A former Lakeville middle school teacher has pleaded guilty to two counts each of gross misdemeanor stalking and felony burglary in connection with a rash of crimes that he blamed on “financial ruin.”

Christopher Jerome Endicott, 51, of Apple Valley, entered the guilty pleas Monday in Dakota County District Court in Hastings. On Feb. 1, Endicott pleaded guilty to felony identity theft.

As part of Monday’s plea agreement with prosecutors, one count each of gross misdemeanor theft and felony financial transaction card fraud will be dismissed at sentencing, which is set for June 17. The two stalking charges were also reduced from felony level.

Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said Monday his office will be seeking an aggravated upward departure, which would add up to 13 years and six months in prison.

“That’s the most we can seek under state sentencing guidelines in connection with the most serious offense,” he said. “There were 14 identity theft victims, two stalking victims and two victims involved in burglary offenses … so it’s certainly a troubling series of cases.”

Meanwhile, Endicott’s attorney, Bruce Rivers, said Monday he will be asking for probation, based upon Endicott’s ongoing therapy and amenability to probation.

“So there’s a big gap between what both sides are seeking in the sentencing in this case,” Backstrom said. “Obviously we think this is serious patterns of criminal behavior that warrants a lengthy prison term.”

Also Monday, Judge Tim Wermager ordered that Endicott undergo a presentence investigation and psychological evaluation.

Before joining Century Middle School in Lakeville as its principal in 2012, Endicott was the assistant principal at Dakota Hills Middle School in Eagan, which also is in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district. He resigned in May 2018.

‘FINANCIAL RUIN’

The slew of allegations against Endicott surfaced in January 2018 after Apple Valley police said someone from his home accessed a phone and an iPad that belong to the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district, where his wife worked as a counselor and teacher.

Endicott would later be accused of stealing personal and financial information from employees of the school district, their family members and others.

Search warrants were executed at Endicott’s work and Apple Valley home, and computers and other electronic equipment were seized. Analysis of the electronics revealed significant personal and financial information about school employees and others, the charges say.

Investigators discovered Endicott made purchases using their credit cards and wrote about accessing several accounts. In one writing, Endicott indicated that he was in “financial ruin,” according to charges.

NEIGHBORS ALSO TARGETED

In March 2018, Endicott was accused of burglary for breaking into his next-door neighbors’ home in Apple Valley in 2015 while they were away, prying open a safe and stealing two rings. The rings were found in Endicott’s file cabinet at Century Middle School in February and traced back to the neighbors.

Also in March 2018, he was charged with second-degree burglary and theft for allegedly stealing sports cards in late 2017 from someone who rented his house. An employee of a sports memorabilia store put a value of $738 on the stolen cards, charges said.

Before Monday’s guilty pleas, other than a speeding conviction in Dakota County in 2011, Endicott had not had a criminal record in Minnesota, court records show.

His attorney said Endicott “feels terrible” and that “he is sorry to his victims.”

“This is not who he thought he was going to be at this point in his life,” Rivers said.

Maggie Veith spent most of her life watching her older brothers work their way through Boy Scouts.

When the program started accepting girls as members in February, the 11-year-old was stoked.

“Yes, I need to join right now,” she said. She even asked her mom, Jenny Veith, to be her Scoutmaster.

Over the past two months, 31 all-girl troops have formed in the Twin Cities metro, including Troops 7071 and 7559 in Woodbury, with 110 in progress elsewhere in the region.

Like Maggie, many of the girls watched older brothers go through Boy Scouts and had parents as group leaders. They grew up on the periphery of the organization, developing a love for the outdoors, but until now, they couldn’t join the organization.

“This is history,” said Dick Hansen, chartered organization representative at The Grove United Methodist Church in Woodbury, which hosts the new all-girl Troop 7071.

Those involved in Scouting say the push to include girls came from inside and outside the program.

“Families had been asking to keep their boys and girls together in the same program,” Hansen said. “(They) said their girls wanted to continue in BSA and told the leaders to do something about it.”

According to a Boy Scouts of America spokeswoman, 87 percent of parents not involved with the organization also expressed interest in a BSA-like program for their daughters.

The organization has allowed girls in some of its offerings since the 1970s, but it wasn’t until 2018 that it officially welcomed girls into Cub Scouts, its program for 5-10 year olds. That same year, it announced Boy Scouts would follow suit and be rebranded as Scouts BSA.

“We formed in 1910, and if you were forming a youth organization today … would you have the same composition as you would back in 1910?” said Kent York, director of marketing and communications for the regional Scouting organization Northern Star Council. “The answer is you would take advantage of current conditions and what families are looking for.”

Northern Star Council, like most Scouts BSA councils, has seen a steady decline in membership recently, York said.

“That’s been a trend for years with many different youth activities, not just Scouts … those programs are a lot smaller than they used to be,” he said.

York said the decision to allow girls to join Boy Scouts was not based on declining numbers, but the organization does see an opportunity to grow with a new group of kids. Northern Star Council has 383 Scouts BSA troops and hopes the roughly 1,400 girls in Cub Scouts continue on to Scouts BSA.

“We haven’t focused on a numerical goal or anything like that,” he said. “We believe that it will make an impact.”

In Woodbury, Scoutmasters looked to the future of the organization with optimism. Scott Peterson is scoutmaster for all-boys Troop 9559, which is linked with Troop 7559.

“Having girls come in just provides a new type of challenge, which is good,” Peterson said. “Bottom line, it’s just an opportunity.”

While planning an upcoming camping trip, the girls in Troop 7071 needed to come up with a menu of what to cook for their meals.

Scoutmaster Veith suggested they ask the boys in linked Troop 9091 what they usually made, but the girls were insistent they could come up with their own menu.

Veith and other scoutmasters say that virtually everything has stayed the same since the addition of girls — from Scout-led decision making to programming requirements. The boys, though, are giving a helping hand to ease the learning curve.

“The girls will be coming alongside the boys for a while in order to have them learn how to do the skills and be able to be mentored by the boys’ leadership,” Veith said. “And then if we get big enough, then we can look at meeting in our own place or on a different night or something like that.”

The collaboration between boys and girls in the troops has gone well so far, local scoutmasters said.

