The Unfortunate Role of the Raucous and Irresponsible MPS Superintendent Search Task Force in Facilitating the Appointment of Lisa Sayles-Adams
The Minneapolis Board of
Education (School Board) created a Superintendent Search Task Force (Task
Force), charged with interviewing up to seven qualified applicants for the
superintendent of schools position and recommending two to three finalist
candidates for interview by the School Board.
There were 17 members on the
Task Force, including three school board members (Abdul Abdi, Adraian Cerrillo,
and Committee Chair Lori Norvell). The
work of the task force was supported by the contracted executive search firm,
BWP & Associates. Task Force members
were considered volunteers and expected to follow all applicable MPS policies
and regulations. Members were appointed
in accordance with Board
Resolution 2023-0058.
Members of the Task Force were
required to attend all training, interviews, and meetings in their entirety. Food was provided for meetings lasting four
hours or more, and child care and interpretation, as needed, was available upon
request. Substitutes were provided for
MPS teachers who need them.
Names and information about
applicants was confidential and Task Force members were required to sign a
confidentiality agreement to participate. At no time during or after the work
of the Task Force were members allowed to discuss anything about applicants
with anyone except other members of the Task Force. Any violation of the confidentiality agreement
was to result in immediate removal from the Task Force, with MPS employees
appointed to the Task Force subject to disciplinary action, including
termination from their MPS employment.
Task Force member names and
other basic information provided to the appointing authority during the
appointment process is public data in accordance with Minnesota Statutes
Section 13.601.
Task Force members included the
following names:
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Search Task Force
2023
Task Force Member Task
Force Role Appointed by
/MPS
Affiliation
Brenda Johnson Education
Minneapolis
Support Federation
Professionals
of Teachers
(ESP)
(MFT),
ESP
Chapter
Wyhett Johnson ESP Student
Representatives
Matthew Collier Teacher MFT/
Teacher Chapter
Katie Kamphoff Teacher Student
Representatives
Matthew Arnold Principal Minneapolis
Principal
Forum
Mauri Friestleben Principal Student
Representatives
Drew Wessen Student Student
Representatives
Titilayo Bediako Community
Director
Member Joyner Emerick
Nekima Community
Director
Levy-Armstrong Member Sharon El-Amin
Patricia Community
Director
Torres Ray Member Kim Ellison
Nekima Community
Director
Levy-Armstrong Member Sharon El-Amin
Francisco Segovia Community
Director
Member Collin Beachy
Abdirahman Community
Director
Muhktar Member Faheema
Feerayarre
Lucie Skjefte Community
Director
Member Ira Jourdain
Abdihafid MPS
Board of MPS Board of
Mohammed Education Education
Student
Representative
Director MPS Board of
Director,
Abdul Abdi Education MPS Board of
Education
Director MPS
Board of Director,
Adriana
Education MPS Board of
Cerrillo Education
Director MPS
Board of Director,
Lori
Education MPS Board of
Norvell Education
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 (Council of Great City Schools) 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.
………………………………………………………………………..
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.
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.
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