Article # 5

The Intellectually Corrupt Context in Which the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education Selected Lisa Sayles-Adams as the New Superintendent

On 26 November 2024, soon after the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education announced that the Task Force was recommending two mediocre candidates, Sonia Stewart and Lisa Sayles-Adams, as finalists in the search for a new MPS Superintendent, I sent the following letter to the Board >>>>>

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New Salem Educational Initiative

A Program of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church

Gary Marvin Davison, Director

Church Address/ Academic Sessions

2507 Bryant Avenue North

Minneapolis MN 55411

Administrative Office/ Mailing Address

312 South Linden Place

Northfield MN 55057

November 26, 2023

Directors

Minneapolis Public Schools

Board of Education

1250 West Broadway

Minneapolis MN 55411

MPS Board of Education Directors:

I trust that this note finds all of you well in the aftermath of a warm and joyful Thanksgiving with loved ones, and that the spirit of gratitude lingers as you anticipate a very blessed holiday season.

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Attached to this email are several documents for your reference as we move forward in this week, at the end of which you will, if the schedule holds, on this coming Friday, 1 December, vote on the next Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS).

You have bungled this search terribly.

One of the documents attached is the communication containing the notes that in autumn 2022

A. J. Crabill sent to the previous iteration of the MPS Board of Education. Mr. Crabill was invited to address that Board as a representative of the Council of Great City Schools. Seemingly against expectation of key members of that Board, though, Mr. Crabill counseled members to use a search or a law firm only for vetting and handling logistics: He conveyed his conviction that astute Boards are always in readiness when the need arises to select a new superintendent and should always be cultivating internal candidates.

The previous Board, especially as impelled by the four key members given reference above, ignored Mr. Crabill’s advice and endeavored to put in place a suggested time table for a very conventional process in selecting the next superintendent. You, the members of the current Board, in large measure followed the signals of the previous Board and charted a very conventional search, except that on 7 March 2023 you voted to extend the contract of Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox.

With that move you provided hope that you would understand the historically unprecedented nature of the extraordinary initiatives authored by the Interim Superintendent and executed brilliantly, especially by Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives Sarah Hunter, Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing, Deputy Senior Academic Officer Maria Rollinger, and Senior Finance and Operations Officer Ibrahima Diop; but also by Executive Director of Engagement and External Relations Tyrize Cox, Executive Director of Equity and School Climate Derek Francis, and Executive Director of Student Support Services Meghan Hickley. Indeed, Senior Information Technology Officer Justin Hennes, Interim Senior Human Resources Officer Alicia Miller, the associate superintendents, and the Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist (ABAR) team give appearance as a nonpareil group of highly talented individuals working with extraordinary and seamless alacrity to implement a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete academic program, with abiding reference to MPS Strategic Plan values prioritizing academic achievement, student well-being, effective staff, and school and district climate.

With exceptional energy and acuity, Cox and Fearing superintended the introduction of a new math curriculum (Bridges/Number Corner) that for the first time in recent memory was followed across all grade levels at all schools. And for reading/language arts, a similar uniformity of curriculum was followed in a process that will now move from Benchmark Advance to a new curriculum currently under trial. Cox and staff also moved with new vigor to ensure faithful implementation of the reading intervention programs Groves, PRESS (“Pathways to Reading Excellence”), and LETRS (“Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling”). Academic and Strategic Initiative staff introduced high dosage tutoring provided by the firms of Carnegie and Axiom, online ACT training and, most importantly, 133 three-person professional teams (one licensed teacher, two trained Education Support Professionals [ESPs]), each team responsible for addressing the academic needs of 75 students lagging below grade level and having not experienced growth in reading or mathematics skills for two successive quarters.

Remember that I have profound knowledge of the history and philosophy of education, that I have spent 52 years teaching students living at the urban core, that I have for 30 years now directed the New Salem Educational Initiative, and that I currently teach 45 students per week, with a 25-person waiting list of students living mostly in North Minneapolis who either attend or live in the attendance zone of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Take very seriously, then, this communication that conveys to you that Rochelle Cox has been in the process of leading the Minneapolis Public Schools forward toward a model for urban public school districts across the United States.