Peterson said he had already noticed the girls’ confidence and willingness to embrace the program.

“I know that we’ve got a couple really strong girls — they’re raring to lead,” he said.

St. Paul Public Schools will start gathering detailed ethnicity data on students this week as it looks to paint a more complete picture of its academic achievement gaps.

The district is one of five early adopters under the state’s 2016 “All Kids Count Act.” Next year, schools statewide will ask parents for detailed information on their children’s race and ethnic origins.

“Our families for years have wanted it, particularly our Southeast Asian families and our Somali families,” said Stacey Gray Akyea, the St. Paul district’s director of research and evaluation.

The Minnesota Department of Education says the new data, which it will report alongside graduation rates and scores on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, will help to “identify and serve the educational needs of these specific student groups.”

However, some ethnic organizations are pushing back against the expanded data collection.

In Minnesota and a handful of other states doing something similar, Chinese Americans have raised concerns about identity, opportunity and public funding.

In a legislative hearing March 27, Chinese American Alliance president Chuck Li said his supporters worry about losing government support if their kids’ performance data are reported separately from lower-performing Asians.

Some wonder if data disaggregation will someday result in affirmative action policies in which Chinese Americans and Indian Americans lose seats at top colleges to members of other Asian ethnicities.

Andrew Peng, a Rosemount eighth-grader, dismissed concerns about the state’s wide gaps in school performance among racial and ethnic groups, saying he and his friends do well because they work hard.

“What this (law) means to me is the label of foreigner or non-American will be with me, even my children, forever,” he said.

Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, said the law has created “division in the community” and “will not address the pesky problem of the achievement gap.”

The Senate education finance and policy committee heard testimony but took no action on his bill to repeal the law.

St. Paul schools superintendent Joe Gothard criticized Chamberlain’s bill on Twitter.

“There is not a single argument for ‘closing our eyes’ to the persistence of racially predictable educational outcomes and attainment,” Gothard said.

Dear #mnleg, representing the second largest and most racially diverse district in the state of MN, I stand opposed to SF709. There is not a single argument for "closing our eyes" to the persistence of racially predictable educational outcomes and attainment. 1/2

— Joe Gothard, Ed.D. (@JoeGothard) March 28, 2019

25 SUBGROUPS

Under federal law, schools must sort students into one of seven categories: white; black or African-American; Hispanic or Latino; Asian; American Indian or Alaska Native; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; or multiple races.

Under the new state law, Minnesota has added 25 more specific designations, including Puerto Rican, Dakota/Lakota, Hmong and Liberian.

Unlike with the seven federal categories, the more detailed questions are optional, and school staff will not select an ethnicity for those who don’t answer.

Gray Akyea said the St. Paul district for years has used other data, such as race, home language and English learner status, to give ethnic groups a rough sense of how their children are doing in school.

The proxy reports have been “as close as we can get,” she said, “but it’s not exactly what they asked for.”

This week, she said, all parents will get a message from their school encouraging them to make updates on Infinite Campus, the district’s student information website. Once they sign in, parents will see a highlighted section that includes the race and ethnicity questions.

Gray Akyea said the district hasn’t decided whether, or how, to publicly report the data they collect this spring.

“It’s a sensitive topic so you need some time to do it responsibly and ethically,” she said.

However, the state will report its findings on the new subgroups.

In defense of the new law, Grace Lee, who founded the St. Paul Korean immersion charter school Sejong Academy, said there are huge differences between Korean Americans and Karen refugees — and the gulf in their academic achievement can’t be explained by effort.

She told lawmakers that detailed data collection can highlight these differences and help policymakers close gaps in achievement.

“The Asian model minority myth is not an accurate reflection of the diverse community of the Asians and Pacific Islanders from more than 40 nations now living in Minnesota,” she said.

In a ceremonial welcome address a few graduation seasons ago, Macalester College President Brian Rosenberg reflected on the value of a liberal arts education in today’s world through the 741 books that lined a wall in his office.

“More important than any information within them was the process of exploration that took me through their pages,” Rosenberg told the graduates. “The act itself had deep and intrinsic value that transcended any particular outcome. Only those who have pushed their minds and their hearts into unfamiliar places will know what I mean. You all, I hope, know what I mean.”

It was Rosenberg’s own heart that told him it was time to step down from the position he has held at the private St. Paul liberal arts college since 2003.

“This feels right to me,” he told the Pioneer Press in an interview on Monday. “It feels right to the institution. At a certain point, a change in leadership is healthy.”

Rosenberg, 63, set his last day as May 31, 2020, allowing the school time to find a successor.

“Macalester’s best days lie not in its past or present but in its future,” Rosenberg wrote in a message to the school community. “I will, during the next fourteen months, do all in my power to ensure that that future is one of which we can be proud.”

Rosenberg is Macalester’s 16th president, having served previously as dean of the faculty at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., and as English department chairman at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. He is a scholar in the work of Charles Dickens and a native New Yorker. Rosenberg and his wife, a physician, have two grown sons.

During his time at Macalester, the private school has been recognized for the education it offers. In the U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 rankings, Macalester was 27th among the best National Liberal Arts Colleges.

“Over the past 16 years, Macalester has been the beneficiary of his incredible leadership,” Board of Trustees President Jerry Crawford said of Rosenberg in a statement. “I believe he is one of the best presidents in the history of our college, and his impact will be felt long into the future.”

While Rosenberg said he’ll leave opinions on any impact he has had at Macalester up to others, he did point out that, during his tenure, the student body has become more diverse, with domestic students of color up from 12 percent in 2003 to 26 percent now.

In an interview last September with Abe Asher of the Mac Weekly, the college’s student newspaper, Rosenberg had hinted of the timing of his departure, saying that he would stay through the completion of “The Macalester Moment,” the college’s $100 million fundraising campaign, noting: “I owe that to the college. It’s really hard for a college when a president leaves in the middle of a campaign. That tends only to happen when someone gets fired or they just leave because they want to take a job that they think is a better job. I think I’ll do something after Macalester, but I will never be a college president again. I could not generate the engagement again with another institution that I feel with this one. So I don’t see myself just sitting around and doing nothing, but it will be something else.”

