Secrets of the City

I moderated a candidate forum with all five of these people on Monday. Meria is quite impressive. She only got through 5 public questions in the 20 minute Q & A period… (another candidate got through 18!) but Meria provided a ton of depth. Now if I could only learn how to say that name correctly…

That is a great name. If I have a daughter, she will be Meria.

It’s great that they could get an energetic superintendent, but I wonder whether the SPSB is making the same business mistake that the Minneapolis one did with Peebles–have they named their first choice before negotiating a contract, thereby putting Ms. Carstarphen in position to milk the district for all its worth?

It’s no worse than what happened with the last SPPS superintendent — Pat Harvey. She was the only candidate in that field and it was a foregone conclusion that she would be chosen.

Here’s how the search process went: Good – Fast – Cheap … pick only two.

The good news is, with her youth and inexperience she shouldn’t cost us much money. I’ll bet her current salary is about what one of our average teachers make.

And given her employment history of less than 18 months’ in every job she’s held, my advice is to make sure the auto lease is at least short-term so we don’t get stuck paying the balance ala Mpls.

Good … fast .. cheap.

It’s my profile on MySpace!

Not exactly cheap:

According to the Strib, “As chief accountability officer in Washington, D.C., she makes $170,000 a year. That’s more than Harvey made in her first year leading the St. Paul schools. But [the school board chairwoman] said she isn’t daunted by the prospects of reaching agreement, saying that all the finalists know what the pay range has been for St. Paul.”

I don’t know the ages of any one posting here so I won’t put words in anyone’s mouth. But as a 25-year-old I have noticed a marked difference between the way younger folks (say up to roughly 40) and older folks (say over roughly 40) view job tenure. It has been my experience that older workers tend to look down on someone who has had several different full-time jobs at a young age by assuming they are uncommited or only tolerable for a short period. What I try to remind them is that younger workers don’t hold that view and we view frequent job changes as the reality of today’s world.

I would caution folks to be careful and take this difference between generations into account before condemning her based on her job history.

I totally agree Kevin. When I was in college 10 years ago, I heard a lecture on the contractor economy. The idea is that all of us are independent contractors, going from job to job, as the need for our services arises. It’s an interesting idea.

After Saturday, I’ll have been at WCCO longer than anywhere (other than the Des Plaines, IL park district as a kid). 3 years.

Good point Kevin. I realize that to me, a 57 year-old boomer, a 36 year-old woman has youth and inexperience, while to you she’s probably an old hag. Which reminds me … I have a 25 year-old son named Kevin who’s living in Mpls. Kevin!? Is that you boy?!

It’s just that some of us geezers want school superintendents to have a few more years between them and the studi than, oh, 20 … kind of like the old saying that you know you’re old when your doctor is younger than you are. The head of the schools should be older than your kids.

When the school board announced the final five candidates, it was clear that they were looking for something new — a young, energetic, go-getter. From that point on, it had to be either Kent Pekel or Meria Carstarphen.

I was surprised by their choice. While it seems as though Ms. Carstarphen is very talented and very enthusiastic, it also seems as though the trajectory of her career won’t leave her in St. Paul long enough to accomplish very much. Two years from now, she’ll move on to Atlanta (or somewhere) and we’ll be doing this again.

Kent Pekel, on the other hand, shares all her best qualities — and he’s a St. Paulite through and through. He’s not looking to find something better — he’s looking to make St. Paul schools the best in the country (and he and his wife — Pat Harvey’s former chief of staff — have been doing it for the past several years).

I think Carstarphen will be a far better choice than Peebles (whose autocratic, abrasive manner and utter lack of people skills doomed her from the start). I don’t agree with the “locals only” mentality; having moved here from Nevada, where that way of thinking meant too many boneheads got top public-sector jobs based solely on residence. However, I agree that her ambition and habit of moving on could mean that she leaves before completing the job. We’ll have to wait and see.

However, I agree that her ambition and habit of moving on could mean that she leaves before completing the job.

Uh, it’s a bureacracy. No ones ever “completes the job.” It’s a process that produces results that are either better or worse than the previous year, but nothing ever gets “solved.” The problem never goes away, it just gets “worked on” by a new set of bureaucrats generation to generation.

And so from a practical standpoint, when a new administrator gets hired the only relevant question is, “how much is he/she going to cost us?” Anybody who believes otherwise hasn’t seriously been paying attention.

My first career was radio, which was a blessing in that I got used to the whole “no job security” thing nice and early.

As to Carstarphen; I don’t think any single person, no matter how much “youth” and “energy” they bring to the job, can overcome the inertia in the system (or even deal meaningfully with its causes) enough to enact any meaningful change. Pat Harvey’s “successful” reign at Colborne left behind a district that has tidied up a few of its test score numbers, and is less of a disgrace than Minneapolis – but “less of a disgrace” isn’t exactly stirring.

I’m happy to say it’s irrelevant to me; I’ve pulled my kids the hell out of the SPPS.

GOODNESS

what a joke. This woman has 5 jobs in 6 years, hasn’t proven herself anywhere and now is going to get paid 175,000.

No wonder most middle class parents bail out of the cities if they can

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Hey Derusha, I assure you, your wife is NOT HOT.

Not cool, dave. Keep it above the belt. Something like: “WCCO: Better when Don Shelby was here.”

Wow Dave… a little uncalled for.

Why don’t the haters & cheap shot artists ever register? It’s complete chickenshit…they can dish it out, but are afraid to take it.

Dave P: Not hot.

I am excited to see what will happen under the leadership of the new superintendent. I also was dismayed to read a few of your comments against the SPPS. I think it is interesting that raj automatically assumes that suburban schools are automatically better than a city school. Have you checked the progress that students in SPPS are making? THe ELL program in particular has made the greatest gains in the entire nation. It is easy to sit back in judgement, but only time will be the real test of Dr. Carstarphen’s effectiveness. As for how much she is going to cost, if you want quality, qualified professionals, they are going to come at a price. Raj, do you have experience in the field of education? Mitch? If you have ideas that could help improve the district, please run them by the school board. That is a much more effective way to make a positive change than posting disparaging remarks on a website.

As a high school student in St. Paul I have to say I love this cities schools. Am proud to say I’ve been through three diffeent schools and loved every one.
I love the the idea of a new, younger superintendant comming in. From reading earlier comments it seems alot of people think Ms. Carstarphen isnt as well qualified as many may have liked, but theres nothing wrong with trying something new. To many parents it may seem scary with someone so young being in charge of the school district but you also have to look at it as a student.
With someone so much younger, students can relate and feel more comfortable around her. Durring the last 4 years I have met Ms. Harvey more times than I can count. But every time I wondered why someone so unrelatable to us no matter how experienced she may be, was in charge of what happens to our schools….by the way, she never visited!
Already Ms. Carstarphen has been to many schools and even came to my little brothers school carnival.
Im excited to interview her for my schools newspaper, and I think many of you skeptics should be more open minded.

p.s. if someone can make progress in the Washington D.C school districs…they have my attention and support.