The work that Cox and staff have done to address with elevated intentionality the skill acquisition needs of students languishing chronically far below grade level has never been accomplished by any public school district serving students living at the urban core.

Never.

If you doubt this assertion, please read the Analysis and Philosophy sections of my book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect, or schedule a meeting with me so that I may explain to you why you have been making history under the direction of Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox.

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Thus, you should have eleven months ago put aside conventional processes and asked Rochelle Cox to be the next long-term superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools. You should never have given your decision-making responsibility to a task-force that included 14 (of the 17 total) members not elected by the voters in the district.

You could still take the initiative to decline the recommendations of the task force and offer the contract to Cox; alternatively, you could make other moves that would alter the track you are now following:

You could add Cox’s name to the list of finalists, so that the whole Board would have the ability to assess her record compared to the other candidates.

I find odd the circumstance that the task force did not recommend three candidates rather than just two:

While Cox has never publicly stated that she submitted an application, there is a high degree of probability that she did so and could have had her name forwarded to the Board, along with those of Sonia Stewart and Lisa Sayles-Adams. You members of the Board--- and the public--- should have the opportunity to assess the candidacies of Stewart and Sayles-Adams along with the accomplishments of Cox.

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As you ponder these recommendations, please read the documents that I have attached to this email.

I am also going to embed in this email (see below) a mostly objective assessment of the candidacies of Sonia Stewart and Lisa Sayles-Adams. This combines much information from the presentations on the MPS Board of Education website with objective information from my own investigations, especially including data on the demographics and academic progress for the Hamilton County Schools, where Stewart has served as Deputy Superintendent; and the Eastern Carver County Schools, where Sayles-Adams has most recently served as Superintendent.

Be attentive, though, in the information provided for Stewart that a controversy arose over her claims of academic progress at Pearl-Cohn High School, in view of policies of her initiation that seemed to make failing courses impossible and rewarded students excessively, giving any student an “A” who merely took an Advanced Placement (AP) course.

Please read the article (see link directly below) by Samantha West (“Meet Sonia Stewart, One of Two Finalists for the Green Bay Area Public School District,” Green Bay Press Gazette, May 12, 2023), pertinent to the questions that have been raised about Sonia Stewart’s policies while at Pearl-Cohn High School.

https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/education/2020/02/14/sonia-stewart-candidate-green-bay-schools-superintendent-touts-focus-school-culture/4649734002/

Stewart has written a book, All Our Children Are Our Children: A Pearl at the Heart of the City that is inspiring at many junctures (I ordered and read this book on Saturday, 25 November) but makes highly exaggerated claims for the academic achievements of students at Pearl-Cohn High School, given that U. S. News and World Report data indicates that only 3% of students at Pearl-Cohn are proficient in math, only 12% in reading, that 35% of students at the high school take at least one Advanced Placement (AP) course but that not one--- not one--- passed (score of at least 3 out of 5) in the year ending in 2022 covered by the U. S. News and World Report presentation, and that college readiness for Pearl-Cohn seniors is only 8.7 (eight and seven-tenths) on a scale of 0 to 100.

As to the record of students in the Eastern Carver County Schools where Sayles-Adams has been serving as superintendent, the data observed is not very impressive, given that this district serves middle class students and only 9.2% (nine and two-tenths percent) of students are on free/reduced price lunch. Also, the word I have from my sources in the St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS) is that administrators regarded Sayles-Adams as not being ready to take a head superintendent role when she assumed the position in Eastern Carver County Schools. The latter district serves just 9,377 students, casting doubt as to whether this stronger of the two candidates recommended by the task force is actually prepared to lead the Minneapolis Public Schools, with 48% of 29,000 students on free/reduced price lunch; at many MPS schools the figure for those receiving free/reduced price lunch is at 85% or more).

Consider my comments and information provided herein very seriously, and read carefully the attached documents.

I will be attending the events for the upcoming week and will be highly available for any discussion or questions.

Do go ahead and consider the information below.