The $100 million campaign goal has been reached, although additional fundraising is ongoing. Funds raised include significant financial aid and scholarships for students: For the 2018-19 academic year, a Macalester student’s total cost for room, board and fees is $66,500.

On Monday, Rosenberg reflected on what the Macalester students have taught him — especially two students who came to Macalester from opposite sides of a Greek-Turkish conflict on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. The Greek Cypriot student told Rosenberg that the first time they had ever spoken with a Turkish Cypriot was at Macalester. That type of connection is not rare at Macalester, Rosenberg says, but it is special.

“That people can come here from all parts of the world — parts of the world where they might typically be seen as enemies — and find a way to connect as humans, it seems like a model to me, a way that we might somehow make the world a more peaceful place,” Rosenberg said. “It’s moments like that — where people connect — that have really been very special to me.”

Brenda Cassellius, former Minnesota commissioner of education, is among seven candidates for Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District superintendent.

The school district’s Board of Education on Monday accepted a slate of semifinalists from search firm School Exec Connect. Superintendent Cindy Amoroso is retiring June 30.

The other candidates are:

• Theresa Battle, assistant superintendent for St. Paul Public Schools
• Anthony Bonds, assistant superintendent for teaching, learning and innovation in Beloit, Wis., Public Schools
• Ryan Laager, superintendent of Belle Plaine, Minn., Public Schools
• Jeff Pesta, superintendent of Kenyon-Wanamingo, Minn., Public Schools
• Leadriane Roby, assistant superintendent in Richfield Public Schools
• Cecilia Saddler, deputy chief of academics, leadership and learning for Minneapolis Public Schools

Cassellius was appointed state commissioner of education in 2010 by then-Gov. Mark Dayton, and was replaced by Mary Cathryn Ricker when Gov. Tim Walz took office in January.

Cassellius was previously a classroom teacher, administrator and superintendent for several school systems, including East Metro Integration District.

Whoever lands the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage job will immediately be tasked with leading the district through expected budget shortfalls in future years, including a projected $7 million deficit in the 2019-20 school year. The district points to lagging state aid, underfunding for special services and declining enrollment as reasons why it is in the hole.

In mid-March, the school board heard final proposed budget cuts totaling $6.5 million; a vote is expected in June.

The candidates were scheduled for a first round of interviews with board members Tuesday and Wednesday.

The meetings are tentatively scheduled for three days — April 15-17 — at Diamondhead Education Center, 200 W. Burnsville Parkway. Times are 5 to 6 p.m.

Following the meetings, the board will interview each candidate and possibly choose a preferred candidate by the end of April 17.

St. Paul Public Schools will not adjust its schedule to make up for school days lost to the snow and cold.

After its seventh cancellation Thursday, the St. Paul district will fall at least two days short of the statutory 165-day minimum for its middle and high schools.

However, Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill this month that, for this treacherous weather year only, allows schools to fall short of the required hours and days of instruction without penalty.

Superintendent Joe Gothard said Friday the district will take advantage of that law.

“We are not going to modify our calendar,” he said.

Several other school districts scheduled make-up days before the legislation was signed.

The new law also requires schools to give hourly employees the opportunity to make up for work time lost to the weather cancellations. St. Paul district spokesman Kevin Burns said any hourly workers who were scheduled to be at school on those days were paid as if they had worked.

As 16 St. Paul middle schoolers boarded a packed flight home after a spring break trip to Washington last week, their teacher watched from the gate.

Mark Westpfahl says American Airlines bumped him at random from the oversold plane when no one volunteered to take a later flight.

“My name was pulled,” he lamented on Twitter.

Well, @AmericanAir overbooked our flight…. and guess who can't fly. Yup. Me.

My name was pulled.

So, my trusted best friend chaperone will be on the flight with our #CHCougars alone.

— Mark J. Westpfahl (@MarkJWestpfahl) April 6, 2019

The students from Capitol Hill Gifted and Talented Magnet did not fly unaccompanied. A second Capitol Hill teacher who made the trip was given a seat on the April 5 flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Still, flying home without their teacher “kind of felt weird” for the students, said Leah Logan, whose seventh-grade daughter was on the D.C. trip.

“I knew that she was in good hands with the other chaperone, but I don’t think that should have happened with American or any airline,” Logan said.

Westpfahl said in an interview that the airline treated his group well, at first. Students were invited to check out the cockpit on the flight out, and the two teachers briefly were offered a first-class upgrade on the way home.

Within minutes, though, the upgrade disappeared, and so did Westpfahl’s seat.

“Your name appears last on the manifest,” he said he was told. “It literally happened within a two- to two-and-a-half minute span.”

The airline tells a different story. They say someone did indeed volunteer to take a later flight: Westpfahl.

“According to our records, and after we consulted with our team in Washington D.C. as well, he volunteered,” the airline said in a written response Friday to the Pioneer Press.

American initially awarded Westpfahl a voucher for a future flight valued at the volunteer rate, rather than the higher rate paid to passengers who are involuntarily bumped.

But the teacher said the airline admitted to him it was involuntary, and he’s since been offered a larger voucher or cash.

Westpfahl, who has been in the running for state teacher of the year, said it’s possible the airline characterized his bumping as voluntary because he didn’t make a scene in the airport.

“I do wonder if being overly calm and trying to set a good example for my students ended up screwing me over,” he said.

Westpfahl now is waiting to hear what American will do to ensure minors and their chaperones never are separated again.

The airline did not respond to a Pioneer Press inquiry about its supervision policies.

Westpfahl said he turned media coverage of the group’s plight into an impromptu classroom lesson Friday. His students made the best of the situation, too, seizing the opportunity to tease their teacher.

“Two students said, ‘We’re kind of happy you weren’t on the plane because we were afraid you’d keep talking to us about history and telling dad jokes,’ ” he said.

It takes up nearly half the state’s general fund budget and is typically one of the last things lawmakers agree on before wrapping up their work at the Legislature.

Education spending — on public schools from preschool to postsecondary — accounts for $22 billion of the state’s current two-year, $45.5 billion budget. Minnesota school districts, colleges and universities educate more than 1 million students each year.

