7 March Committee of the Whole Meeting of Potential Historical Significance >>>>> Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education Vote to Extend the Contract for Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox Provides at Least Another 16 Months for Promising Academic Initiatives

The 7 March Committee of the Whole meeting of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education could very well prove an occasion of far-reaching historical significance.  

The only item on the agenda was to consider and vote on a one-year contract extension for Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox.  Board Chair Sharon El-Amin (District 2) was again masterful.

Of high interest was the circumstance that El Amin and Vice-Chair Collin Beachy (At-Large) had clearly arrived at agreement that the extension was in the best interests of the district at this juncture.  This seemed also to bring Director Lori Norvell (District 5) to a position of favoring the contract, so that only Director Fathia Feerayarre was likely to oppose the contract extension.

But there were four rather quirky positions that slowed the meeting considerably  >>>>>

>>>>>    Feerayarre’s main point of contention concerned the putative and expressed need to be attentive to the emergence of a candidate for long-term superintendent of such merit as to end Cox’s contract at any time, so that such a candidate could be hired.

MPS General Counsel Amy Moore reviewed the contract and pointed out that this contingency was actually covered with a clause that provided for the mutually agreed termination of the contract at any time.  This did not satisfy Feerayarre, who wanted language that more specifically stated that the contract would be terminated if a desired long-term candidate emerged.

>>>>>    Director Abdul Abdi (District 1), substantially in favor of the extension, nevertheless wanted the Board to agree upon the goals that Rochelle Cox is expected to meet before extending the contract;  he couched this view in terms of fairness to Cox herself, so that she would know upon receiving the contract what performance targets she is expected to meet. 

>>>>>    Near the end of the meeting, Director Kim Ellison (At-Large) made a motion that resonated with Abdi’s view;  she sought the identification of characteristics that the Board wanted in a superintendent before voting on the contract, moving to delay the vote a week, until the 14 March regular business meeting of the Board.

General Counsel Moore commented at this point that such a process of identifying desired superintendent characteristics could very well induce discussion lasting for many weeks.

The motion did not carry.

>>>>>    Director Ira Jourdain (District 6), very much in favor of the extension, nevertheless objected to the provision calling for a performance review for Cox, which he said was not typical in interim superintendent contract extensions.

General Counsel Moore commented that she had reviewed interim superintendent contracts containing such language and that Cox herself had agreed to the provision for evaluation.

The related motion by Jourdain did not carry.

The final vote went as follows  >>>>>

>>>>> 

Board Chair Sharon El-Amin (District 2)        >>>>>       Yay    

Board Vice-Chair Collin Beachy (At-Large)    >>>>>       Yay    

Director Abdul Abdi (District 1)                       >>>>>       Yay   

Director Lori Norvell (District 5)                      >>>>>       Yay    

Director Adriana Cerrillo (District 4)              >>>>>       Not present for the vote    

Director Sonya Emerick (At-Large)                 >>>>>       Yay

Director Kim Ellison (At-Large)                        >>>>>       Yay

Director Ira Jourdain (District 6)                     >>>>>       Nay    

Director Fathia Feerayarre (District 3)           >>>>>       Nay    

Thus the 6-2 vote approached unanimity, with only Feerayarre truly objecting to Cox continuing as interim superintendent and Jourdain holding out on the matter of the evaluation.

This clears the way for Rochelle Cox to move forward with her highly promising initiatives to bring knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum and enhanced teacher quality to the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Should the public and the Board then in the course of the next few months draw the proper conclusion that Rochelle Cox is the overwhelmingly best option for the long-term superintendent position, she and her staff have a chance to develop the Minneapolis Public Schools into a national model for preK-12 public education, a circumstance that would then have international implications.