With my very best wishes---

Gary

Gary Marvin Davison, Ph.D.

Director, New Salem Educational Initiative

http://www.newsalemeducation.blogspot.com

Author,

Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Gary Condition, Future Prospect (New Salem Educational Initiative, second edition, 2023)

Foundations of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education (New Salem Educational Initiative, 2022)

A Concise History of African America (Seaburn, 2004)

The State of African Americans in Minnesota 2004 (Minneapolis Urban League, 2004)

The State of African Americans in Minnesota 2008 (Minneapolis Urban League, 2008)

A Short History of Taiwan: The Case for Independence (Praeger, 2003)

Tales from the Taiwanese (Libraries Unlimited, 2004)

Culture and Customs of Taiwan ([with Barbara E. Reed] Greenwood, 1998)

<<<<<

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At the juncture at which I sent the above letter to the Board, the directors had an opportunity to atone for the miserable decision of the Task Force. But, although some directors had misgivings about the recommendations, not one had the courage to take the necessary action to assure that Rochelle’s Cox’s name was included among the final candidates for consideration by the entire MPS Board of Education.

The Task Force was following a timeline devised by the MPS Board of Education and given as follows >>>>>

Superintendent Search Timeline, Academic Year 2023-2024

June 6, 2023

· MPS Board of Directors and BWP Consultants Meet to Outline Search

June 13, 2023

· MPS Board of Directors Review and Approve Draft Leadership Profile from BWP

June 15-August 1

· Board gathers feedback on draft leadership profile

August 2023

· Board Approves Final Leadership Profile and Vacancy Announcement

September 5, 2023

Formally launch vacancy marketing efforts and advertisements
BWP opens application portal

November 5, 2023

Application Deadline

November 9-10, 2023

Application Review and Applicant Interviews
BWP Consultant Team interviews top applicants
BWP Consultant Team investigates social media footprint of top candidates
BWP Consultant Team conducts preliminary reference checks on top candidates

November 14, 2023

BWP Meeting with Board of Directors and/or Search Committee (pending Board determination)
BWP presents candidate slate (4 - 7 top candidates)
BWP workshop on organizing successful candidate interviews and the decision-making process of choosing the next superintendent

November 29-30, 2023

Interviews of candidate slate (90 - 120 minute interviews per candidate)
2- 3 candidates to be interviewed by the Board of Directors
BWP completed references checks on “finalist’ candidates

December 2, 2023

BWP/Selection Committee present Finalist Candidates to Board
Board approves Finalist Candidates

December 15-17, 2023

Board interviews Finalist Candidates and Identifies Top Choice

December 18-?, 2023

MPS conducts required background checks per Minnesota law
Board negotiates candidate contract
Board holds special meeting to approve contract and introduce new superintendent

July 1, 2024

New Superintendent reports to work (if not before)

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An Account of the Week in Which the Minneapolis Public Schools

Board of Education Concluded a Terribly Botched Search for

Long-Term Superintendent

The week that began on 27 November 2023 and ended on 1 December 2023 was a momentous phase in the K-12 Revolution.

Sonia Stewart (currently Deputy Superintendent, Hamilton County Schools [Chattanooga TN]) and Lisa Sayles-Adams (currently Superintendent of Eastern Carver County Schools [Chaska MN area]) were the two candidates recommended by the 17-person Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Search Task Force. The creation of a Task Force was a mistake, as were all aspects of this failed spectacle that were associated with a conventional search.

My recommendation, for emphasis making reference to A.J Crabill’s advice for the Board to utilize a search firm only for logistics and candidate vetting, was to abjure conventional processes, understand Rochelle Cox’s unique talent, save time, get on with the mission, and hire her soon after she received the appointment as interim superintendent.

I maintained that position in the aftermath of Cox’s contract extension on 7 March 2023 and endeavored to advocate that the Board, observing brilliant presentation after brilliant presentation of unprecedented academic initiatives, to appoint Rochelle to the long-term position before the timetable was set, but to no avail.