In a state with one of the nation’s most persistent academic achievement gaps for students of color, state lawmakers generally agree that improving public schools is key to Minnesota’s future success and economic prosperity.

The scene at Stillwater High School last week was a familiar one: a bipartisan group of lawmakers touring the school and visiting classrooms to highlight unique programs and hear directly from students and teachers about the best ways to improve schools.

“We are in agreement on the outcomes,” Gov. Tim Walz said. “How we get there is a fair and debatable part of our process.”

Nearly every year there are big differences between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to how much new taxpayer money should be dedicated to education.

This is year is no different. That gap is almost a billion dollars.

• House Democrats are proposing as much as $1.2 billion in new spending.
• Senate Republicans have offered a $307 million increase.
• Gov. Walz has proposed $882 million in new money.

Those increases are on top of the more than $700 million the education budget is expected to increase because of growing enrollment and existing programs if lawmakers do nothing new.

“We do agree on the outcomes,” said Sen. Karin Housley, R-St. Marys Point, who visited the school in her district with the governor. “And (while) we will probably still be disagreeing and going back and forth over the next six weeks, we’ll get there.”

The disagreements over education funding between Democrats and Republicans are complex.

Democrats prefer generous new spending, often aimed at particular programs, to help schools meet the growing needs of students. They say state help is essential to ensure all students have equal and equitable opportunities.

Republicans want more modest spending increases paired with reforms and flexibility that help local officials focus on programs that work best for their districts. They argue state funds should be a baseline allowing local taxpayers to approve unique investments.

Here’s a look at the biggest differences between the two parties’ proposals for education in the next state budget:

Students

One of the largest parts of the public school budget is the per-pupil funding formula that currently provides districts with $6,312 for each student. Schools have flexibility on how to spend that money, and it is typically used for day-to-day expenses like teachers’ salaries.

School leaders have long tried to convince the Legislature to tie the formula to inflation in hopes of avoiding the biennial debate about spending. Lawmakers have mostly balked at the idea because of the cost and the volatility that often surround state revenue collections.

This year, House Democrats want to increase the per-pupil funding formula by 3 percent in 2020 and 2 percent in 2021. Doing so will cost $520 million over the next two years.

DFLers also want to spend up to $90 million to help districts afford the growing cost of educating students with special needs.

Special education mandates are based on state and federal regulations, and those governments are supposed to cover a large part of the cost. However, they’ve never met the funding promised, and school districts spent more than $800 million last year to fill the gap.

Republicans haven’t proposed new funding to help districts with special education costs, but they continue to work to reduce paperwork and other time-consuming tasks with hopes it will reduce costs and increase the time teachers spend with students.

The GOP budget proposal also includes $74 million for infrastructure to improve school safety. Democrats have pushed for increased background checks and a system for removing guns from people deemed dangerous to make schools and other public places safer.

Higher education

Lawmakers also want to increase state aid to colleges and universities but again are divided over the best way to do it.

Keeping student debt in check is a key overall goal. Minnesotans now have more than $27 billion in educational loan debts, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The DFL proposal includes more than $300 million in new spending. It would be used to pay for a tuition freeze at two- and four-year state colleges and universities and new resources for scholarship and grant programs.

Republicans also want to increase aid to needy students. They’ve proposed $100 million in new higher education spending that they say will hold tuition increase to inflation.

Teachers

One of the biggest challenges facing Minnesota’s teaching workforce is not directly related to funding. The state’s educators are more than 95 percent white while the student population continues to diversify. Thirty-five percent of pupils are now students of color.

Both parties support spending new money on programs to recruit and retain teachers of color. There is also a focus on helping teacher aids and other staffers who want to become teachers get licensed.

One potentially contentious policy debate could complicate those efforts.

House Democrats want to update teacher licensing rules to close what they see as a loophole that would allow people without formal training to eventually earn a permanent teaching license. The provision was opposed by teachers union leaders when it was included in the licensing overhaul that was approved in 2017.

Republicans and education reform advocates oppose the change. They want to give the new licensing system time to work and fear changes will result in teachers of color being forced from the classroom.

Taxpayers

However lawmakers decide to spend new state money on education, it’s got to come from somewhere. The state currently is projecting a $1 billion budget surplus, but that money quickly gets eaten up by future inflationary expenses.

Democrats want to raise $1.2 billion in new tax revenues to pay for additional education funding and other priorities. To raise the new money, they’re saying corporations and the wealthy need to pay more in taxes.

To come to an agreement on an education budget the two sides will have to meet somewhere in the middle. To finish on time, they have to find common ground by May 20, otherwise the existing budget expires June 30 and government could shutdown.

Superintendent Joe Gothard has scaled back plans to hire an army of teacher-training coordinators after meeting resistance from St. Paul Public Schools teachers and parents.

The district is preparing to hire 28 “learning leads” to implement the first components of Gothard’s new strategic plan next school year. The specially assigned teachers will help colleagues make instruction more culturally relevant and work to establish a positive climate at their assigned schools.

“There’s going to be a lot of information, and there’s going to be a need for a lot of professional development,” Gothard said.

Having a designated training coordinator will enable teachers to do much of that strategic work during the school day, he said.

However, the St. Paul Federation of Educators sees the positions as an unnecessary new layer of administration.

Union President Nick Faber said Gothard failed to ask teachers what they need in their schools. Faber said that list includes translators, social workers, counselors, psychiatrists and nurses.

“It’s not another coach that they need in their building,” he said.

Gothard initially proposed creating 70 positions — one for each school — over two years. He’s since cut the number to 28, with only the poorest and lowest-performing schools getting a learning lead next year.

The remaining schools will rely largely on school principals to implement the strategic initiatives.

“It just felt like the right approach to take right now,” Gothard said.

Faber said he doesn’t care for the new plan, either.

“Now, the schools that most need adults connecting with kids, building relationships with our students, are instead going to get someone to work with other adults,” he said.

Although the district already has compiled a list of applicants for the new positions, Gothard first needs approval from the school board, which will pass next year’s budget in June.

