Article #1 in a Series >>>>> Warning to Decision-Makers at the St. Paul Public Schools >>>>> Don’t Make a Mistake Similar to That Made by the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education in Selecting Lisa Sayles-Adams as MPS Superintendent

Understand first of all that the number of adequately competent superintendent candidates approaches zero.

You have already made a mistake by hiring for the search firm BWP Associates, the firm which brought the inept, mean-spirited, monotonic Lisa Sayles-Adams to the Minneapolis Public Schools.  These firms tend to cost somewhere between $50,000 and $150,000 and all they do is scour the nation for candidates who might be a bit less wretched than others in the pool.   

 

Understand then that the superintendent who recently departed, Joe Gothard, is the typical academic mediocrity who was ludicrously overhyped.

 

Notice that Joe Gothard has very slim academic credentials, with an undergraduate degree in biology education (rather than a full-curriculum major in biology, as opposed to biology education) and graduate degrees in education (rather than a major academic field, such as physics, mathematics, history, economics, government, or literature).  Further, Gothard received all of his degrees from the low-ranked Edgewood College.  Genuine scholars and academically well-regarded individuals generally receive at least one of their graduate degrees from institutions other than those from which undergraduate degrees were received.  

 

Joe Gothard      (Superintendent, St. Paul Public Schools)

 

Doctor of Education, Edgewood College, Educational Leadership

Master of Education, Edgewood College, Educational Administration

Bachelor of Arts, Edgewood College, Biology Education

 

St. Paul Public Schools  

(Joe Gothard, Superintendent)

 

Now notice how Gothard’s National Superintendent Award, received from the establishment organization American Association of School Administrators, after having been selected as the Minnesota Superintendent of the Year by the establishment Minnesota Association of School Administrators (affiliated with the national organization, above), was bestowed despite the following abysmal record.  Gothard is the salient over-hyped official whose main accomplishment was becoming well-liked by colleagues in the public education establishment.

 

2018 2019 2021 2022 2023   2024

                                                                                             

 

Reading            38%   40%   33%  35%   34%  34%

Mathematics   33%   32%   21%  25%   26%  26%

Science             30%   29%    24%  25%   ----    25%

 

If you observe that this is the best that the education establishment can offer as a premier superintendent, you should begin to understand that your chances in finding a minimally adequate superintendent are slim in the extreme.