The invitations to apply went out on 5 September 2023; the application window closed on 5 November. Twenty-five (25) people applied and BWP Associates (the search firm unfortunately hired by the MPS Board of Education) recommended five (5) to the Task Force for interviews; the Task Force recommended Stewart and Sayles-Adams to the Board as a whole.

As should have been predicted, the Task Force phase was critical and corrupt.

Any objective assessment would have at the very least recommended Rochelle Cox among the two or three referred to the Board as a whole.

But clearly there were connivers on the Task Force who did not want Cox’s name put forward, knowing that she would have a very good chance of getting the vote: My assessment was that she had the votes of Ira Jourdain, Kim Ellison, Joyner Emerick, and Abdul Abdi--- so that only one more vote for Cox would be needed before a potential cavalcade of votes might result in a clear majority.

After the corrupt decision by the Task Force, I recommended to Board members that they reclaim control of the process and at the very least include Cox’s name for consideration. The vote took place on Friday, 1 December; no such reclamation occurred, even by those who were the most in favor of Rochelle Cox’s academic initiatives and in favor of her gaining selection as long-term superintendent.

The 1 December vote went 8-1, a rather confusing development since Adriana Cerrillo had advocated energetically for Sonia Stewart during the discussion phase; only Ira Jourdain, though, cast his vote for Stewart.

Only a dozen or so people were in the audience--- very unusual, since such gatherings are often teeming with all manner of folks and their particularistic interests. One could have proverbially heard the proverbial pin drop throughout the meeting, including when the decision was made and officially announced--- even more unusual. The strong suggestion is that this Board move is unpopular and Sayles-Adams will begin with little enthusiastic backing from staff or community.

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Apparently, the discussion and debate within the MPS Superintendent Search Task Force turned very boisterous and acrimonious, with just a few members dominating the debate. MPS Board of Education Director and Clerk Lori Norvell, as chair of the Task Force, eventually called in staff from BWP associates, the search firm who identified five candidates from 25 applicants for recommendation to the Task Force, to mediate the discussion.

I do not at this point have a firm conclusion as to how only two candidates were recommended by the Task Force to the entire MPS Board of Education with the exclusion of Rochelle Cox’s name, but according to reports the majority of participants either supported her as the number one candidate or wanted her name recommended to the entire Board; supporters included the principal, the teacher not officially representing the MFT--- but maybe even the official MFT representative and probably the Education Support Professional (ESP [teacher’s aide), with whom Cox has developed an excellent relationship), at least three of the five community members, and the three students (including the two MPS Board of Education Student Representatives).

There is, then, a high probability that two or three voluble members prevailed in limiting the options to two candidates, not reporting Cox’s name out to the entire Board.

This and other assessments, including the exact stances of the Board members both within the Task Force and on the Board as a whole, will be among my continuing investigations as I prepare the second edition of Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect for circulation and formal publication.

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Abhorrently, the neither the Task Force nor the MPS Board of Education as a whole consulted senior staff and cabinet members in making their calamitous decision. Many staff members were in tears as the decision of 1 December was made.

But these same highly talented staff members joined Rochelle in conducting a tour d’ force Committee of the Whole on Tuesday evening (5 December), providing evidence of success thus far with the key academic initiatives and giving all manner of information as to MPS finances, school climate, progress in hiring and retaining BIPOC teachers, and improvement in getting students who have lagged in attendance or dropped out entirely back on track

The staff members felt a surge of elation in the aftermath of the meeting, inasmuch as this demonstration of programmatic success and progress was the perfect answer to the Board’s having bungled the search so badly and so coarsely.

In view of current circumstances, my own stance toward and relationships with Board members has shifted:

I will continue to advocate for sustaining the initiatives of Rochelle and staff, even as I keep Board members and Lisa Sayles-Adams on notice that my 55,000 blog viewers per month will be observing and responding to how Rochelle and staff are treated.

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Information and Analysis Pertinent to the Candidacy of Sonia Stewart

The following presentation gives the objective information pertinent to the career and credentials of Sonia Stewart, along with a few remarks giving my view of the Stewart candidacy.