To pay for the new positions, which cost around $108,000 apiece, the district plans to tap two sources:

• $2 million in redirected federal Title I grants for low-income schools. This year, that money helps to pay for teacher training, library materials and district-level family engagement, as well as a contingency fund, Title I director Sherry Carlstrom said.
• Ten positions would be covered by part of a $1.75 million federal school-improvement grant that passes through the state. This year, it’s largely paying for teacher and principal training.

Carlstrom said the learning leads represent a new structure for doing the kind of work — training and coaching teachers — that’s now done by different types of positions.

A key difference is they’ll be embedded in a particular school rather than working at the district level. Carlstrom said that will ensure teachers and their principals are getting the same message.

“If you look at the research, professional development that’s ongoing, sustained and supported is the best kind of professional development,” she said.

The 28 positions are among $8 million in proposed new spending next year that’s tied to Gothard’s strategic plan. The rest will pay for a return to a seven-period day at the middle school level and several positions to help high school students prepare for careers.

Gothard said he has no immediate plans to spend what the district will save by scaling back on learning leads.

The education commissioner under former Gov. Mark Dayton is a finalist for two high-profile jobs in other states.

Brenda Cassellius, who stepped aside in January after eight years in the job, was announced this week as one of three finalists for superintendent of Boston Public Schools.

She’s also one of five in the running for Michigan’s state superintendent of schools.

Cassellius was a finalist for superintendent of the Burnsville-Savage-Eagan school district, as well, but recently withdrew.

That leaves just two finalists for the Burnsville job: St. Paul assistant superintendent Theresa Battle and Belle Plaine superintendent Ryan Laager.

The Burnsville board could pick its favorite as early as Wednesday night.

The head of Minnesota’s largest higher-education system has agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep him on the job through July 2023.

Minnesota State Chancellor Devinder Malhotra took over for the retiring Steven Rosenstone on an interim basis in 2017 after a failed search for a permanent chancellor.

The Board of Trustees dropped the interim label after a second fruitless search a year later.

Malhotra, 71, previously a St. Cloud University provost and interim president at Metropolitan State University, joked Wednesday that he’s been a “complete failure at retirement.”

The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to authorize chairman Michael Vekich to negotiate a two-year contract extension with Malhotra.

Vekich said Malhotra has worked to build trust with faculty; encouraged open communication among trustees and school presidents; renewed the system’s focus on student success; and reaffirmed its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

“Has proven himself in this position to be a gifted, inspirational and effective leader,” Vekich said.

As chancellor, Malhotra has toured the state to promote relationships with local employers and held a series of forums he described as “crowdsourcing ideas to reimagine Minnesota State.”

He’s said the system of 30 public two-year colleges and seven universities must take risks and innovate in the face of declining enrollment and modest state support.

Two years after Burnsville-Eagan-Savage lost its superintendent to the St. Paul school district, St. Paul is returning the favor.

Theresa Battle, assistant superintendent for high schools in the St. Paul district, was unanimously selected Wednesday to be the next superintendent in Burnsville-Eagan-Savage.

Good morning! I am truly thankful to the District 191 Board of Education for believing in me and to the students, staff, parents; business partners and community members for your commitment to the success of each student enrolled in the district!https://t.co/GEcERqhon1

— Theresa Battle (@DrTBattle) April 18, 2019

She beat out the only other finalist, Belle Plaine superintendent Ryan Laager.

“Dr. Battle’s values align with our district’s, and her experience and skills, particularly in the area of equity, will help us deliver on our mission of ensuring each student is future ready and community strong,” board chairwoman Abigail Alt said in a news release.

Battle, 57, has been in her current job since 2013. She previously worked as a teacher and principal in St. Paul and assistant superintendent in Minneapolis.

She’ll take over for the retiring Cindy Amoroso this summer. Amoroso took the job in 2017 when superintendent Joe Gothard left to lead the St. Paul district.

Brenda Cassellius, who left office in January after eight years as Gov. Mark Dayton’s education commissioner, also was a finalist for the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage job but withdrew last week.

Cassellius is one of five finalists for Michigan’s state superintendent of schools and one of three finalists for superintendent of Boston Public Schools.

MADISON, Wis. — An investigation into the husband of former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper found that at least seven students or staff reported being sexually harassed by him, records released Friday showed.

Kopper resigned in December. Her husband, Alan “Pete” Hill, was banned from campus and stripped of his ceremonial, unpaid title of associate to the chancellor in June after an earlier investigation identified three women who said he harassed them.

The second investigation was opened in September amid more allegations and it was completed in December. The university released the 18-page investigative report and about 850 pages of attachments on Friday in response to an open records request from the Associated Press and other media outlets.

UW System spokesman Mark Pitsch said in a statement that after UW President Ray Cross was briefed on findings of the report in mid-December, he advised Kopper to resign.

“She did, and the report speaks for itself,” Pitsch said.

The report found no evidence that Kopper knew about or facilitated the actions of her husband, even though his behavior was “pervasive and well-known.” The report also said that a number of university employees took steps to protect one another from Hill.

“At best, this suggests that Hill’s behavior was a blindspot for the Chancellor,” the report said.

There was no definitive evidence that Kopper retaliated directly against anyone who made a report of sexual harassment against her husband, the report said. However, it also said she didn’t inquire about allegations “because she was wearing her Chancellor’s hat.”

The harassment occurred mainly on campus at university-related properties, including the chancellor’s residence during official events.

There were between seven and 10 women who claimed, either directly to investigators or to other witnesses who recounted the same information, that they were sexually harassed by Hill.

Hill’s attorney, Bob Kasieta, said in an email that Hill had not had time to study the report. Hill previously denied any wrongdoing.

Kopper is still receiving her chancellor salary of $242,760 while on administrative leave until she returns in the fall to teach. Her salary will be reduced to $118,308 when she assumes her teaching duties.

When Matt Birk announced his retirement from football six years ago, the Baltimore Ravens center and former Minnesota Viking did not hold a news conference at the team facility. He chose a library at a Baltimore elementary school as the place to say he was leaving the game he first played as a kid growing up in St. Paul.

Matt Birk’s retirement announcement

“I’ve enjoyed playing football. But as much as playing football, I’ve enjoyed doing this,” the 14-year NFL veteran said, referring to his community service with children through his HIKE Foundation.

