Inept New Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams Makes Stunningly Abysmal Appointments to High-Salaried Positions

New Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams continues to demonstrate that she is the typical education establishment functionary, without the imagination to oversee the major changes needed to achieve the necessary overhaul of preK-12 education.  She herself has unimpressive academic credentials, having received no graduate degree in a key academic discipline (e.g., mathematics, physics, history, government, economics, English or world literature) most important for mastery by preK-12 students.  

Sayles-Adams has most recently appointed Ty Thompsen as new MPS Deputy Superintendent.  Thompson is the second mediocrity that she has appointed who has similar training to herself;  the other is Tia Clasen, tapped to fill the position of Senior Academic Officer.  The appointment of Thompsen brings to the district an academic mediocrity but who adds to the bureaucratic burden with another salary ranging over $170,000.  And these two lamentable appointments come in the aftermath of Sayles’ Adams’s hiring of Tom Parent, who has red flogs still waving from his tenure in the St. Paul Public Schools, as MPS Senior Operations Officer.

 

Peruse the slim academic qualifications of Thompson, then be reminded of the qualifications pertaining to Clasen.

 

Ty Thompson (Deputy Superintendent) 

Academic Degree/Credential

M. E.D., Leadership in Education             

(University of Minnesota/Twin Cities University, 2013)       

 

Elementary Education Licensure                    

(California State University/Dominguez Hills, 2003-2004)

             

B. A.              

(Occidental College, 1999-2003)

 

           

Tia Clasen (Senior Academic Officer) 

Academic Degree/Credential

 

Ed.D., Educational Leadership              

(Hamline University, 2017-2021)       

 

M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction                    

(The College of St. Scholastica)

             

B. S., Elementary Education and Teaching              

(Augsburg University, 1995))

 

           

Other Credentials

 

>>>>>   Superintendent License (Hamline University, 2014-2016)

 

>>>>>   Certificate in Gifted, Talented, and Creative Education (Hamline University)

 

>>>>>   Middle Level Licensure (Hamline University)

 

>>>>>   Certificate in Language Arts and Social Studies (all)  (Hamline University)

 

>>>>>   Literacy Coursework (Hamline University)

 

Including, but not limited, to the following:
Classes in K-12 Reading Certificate

 

>>>>>  Critical Coursework (University of St. Thomas)

 

Including, but not limited, to the following:

 

Content Area Reading Strategies
Brain Research
Dealing with Difficult Parents
Motivating the Unmotivated
Effective Teaching
Working with At-Risk Students