Sonia Stewart

Deputy Superintendent

Hamilton County Public Schools (HCPS)

45,176 students

As Deputy Superintendent of the Hamilton County Public Schools, Sonia Stewart has responsibility for the departments of Teaching and Learning, School Leadership, Opportunity and Access, and Social Emotional and Academic Development. Her initial position at HCPS was Community Superintendent for the MidTown Learning Community.

Prior to her three and one-half years at HCPS, Stewart spent 13 years in the Nashville Public Schools, where she became Executive Officer of Organizational Development after serving as Math Teacher and Head Girls Basketball Coach, Freshman Academy Administrator at Glencliff High School, and then an eventful tenure as Executive Principal at Pearl-Cohn High School from June 2012 through June 2018. This latter position created a high-profile media story of success but has brought negative reflections from some of her HCPS colleagues who say that testing policies at Pearl-Conn inflated test scores and prohibited giving students failing grades.

With regard to questionable policies that Stewart may have utilized, former Pearl-Cohn guidance counselor Kelly Brown conveys her view that Stewart and staff at Pearl-Cohn maneuvered to make standardized test scores look better than they were. A Nashville television report in 2015 revealed that Pearl-Cohn had implemented a policy prohibiting giving students a grade below a 60--- even if all the student did was “wad up the test and throw it back at the teacher.” A district spokesperson at the time defended Stewart by saying that Metro Nashville Public Schools had implemented a controversial policy two years earlier that no student could get a grade below a 50 and that Stewart had simply misinterpreted that policy.

Brown also criticized a policy at Pearl-Cohn that automatically gave an A to any student who took an Advanced Placement exam — even if they slept through it. She also claimed that under pressure from the district’s central office to improve test scores, just before students were to take end-of-course exams for which they had not done well on practice exams, Stewart pressured counselor Brown to transfer students from the classes in which they had been enrolled to the Credit Recovery program. The district said in a statement that such an action was in violation of district policy that may not have been clearly communicated to principals, and Stewart vigorously denied the accusations.

Before those 13 years in the Nashville Community Public Schools, Stewart taught math in Los Angeles, California and served as the Founder and Executive Director of The Oaks Community Development Corporation in Chicago, building a network of parents, community leaders, and partner organizations for bringing educational reform to a neighborhood at the urban core.

Stewart has written a book, All Children Are Our Children: A Pearl at the Heart of the City (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform), based on her experiences at Pearl-Cohn.

Stewart’s academic credentials are as follows >>>>>

Ed, D., Education, Leadership, and Policy

Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee)

M. Ed.

Trevecca Nazarene University (Nashville TN)

B.S., Mathematics

Biola University (La Mirada CA).

U.S. News and World Report data on public school districts indicates the following for Hamilton county Schools >>>>>

Hamilton County Schools

79 schools; 22 high schools

Student enrollment 45,176

White 47.6%

African American 25.6%

Hispanic 17.9%

2 or more ethnicities 6.9%

Asian/ 1.8%

Pacific Islander

American Indian/ 0.0%

Alaska Native

Native Hawaiian/ 0.0%

Other Pacific Islander

Free/Reduced Price Lunch 46.7%

English Language Learners 6.0%

Academic Proficiency

Math Reading

Elementary 39% 35%

Middle School 26% 26%

High School 21% 42%

College Readiness 18.3 (Rated on scale of 0-100)

Graduation Rate 86.5%

Information and Analysis Pertinent to the Candidacy of Lisa Sayles-Adams

The following presentation gives the objective information pertinent to the career and credentials of Lisa Sayles-Adams, along with a few remarks giving my view of the Sayles-Adams candidacy.

Lisa Sayles-Adams

Superintendent

Eastern Carver County Schools

9,379 students

Lisa Sayles-Adams began her career in education at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) from 1996 to 2004 as a teacher and eventually served as principal at an MPS contract alternative school in the organization The City, Inc.

Sayles-Adams then worked from 2004 until 2012 in the 52,000-student district of Clayton County Schools in Georgia, serving as high school principal and principal for two elementary schools.