Birk took questions from a class of students who sat legs crossed and looked up at the big man who helped bring the city a Super Bowl win a few weeks earlier. A boy in the back asked Birk why he’s retiring.

“Well, I’m old,” Birk said, drawing high-pitched laughs. “I have six kids, and it’s just time. I just feel like it’s time to do something else.”

Birk, now 42 with two more kids and living in Mendota Heights, believes he has found that something else. For the past year, Birk has been working with Tom Bengtson, a local entrepreneur and businessman, to start up what would be the metro area’s first Catholic high school south of Interstate 494.

Named Unity High School, it is set to open this fall in space at Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville, offering ninth grade only. The plan is to then add a grade each year until those freshmen are in 12th grade.

“We’re going to start small, maybe 25 students or so the first year,” Birk said last week. “We’re not only looking at this as just year one … we’re thinking 20 years down the road. What is this going to look like? We think it will be a thriving high school and thriving community.”

Birk is a devout Catholic who attended private schools his whole life — Nativity of Our Lord School, then Cretin-Derham Hall High School. He said he realizes that more and more children continue to be priced out of Catholic education, especially when they hit high school. Unity’s tuition for the 2019-20 school year will be $6,500.

“We’ll go up a little bit from there, but not much,” said Birk, a Harvard graduate with a degree in economics. “I don’t want this to come off like I’m throwing any stones at anybody, but it doesn’t have to cost $15,000 or $20,000 a year. And I was a financial-aid kid and would not have been able to go to high school without financial aid. But even with that, it was a big struggle.

“But I think we have a sound financial model and also a good product.”

RECEPTION HAS BEEN GOOD

The idea has been in Birk’s head since retirement. After moving back to the Twin Cities two years ago, he heard from a friend that Bengtson was looking to do the same in the south metro.

Bengtson, who is the owner and president of a small publishing company, co-founded Chesterton Academy in St. Louis Park in 2008, and served as a chairman for seven years. The Catholic school started with 10 students and now has an enrollment of about 165 at campuses in Edina and off Stillwater Boulevard on St. Paul’s East Side.

“I wanted to do this, but I didn’t know what it takes,” Birk said. “I’m not a detail person, and Tom is. He knows exactly what to put in the budget, things like a crucifix for the rooms and desks and how you hire. Just being through it before, he knows and has the template of how to do this year one.”

The two met up a year ago and “we realized our visions were pretty similar,” Bengtson said last week.

Bengtson had already spent a year doing research and hosting weekly meetings with community leaders in Lakeville to gauge interest. The reception was good. So are the prospects.

“There are 10 Catholic grade schools in that south-metro geography area that have eighth grade,” Bengtson said. “So that means there about 300 eighth-graders graduating every year from Catholic grade school in kind of that south-metro geography. Most of them end up going to public school because there’s really no close options, and also there’s an affordability issue there, too.”

Bengtson, 58, grew up in South Minneapolis and went to Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. He said it always amazed him that some of his classmates would drive from Apple Valley, Burnsville, even Lakeville, to get to Holy Angels. Those cities have since exploded in population, not to mention Eagan and Rosemount.

“There’s still a clear need,” he said, adding he doesn’t consider St. Thomas Academy and Visitation School in Mendota Heights to be south metro because they are north of Interstate 494. “If you go into the south metro, you don’t hit another Catholic high school until you get to Faribault. So if you live in Lakeville, there are no options.”

Bengtson said his research shows there about 70,000 Catholic high school-aged kids in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and that only 7,300 of them attend the 14 Catholic high schools each year. Bengtson said that tells him there is lots of room for Unity High School without hurting the enrollment of current ones.

“And we’re not setting up right next to any schools,” he said. “The closest schools to us are going to be St. Thomas and Visitation and Holy Angels — and those are nine miles away. And you have to cross the river to get to them.”

EMPHASIS ON LEADERSHIP, CHARACTER

The school will combine a standard liberal-arts-plus-science-and-math curriculum with an “emphasis on leadership education designed to develop character, virtue and a desire to serve,” according to its website.

Wednesdays will be reserved for “Real World Wednesdays,” offering up leadership training, hands-on learning and a service component that will be part of the students’ graduation requirements. Students will go to Mass three days a week.

“But what we really want to do, what we think we’re doing is giving kids a foundation, putting them on a trajectory to thrive in life, regardless of their path,” Birk said. “And that starts with giving them a firm foundation in their faith.”

The school has begun the three-phase process with the archdiocese to gain official status as a Catholic high school in the archdiocese, Bengtson said.

There are obvious challenges to starting out, he said. Students and teachers will have to bring their own lunch. There is not a gym, but the church has land with a soccer field next to the school that can be used for physical education.

And with Birk being a former NFL player, people want to know about athletics. That will depend on the interest of students and willingness of the parents to volunteer to coach, Bengtson said.

“I tell people that sports are one of the important, unimportant things,” Birk said. “We’ll have sports, but I think you need to keep sports in perspective. Here’s what I’d like to say: If you think you’re a Division I athlete, and if that’s your focus, don’t come to Unity. But if you want to be Division I in your faith and your character and leadership, then come to Unity.”

Bengtson said 40 families with eighth-graders have said they would consider going to the school in the fall. Just two families have paid the down payment to secure a spot, but Bengtson said he is not worried about the low number “because families tend to wait until August to decide.”

“A lot of people like what we’re doing and like the fact we’re taking a swing at this,” he said. “But there’s an element of courage for a family to decide, ‘Hey, I’m going to send my kid to this new high school. Is it real? Is it happening? Is it going to be sustainable?’ I tell people, ‘OK, I’m sending my kids to this school, so this is happening.’ And hopefully, that gives some people some confidence that Unity is going to be around for a long time.”

Minnesota’s high school graduation rate improved last year for at least the sixth consecutive year, according to data released Tuesday.

Statewide, 83.2 percent of charter and traditional public school students graduated within four years.

That’s up from 82.7 percent in 2017 and 78.4 percent in 2012, the first year for which the Minnesota Department of Education has produced comparable data.

Results were mixed in the Twin Cities.

St. Paul Public Schools’ on-time completion rate fell 2 percentage points from the year before, to 74.9 percent.

