The two finalists to be St. Paul’s next schools superintendent each gave a 30-minute introduction before an audience of about 250 Wednesday night, with more extensive interviews coming Thursday.
Burnsville’s fourth-year superintendent, Joe Gothard, spoke of a need to tell positive stories about the St. Paul district and to “unify our communities.”
Cheryl Logan, chief academic support officer for Philadelphia public schools, emphasized her experience as a teacher and principal.
“I think both of them have real strengths and I want to know more specifics,” said Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change.
Board members will visit the candidates’ home school districts next week and plan to make their choice during a special public meeting April 11.
Gothard spent much of his life in Madison, Wis., where he became principal of the same high school that awarded him his diploma. He was assistant superintendent for Madison’s secondary schools before Burnsville hired him as superintendent in 2013.
Gothard, whose mother is white and father is black, said he struggled with his racial identity until a sixth-grade teacher showed him it’s something he can be proud of.
“She finally allowed me to speak about being different and being OK with it and being proud of it,” he said.
He spoke of a need to “develop and retain and honor” St. Paul’s teachers and to restore pride in the city’s schools.
Gothard said he brought his current district together with his strategic plan, winning overwhelming approval from voters on a construction and technology referendum.
Addressing a question on school climate and safety, he said a school should look for patterns of misbehavior. And he said he’s been a believer in restorative practices instead of punishment since he was a high school principal.
On St. Paul’s budget problems, Gothard said the district must set spending priorities and stabilize its enrollment.
Asked how to close achievement gaps between whites and students of color, he advocated for extended school day programs, access to challenging classes and race-specific programs such as AVID.
Logan was a lifelong Maryland resident, teaching English learners and leading elementary and high schools as principal, before joining the Philadelphia district. She said she’s also the mother and daughter of teachers.
In her current position, she said she’s worked to get Philadelphia’s mostly Latino-serving schools to offer algebra in the eighth grade.
“Nothing can happen to decrease the achievement gap if there isn’t an opportunity,” she said, adding that districts must challenge students in the early grades or even high achievers will fall behind.
Addressing concerns about St. Paul’s schools, Logan said she would start by setting high expectations for student behavior throughout the district. Racial equity, she added, does not mean making excuses for certain racial groups.
She said that she’s had plenty of experience with underfunded schools and that a district must never create the perception that it wastes the money it does get.
Logan earned the only spontaneous applause of the night by saying technology can’t do the job of a teacher, and later, when she said she believes “intellect is spread equally in the universe.”
After the presentations, a group of four teachers said they all favored Logan, saying she’d be a good fit with the diversity in St. Paul.
“She really felt connected to her community,” one said.
Gothard and Logan also interviewed Wednesday with a group of student leaders and will meet all day Thursday with a variety of parent and civic groups. Public interviews with the school board are slated for 5 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
A third finalist, Milwaukee regional superintendent Orlando Ramos, withdrew from consideration Tuesday.
The new superintendent is expected to begin working July 1, taking over for interim leader John Thein, who stepped in when the board bought out Valeria Silva’s contract.