004-Jan. 26,

William Davis "Bill" Green (Interim Jan. 26, 2006-Feb. 13, 2007) (Feb. 13, 2007-June 30, 2010)

Bernadeia Johnson (July 1, 2010-2016)

Michael Goar (Interim, 2015-2016)

Ed Graff (July 1, 2016-June 30, 2022)

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