Minneapolis Public Schools improved more than 3 points, to 69.1 percent.

St. Paul Superintendent Joe Gothard noted that several student groups outperform the state average but acknowledged many students are not “on track,” limiting their opportunities for higher education and careers.

“Overall, we know that we have to improve,” he told the school board Tuesday night.

The state still has wide gaps in on-time graduation between white and Asian American students and other racial groups:

• white, 88 percent
• Asian, 87 percent
• multiple races, 72 percent
• black, 67 percent
• Hispanic, 67 percent
• American Indian, 51 percent

But those gaps have narrowed with all racial subgroups showing marked improvement in recent years.

“While they are persistent they are closing,” Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker told reporters Tuesday.

In 2018, Minnesota set a lofty goal of bringing its graduation rate to 90 percent in three years with no single group below 85 percent. The state won’t come close if it keeps making incremental gains, as it did last year.

“We recognize that the goal we set for 2020 was ambitious, and it must be,” Ricker said.

Ricker said she’s been visiting schools that have had particular success with certain student groups, such as American Indians.

She cited Grand Rapids, which graduated 22 of its 24 Native students last year, and Deer River, which graduated 14 of 20.

Statewide, just 51 percent of American Indians last year graduated on time.

Ricker credited high schools statewide for embracing such programs as concurrent enrollment and seals of bi-literacy, which enable students to earn early college credit.

“There is no lack of ambition or creativity,” she said.

The state teachers union cited the graduation data as evidence the state must invest more in public education.

“Years of chronic underfunding have, without question, contributed to the gaps we still see in the data on graduation rates,” Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said.

Boys will be allowed to compete on Minnesota high school dance teams beginning next school year.

The Minnesota State High School League recently sent out a memo to school activities directors announcing the change. The competitive dance teams had been all-girl, prompting a lawsuit by two boys wanting to compete.

The League “has agreed to a settlement of the recent lawsuit that will allow boys to participate … beginning with the 2019-2020 season,” the memo states. The deal avoids a protracted legal fight, the message continues.

A federal appeals court ruled in March that two boys at the center of the lawsuit be allowed to try out for the teams in their schools.

Dmitri Moua and Zachary Greenwald, juniors at high schools in Roseville and Hopkins, respectively, sued the MSHSL after their schools prohibited them from participating because the MSHSL bylaws did not allow boys to compete on high school dance teams.

Represented by the California-based Pacific Legal Foundation, Moua and Greenwald argued the bylaws violate their 14th Amendment right to equal protection. While the case works its way through federal courts, the boys sought an injunction that would allow them to compete in the meantime. An appeals panel in St. Paul overturned an earlier denial of the injunction in March.

“Being a part of this process has made me realize how important sticking up for the right thing is,” Greenwald said.

“I’m just an average high school teenager. I didn’t think I could make this change,” he added.

Greenwald has gotten the support of his classmates and the school in Hopkins throughout the process: “They are my biggest cheerleaders.”

“We are extremely pleased with the League’s decision to rescind the discriminatory rule,” Pacific Legal Foundation Senior Attorney Joshua Thompson said in a prepared statement. “For us, this case has always been about giving all Minnesota students the opportunity to dance. This settlement ensures that not only will our clients get to dance this year, but so will boys statewide. We are grateful for Dimitri and Zach’s courage to fight for their constitutional rights and are proud of their accomplishment.”

As part of the deal, MSHSL agreed to rescind the rule, notify the state’s schools, and make a $50,000 contribution to the Pacific Legal Foundation.

The MSHSL referred questions about the case to its attorney, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents will hold a special meeting Friday to discuss and possibly act on proposed name changes for four buildings on the Twin Cities campus.

President Eric Kaler has recommended scrubbing buildings named for Lotus Coffman, Walter Coffey, Edward Nicholson and William Middlebrook, citing the former university leaders’ racism or anti-Semitism while in office.

But several regents expressed opposition at a meeting in early March, raising doubt as to whether any building will be renamed.

Some claimed a 125-page academic report on the former leaders’ contributions and faults was unfair or asked that the men’s descendants be given a chance to defend their actions.

The March meeting was cut short for time, leaving the report’s authors without an opportunity to respond to the criticism.

The Faculty Consultative Committee later requested a special regents meeting dedicated to the subject.

A meeting notice for 1 p.m. Friday meeting says the purpose is “consideration and potential action” on the building names.

State lawmakers have yet to come together to appoint four new members to the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents.

They have until the last day of the legislative session, May 20, to do so.

But the odds that they will are looking more and more unlikely. If the two chambers do not call a joint convention — a gesture that is meant to be bipartisan — DFL Gov. Tim Walz will fill the four vacancies. The openings include a 5th Congressional District seat, two at-large seats and a student seat.

So what’s the holdup?

The delay is due in part to disagreements between members of the DFL-controlled House. Some Democrats want to use the opportunity to elect four people of color to the board. They say the U has made little progress in its quest to improve the retention and recruitment of minority students, and that a more diverse Board of Regents would see that these goals are fulfilled.

“We can’t continue to accept business as usual and accept the lack of inclusion and efforts to diversify this important institution,” read a letter from the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus in February. The letter was signed by 14 DFL representatives and five DFL senators.

The university’s 12 regents have say over policies, programs and yearly budgets. The unpaid board is made up of members from each congressional district and four at-large. Right now, there are 10 men and two women on the board. Three members are people of color.

A nonpartisan, 24-member council composed of public stakeholders recruited, screened and interviewed regent candidates last year. The Regent Candidate Advisory Council sent recommendations for 16 candidates, including five people of color, to a legislative commission in January. That panel picked finalists in February.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate were supposed to call a joint convention to vote on and elect the regents. It has yet to be scheduled, and it is unclear if it will be.

DEMOCRATS: WE’RE FOCUSED ON THE BUDGET

House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, said that Democrats need to be on the same page before they vote. He added that lawmakers in the House want to put forward their budget bills first.

“Honestly, the work of the budget is a lot more consuming of our attention,” Winkler said.

Daniel Wolter, chair of the Regent Candidate Advisory Council, said the delay could have long-term implications.

Dragging out the process by punting the picks to the governor could hamper efforts to recruit the best candidates, he said.

