St. Paul's Classic Fail

"So in about a month, she is going to walk out of the door with a check for about 3/4 of a million dollars. And to earn that much, she needs to do .... nothing."

Oh boy. Did she ever just hit a home run. Fixed for life I would say. And what did she do to earn it? Two things really. First, she signed a contract with a bunch of rubes who didn't really care where the money would come from to pay her. And second, she under performed. So much so, the powers that be on the St. Paul School Board are cutting her loose.

So in about a month, she is going to walk out of the door with a check for about 3/4 of a million dollars. And to earn that much, she needs to do .... nothing. So in our state's second biggest school district, a district which has been plagued with budget and discipline issues (many due to the outgoing superintendent), someone needs to come up with all this jack to pay this lady. Wait - I know where they will find it! The taxpayers!

Oh and by the way, they will need an interim superintendent while the search goes on for a new highly overpaid educator. Of course, there will be dollars which will need to be spent on the search. Maybe hiring an overpaid search firm. You know - to ensure they get the right person who is the right fit. That is, until that person is under contract and then the Board discovers he or she is not.

Here is the bottom line. The problems in both the Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts go much deeper than one person can fix. Way deeper. The current and outgoing superintendent had some world class stupid ideas on discipline. Like let's not do any more of it. Let the inmates run the asylum. And the result was teachers being assaulted by thugs in their own classrooms. 

Good luck St. Paul. Minneapolis has just hired a guy from Alaska to come in and fix that mess. The first thing he will find waiting for him are a couple of shot out windows in the Minneapolis district admin building. And there is already criticism mounting from the community as the new superintendent is "too white". 

The bottom line is something that I and many others have been saying for years now. Our education system is broken in Minnesota. It needs a reboot - a makeover. There is no magician they can hire to come in and fix this broken system. The system needs to fix itself by becoming "unbroken".

Until that happens, the good taxpayers of Minnesota will continue to dig deep in their pockets to pay for ... nothing.