St. Paul school district striving to keep Suzanne Kelly as inte...

St. Paul Public Schools is requesting a rehearing in its bid to get state approval for Suzanne Kelly to serve as interim superintendent.

[John Krenik]

This is the WRONG direction for St. Paul Public Schools to go.

Earning a degree is one thing, but being licensed is another. Our Superintendent of St. Paul needs to be licensed and our Superintendent needs to be LOCAL.

The position of superintendent needs to be posted and let those who have a Superintendent license apply. The basic requirement of a superintendent license needs to be a basic requirement of any superintendent.

The need for a variance from the state is totally unfounded, as there are 28 individuals already on staff in St. Paul Public Schools that have the proper license from the State of Minnesota.

These actions by the St. Paul Board of Education in their continued pursuit of this variance license for Ms. Kelly indicates that there is a need for "Large-Scale System change" at the St. Paul Board of Education level. It is also interesting that the St. Paul Federation of Teachers has NOT endorsed any of the current Board of Education members up for reelection.

[StP Teach]

John Krenik wrote:

This is the WRONG direction for St. Paul Public Schools to go.
Earning a degree is one thing, but being licensed is another. Our Superintendent of St. Paul needs to be licensed and our Superintendent needs to be LOCAL.
The position of superintendent needs to be posted and let those who have a Superintendent license apply. The basic requirement of a superintendent license needs to be a basic requirement of any superintendent.
The need for a variance from the state is totally unfounded, as there are 28 individuals already on staff in St. Paul Public Schools that have the proper license from the State of Minnesota.
These actions by the St. Paul Board of Education in their continued pursuit of this variance license for Ms. Kelly indicates that there is a need for "Large-Scale System change" at the St. Paul Board of Education level. It is also interesting that the St. Paul Federation of Teachers has NOT endorsed any of the current Board of Education members up for reelection.

Ummm....John Krenik...this is for the interim job, not the permanent job. Who care who fills the seat for a few months while a permanent superintendent is found? The permanent job is posted. Kelly graduated from a local high school in the metro area. Do your homework. The license doesn't prepare one to lead anymore than a teaching license prepares one to teach. It is the 'on the job' experience that matters. None of the others with "license" have the experience that Kelly does.

As for the teacher union, it doesn't represent all the employees in the school system. It doesn't represent the parents either. It is just one union that "speaks" for about half the employees.

[Ed U Cation]

The time has come for all these school districts to be thrashed. We need the state to run the schools. Local school boards never do the job right. Local school boards cost a zillion more than needed. What do we have 212 districts with each super being paid something like $180,000 ? All they do is a budget to cut staff. One good system state wide. Combine schools and reduced this crazy sports costs. Either go state wide one chief or just plain go out of business as public schools.

[Adam]

These people are obnoxiously arrogant. But it is good to see that at least Kong-Thao can write a letter. She never has anything to say...

[John Krenik]

The St. Paul Board of Education by their actions yesterday have shown their blatant disregard for the laws of the State of Minnesota. After the St. Paul Board of Education was notified by the State of Minnesota that Ms. Kelly is not licensed to be superintendent, the Board of Education still continued to disobey state law by employing Ms. Kelly, as interim superintendent for St. Paul Public Schools.

This “I can do what I want” attitude by the Board of Education is a prime indication of a school board that is out of control. The St. Paul Boar of Education is behaving like they are above the law by their continued support of Ms. Kelly when there are 21 SPPS employees who have a superintendent license. The Board of Education feels that having a license is not important.

I invite the St. Paul Board of Education to please explain to the properly licensed SPPS staff that their license doesn’t really mean anything. The St. Paul Board of Education’s actions show contempt for doing things the right way, the proper way and send a signal that following the rules is not important.

No wonder only HALF of SPPS students are proficient in Reading. Less than HALF are proficient in Math.

No wonder the achievement gap between white students and students of color is among the widest in the nation.

No wonder SPPS is experiencing enrollment declines of 500-600 students per year.

No wonder we are in the mess we are in, an unresponsive Board of Education is the answer.

It is interesting to note that the St. Paul Federation of Teachers teacher hasn’t endorsed any sitting school board member up for election this year.

[Diggs]

The current B.O.E. exhibits another boneheaded move in a long list of them. Now they are running an expensive search for the new
Super. which will probably amount to about 100K. Where did that get us
last time? We got someone passing through on the way to big money,
and status. Someone who wanted to make a mark and not stick around to follow through. Board members are ready to go down this same road again! It is safe to say they will be voted out. St. Paul taxpayers are fed up.