“I will say I think that is an impediment to getting quality candidates. Just people who don’t want to have to go through this political process,” Wolter said. “The longer this drags out … the more negative impact it will have on future efforts to recruit candidates for the Board of Regents.”

REPUBLICANS: THIS SHOULD BE A ‘NONPARTISAN ISSUE’

Senate Republicans have said the selection process should be a “nonpartisan issue.”

Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, said that delaying the process any further could impact other work at the Capitol.

“It’s an historic delay on the obligation of the Legislature to appoint members to the board,” Gazelka said. “I am concerned the end of session negotiations will be delayed by future internal fights within the House DFL Caucus.”

In the past 90 years, lawmakers have failed to elect new regents on just four occasions: 1933, 1937, 1973 and 2001. Gov. Jesse Ventura picked five new members in the most recent case.

GOVERNOR WEIGHS IN

The Legislature elects regents to six-year terms. The governor can only appoint them to two-year terms.

“I’m a big believer that when you set up these systems to find the right people, we should try and follow them,” Walz said. “I think the system as it’s set up now includes more stakeholders.”

Dave Orrick contributed to this report. 

Dakota County Technical College and Minnesota State have agreed to pay $100,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging whistleblower retaliation.

Cameron Stoltz, DCTC’s former men’s soccer coach and athletic coordinator, sued the school following his dismissal in 2016.

He claimed school leaders removed him because he raised concerns three years earlier about misspent federal funds, academic fraud and gender inequity in sports.

A 2013 investigation by Minnesota State, which oversees DCTC and 36 other public colleges and universities, validated some of Stoltz’s complaints.

That investigation found possible student-athlete eligibility violations and numerous financial irregularities concerning the school’s sports teams under then-President Ron Thomas.

Thomas, who first brought sports to the two-year school, retired before the investigation was completed.

His successor, Tim Wynes, split his time as president of both DCTC and nearby Inver Hills Community College until taking a job in Illinois last year.

Soon after Wynes took over at DCTC, Stoltz had his work hours cut by 25 percent without explanation. The faculty union later helped Stoltz win that time back.

In a preliminary ruling in December, Ramsey County District Judge Robyn Millenacker said Stoltz could continue making a case that DCTC’s attempt to reduce his work hours amounted to retaliation for his complaints against the school.

In the same ruling, however, Millenacker rejected the notion that DCTC, under new management, dismissed Stoltz in 2016 for what he’d done in 2013.

“The interval of time … is too vast and Plaintiff points to no other evidence establishing a reasonable inference of causation,” the judge wrote.

Further, Millenacker wrote that DCTC had legitimate grounds for declining to renew Stoltz’s contract in 2016.

Stoltz had become “progressively unprofessional and belligerent” with his supervisor, the judge wrote, and he failed to report that an assistant soccer coach had been cited by police for smoking marijuana on a road trip.

The school only learned about the drug use when Stoltz asked the school to reimburse a $200 hotel cleaning bill related to smoking in the room.

“Defendants presented legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons for not renewing Plaintiff’s temporary-part time employment contracts,” the judge wrote.

According to the settlement agreement, DCTC and Minnesota State agreed to the $100,000 payment in order to avoid additional litigation costs. They admitted no wrongdoing.

Stoltz, who directs league operations for the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

A 2015 federal Title IX investigation into gender equity in DCTC sports remains active.

The Board of Regents on Friday rejected a recommendation from outgoing president Eric Kaler to remove the names of four controversial leaders from buildings on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.

After a contentious two and a half hours meeting with numerous interruptions from an overflow audience of angry students and faculty, the board voted 10-1 to set aside Kaler’s proposal.

At the same time, the board directed the president’s administration to produce commemorations and educational displays and activities that reckon with the U’s history of racism and anti-Semitism at its highest levels.

Kaler said he supported the decision of top regents to call the special meeting in order to bring resolution to an issue that has roiled the university.

The last time regents met, in March, several regents charged the authors of a 125-page academic report with reaching unfounded conclusions and stacking evidence against the former university leaders.

Those regents repeated their criticisms Friday as one audience member accused them of “amateur scholarship.”

Still, regents adopted a separate resolution Friday that commended the faculty for their contributions, citing their “quality” work on the subject and the “integrity” of the individual members.

“It is a divisive issue,” said Ken Powell, the board’s vice chairman. “We just felt that it was time to attempt to bring some closure to the debate.”

However, regents left open the possibility that the building names issue could be raised again following further examination of historical records.

“We don’t have the facts yet,” Michael Hsu said, asking that the board postpone any action.

Arguing to preserve the building names for now, Hsu and others said the deceased university presidents and key administrators were constrained by a powerful Board of Regents. Regents struggled with where to assign blame.

Abdul Omari, the lone regent to vote against the primary resolution, rejected that viewpoint.

“If these were men who just did what their bosses told them to do,” he said, “then they don’t deserve to be on our buildings.”

At one point, regents halted their meeting after a series of audience disruptions. The crowd insisted the board hear from John Wright, an African-American studies professor whose ancestors organized fellow students to fight against the U’s racist practices in the 1930s.

Wright said the U’s institutional integrity was at stake and the building namesakes are “no longer deserving of a place of honor.”

The buildings at issue are:

Coffman Memorial Union

The student union in Minneapolis is named for Lotus Coffman, president from 1920-1938, who unofficially barred black students from the Pioneer Hall dormitory.

Coffey Hall

The St. Paul administrative building is named for longtime agriculture dean Walter Coffey, who served as president from 1941-45. In a reversal of President Guy Stanton Ford’s policies, Coffey supported the creation of the International House, a blacks-only student residence, and worked to keep Pioneer Hall a whites-only dorm.

Middlebrook Hall

The dormitory on the West Bank Minneapolis campus is named for William Middlebrook, a powerful administrator who served as comptroller and later vice president for business administration between 1929 and 1959. He established the U’s dorm system and supported Coffman’s and Coffey’s segregated housing practices.

Nicholson Hall

The Minneapolis classroom building and former student union is named for Edward Nicholson, dean of student affairs from 1917-41. He spied on students and faculty in service of the Republican Party, labeling numerous Jewish students as Communists.