Next, Sayles-Adams moved to the St. Paul Public Schools in 2012, holding positions as middle school and elementary school principal before serving for five years as an assistant superintendent. Then, in 2020, she moved into the same position in the Eastern Carver County Schools; she was selected as superintendent for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Sayle-Adams's academic credentials are as follows >>>>>

Ed, D., Educational Leadership (2022)

Minnesota State University/Mankato

M.A., Curriculum and Instruction (2002)

University of Minnesota/Twin Cities

B.A. Political Science (1992)

University of Minnesota/Twin Cities

U.S. News and World Report data on public school districts indicates the following for Eastern Carver County Schools >>>>>

Eastern Carver County Schools

21 schools; 6 high schools

Student enrollment 9,379

White 74.6%

Hispanic 10.4%

African American 5.4%

Two or 5.2%

more ethnicities

Asian/ 3.9%

Pacific Islander

American Indian/ 0.3%

Alaska Native

Native Hawaiian/ 0.1%

Other Pacific Islander

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Free/ 9.2%

Reduced Price Lunch

English 5.6%

Language Learners

Academic Proficiency

Math Reading

Elementary 64% 63%

Middle School 42% 59%

Graduation Rate 69.5%

College Readiness 45.2 (Rated on scale of 0-100)

Information Pertinent to the Dissertation---

Written as Requirement for the ED. D., Minnesota State University/Mankato---

Embargoed by Lisa Sayles-Adams

DISCIPLINE

· Education (1)

· Educational Leadership (1)

PUBLICATION YEAR

· 2022 (1)

PUBLICATION

· All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects (1)

PUBLICATION TYPE

· Theses/Dissertations (1)

FILE TYPE

· None (1)

African American Women Principals: A Phenomenological Study to Explore their Experiences in K-12 Leadership
Author: Lisa Sayles-Adams
Publication: All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

African American Women Principals: A Phenomenological Study to Explore their Experiences in K-12 Leadership

Lisa Sayles-Adams, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Advisor

Natalie Rasmussen

Committee Member

Candace F. Raskin

Committee Member

Efe Agbamu

Date of Degree

2022

Language

English

Requirement for the Ed. D. In Educational Leadership at Minnesota State University/Mankato

Educational Leadership (EDD)

The doctorate in educational leadership is dedicated to developing racially conscious leaders for P-21 schools, higher education, and non-profit organizations.

Admission Requirements

· PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

· DEGREE PLAN

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Common Core

EDLD 734 Professional Development Colloquium I 3 credits

EDLD 735 Professional Development Colloquium II 3 credits

EDLD 747 Organizational and Critical Race Theory & Analysis 3 credits

EDLD 751 Seminar: Advanced Leadership Ethics 3 credits

EDLD 752 Seminar: Leadership Exemplars 3 credits

EDLD 759 Influences and Assessment of Public Policy 3 credits

Doctoral Internship (Specialization): Higher Education, P-12, or Non-Profit Leadership - Choose 8 Credit(s). Select 4 credits each, in consultation with advisor, during Semester 3 and Semester 5.

EDLD 798 Doctoral Internship in Educational Leadership 1-12 credits

Research/Methods Course(s)

EDLD 782 Design and Method in Qualitative Inquiry 3 credits

EDLD 792 Quantitative Research Methods for Educational Leadership 3 credits

EDLD 793 Focused Research Investigations I 3 credits

Doctoral Internship - Research Internship (in consultation with advisor). - Choose 4 Credit(s).

EDLD 798 Doctoral Internship in Educational Leadership 1-12 credits

This course is designed for doctoral candidates in educational leadership to experience implementation of theory where they are given the opportunity to create, demonstrate, and maintain effective strategies and methodologies from leadership practices in a school or higher education setting.

Prerequisites: none

Unrestricted Electives

Unrestricted Elective Credit and/or Advanced Standing Recognition - Choose 9 - 10 Credit(s). Advanced Standing will allow up to 10 post-Masters degree credits to satisfy this category.

EDLD 600 - 799 credits

Capstone Course

EDLD 799 Dissertation 1-12 credits

Other Graduation Requirements

Program will recognize a maximum of 30 credits from an earned Masters degree program and will apply toward the required 90 credits of EdD program

Creator

Sayles-Adams, Lisa L author.

Title

African American Women Principals: A Phenomenological Study to Explore their Experiences in K-12 Leadership

Responsibility

by Lisa L Sayles-Adams.

Publisher

Mankato, Minnesota : Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2022

Format

1 online resource (134 pages)

text file PDF

Dissertation

Ed.D. Minnesota State University, Mankato 2022 Educational Leadership: Ed.D.

Description

African American women have played a pivotal role as leaders in public education. Their contributions have spanned three centuries, impacting their communities, families, and workplaces. Despite their contributions and demanding work, African American women principals continue to experience the double jeopardy of race and gender. This phenomenological study explored and described the impacts of race and gender on the leadership experiences of five African American women principals in the upper Midwest region of the United States. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the intersectional experiences of African American women principals and the challenges they faced to improve academic outcomes for students. Special attention was given to the barriers and coping strategies the leaders used to navigate their marginalized and oppressive experiences. The major themes that emerged were categorized as barriers that confirmed; different expectations, double standards, questioning authority, acts of resistance, aggression, and being treated as clean-up women. An additional theme emerged that described coping strategies utilized to navigate racism and sexism in the workplace that included self-advocacy and being authentic, spirituality, support networks, and concealment of their emotions.

Contents

Includes bibliographical references.

Language

English

Genre

Academic theses.

Contributor

Rasmussen, Natalie degree supervisor

Raskin, Candace F degree committee member

Agbamu, Efe degree committee member

Minnesota State University, Mankato, degree granting institution.

Identifier

OCLC : (OCoLC)1371330595

OCLC : (OCoLC)on1371330595

Source

Library Catalog

Links

Cornerstone Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Display Source Record

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Note that Lisa Sayles-Adams’s dissertation ran only 134 pages and that she took the highly unusual step of embargoing this slim and in all likelihood shabby work, the only such doctoral thesis among all of the dissertations on record at the University of Minnesota/Mankato during the two-year period that encompassed the completion and defense of this thesis, until autumn 2024.

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Revealing Exchanges with Sharon El-Amin (Chair of the MPS Board of Education During the Superintendent Search) and Lori Norvell (MPS Board of Education Clerk and Chair of the Superintendent Search Task Force)

Below I provide a contentious email interaction that I had with Sharon El-Amin, who during the months of the superintendent search was Chair of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education.

El-Amin was responding to the letter that I sent to the whole Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education on 26 November, urging the Board to reclaim control of the process from the Task Force and move forward in a way likely to result in the selection of Rochelle Cox as long-term superintendent of the district.

>>>>>

From Sharon El-Amin, 1 December 2023

>>>><

Good afternoon Gary,

Thank you for your continued attention and dedication to MPS and our students. I have always offered you the respect of listening to and considering your perspective, a courtesy I will again extend by reviewing the information you have sent.

I know you are aware that neither board members nor Search Task Force members are allowed to disclose or discuss anything about who may or may not have been an applicant, beyond those that were selected for an interview. Therefore, I do not expect that others will respond on that portion of your message. Rather, like me, I imagine they will review the information you provided on the two finalists and incorporate that into their decision.

As chair I have strived to collaboratively lead with integrity throughout this search process over the past year. The Board has voted to affirm the process and its specific steps at several junctures during that time. At length, we carefully deliberated and voted unanimously to delegate the selection of finalists to the Search Task Force. My focus is now on seeing through the final stages of this process with fidelity and we have two strong finalist candidates, both of whom I believe would be an excellent leader for MPS.

Without making comment on her status as an applicant for the position or not, my respect and gratitude for Interim Superintendent Cox is unparalleled. She has provided much needed leadership and stability for MPS and to me personally, and I am forever thankful. I am excited to see her continue the work for MPS in her next capacity.

Thank you for your research and for reaching out.

Sincerely,

Chair El-Amin

Sharon El-Amin

Board of Education, District 2 Director|Chair

Sharon.El-Amin@mpls.k12.mn.us | 612.986-3281

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Reply from Gary Marvin Davison

December 1, 2023

Sharon:

This communication is the promised concluding statement on the matter of selecting the next Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent, personalized as a note sent particularly to you.

I read your own framing of the process with care; there is little surprise that you and I have very different views of that process and the various possible scenarios at this evening’s (1 December 2023) 4:00-6:00 PM meeting.

Hence, before proceeding to my comment on the responsibility that you bear for the superintendent process, be reminded that my key points remain as follows >>>>>

>>>>> The MPS Board of Education has bungled the search for the next long-term superintendent badly.

>>>>> The Board should have taken much firmer control in selecting the next MPS superintendent, in the spirit of A. J. Crabill’s advice, and looked first for an internal candidate, of which there were and are several good prospects; Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox was clearly the best, a circumstance that she had proven as Interim Superintendent.

>>>>> I have observed superintendents ranging from Richard Green in the 1980s through Ed Graff during 2016-2022. Because of the terrible training that superintendents receive in education programs, and the academically lightweight nature of their background, there is little surprise that superintendents of the Minneapolis Public Schools and other districts typically fail to address the chronic substandard academic proficiency of students, particularly those facing the challenges of familial poverty at the urban core.

>>>>> Therefore, the fact that Rochelle Cox is a keen reader of books and has interests across the mathematic, scientific, and liberal arts is highly unusual. Following from that keen academic interest and her intense love of children and adolescents, Cox in the months stretching from July 2022 through the present (as November turns into November 2023) has relentlessly presented to the Board at each monthly business meeting and each Committee of the Whole an abundance of long-needed mathematics and reading development and knowledge-intensive academic programs, closely faithful to the goals of Strategic Plan (academic achievement, student well-being, effective staff and a school climate of equity).

>>>>> I sat for years observing Board members and was ever stunned that so little discussion of academics took place. The various initiatives that Cox and staff have authored and articulated, and those into which they have injected new energy--- the intervention triads, online ACT training, much more vigorous implementation of Groves, PRESS, and LETRs, the assemblage of an outstanding group on the Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias (ABARS) for addressing the concerns and the retention of BIPOC staff, the uniform implementation of math and reading curriculum, and the current pursuit of a reading curriculum that provides background knowledge and sophisticated vocabulary development--- represent an unprecedented program for addressing the academic of students of all demographic descriptors, most especially the needs of students whose fundamental skills have languished far below grade level.

>>>>> The Board should have long ago offered Rochelle Cox the position of long-term Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

>>>>> To depend on an MPS Superintendent Task Force, in which 14 of the 17 members are not elected officials and lack suitable qualifications, to recommend two or three candidates from which the Board is to select one to be the new MPS Superintendent, is an abominable neglect of the Board’s duty to take full responsibility for all aspects of the selection process.

>>>>> Those two candidates put forward should be regarded only as recommendations. Rochelle Cox’s name should be put forward as a third option. As detailed in my previous communication, Sonia Stewart has disturbing red flags in her professional history and is the typical mediocrity from superintendent candidate pools; Lisa Sayles-Adams, again as detailed in the previous communication, is also a mediocrity.

>>>>> There are various scenarios that could ensue this evening (1 December 2023), including putting Cox’s name forward among the three for consideration.

>>>>> If the process unfolds as you foresee, and either Stewart or Sayles-Adams is selected, then I will be monitoring the continuation of the promising initiatives of Cox and staff, with the expectation that those initiatives move forward with current first-rate staff.

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I am deeply disappointed in your own role in the MPS Superintendent Search process, Sharon.

I will continue to investigate the details of that process and report that process, as the full range of facts become clear, as I complete the second edition of my book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect and write a bevy of new articles for my blog, which currently receives approximately 55,000 views per month, nationally and across the globe.

Be proud, therefore, of whatever happens this evening and in the days and months to come---

With best regards---

Gary

Gary Marvin Davison, Ph.D.

Director, New Salem Educational Initiative

2507 Bryant Ave North