Now, Minneapolis schools' big challenges: Replacing Bill Green and building on his legacy

When Superintendent Bill Green announced today that he will allow his contract with Minneapolis Public Schools to lapse at the end of the 2009-2010 school year, reaction from parents, staff and board members was swift:

No one was happy that Green had decided to return to his “first loves,” teaching and writing. But the fact that his tenure was widely considered a success likely makes the prospect of replacing him much less daunting than the last time Minneapolis went hunting for a superintendent.

Green said he started thinking about tendering his notice months ago. “I miss teaching, that’s the long and the short of it,” Green told MinnPost in an interview. “I wanted to avert the kind of jarring transitions that have occurred in the past by giving the community a year’s notice.”

Urban school superintendents in demand
Superintendents with the skills to lead a large urban district are in hot demand, and Green was concerned that postponing his announcement would make it harder for the district to find a top-notch replacement. “Good people are in districts by September,” he explained.

In the past, Minneapolis has had a hard time attracting the most attractive candidates. “Frankly, we’re in a much better position because of Bill,” said School Board Chair Tom Madden. “The average tenure of a superintendent is 18 months and, at the end of Bill’s contract, he will have been here four years.”

During that time, Green has built a strong leadership team, Madden adds. “The focus has been on students and achievement for the last three years.”

The popular, affable Green, who has been on leave from his post as a tenured professor at Augsburg College, will hand his successor a very different district from the one he inherited. It’s dramatically smaller, more cash-strapped than ever, and still facing a yawning achievement gap. But for the first time in more than a decade, MPS’ various stakeholder groups are not at war with one another.

They are, however, fearful that the fragile truce could easily fall apart. “He was brought in to bring some stability to the district,” recalled Bill English, co-chair of the Council of Black Churches. “I think he’s leaving the district in reasonably good shape. I think we’ve got a good strategic plan, and I think he’s moving in the right direction. Beyond that, I really have some concerns with his leaving.”

Green’s response: “That is absolutely understandable, and it’s based on history.”

When Green’s appointment as superintendent was announced in January 2006, it was over the shouts and catcalls of an angry mob. Only a year and a half after replacing short-timer David Jennings, who was white, the Minneapolis School Board had just accepted the resignation of divisive Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles, who was black, and voted to buy out her contract to the tune of $180,000.

Frequently tone-deaf, the board at the time had largely alienated the African-American community. Peebles had made closing the racial achievement gap her top priority, but she had also paralyzed district staff, who accused her of “shaming and blaming,” and embarrassed the board, which was forced to investigate allegations that she misstated her credentials and ordered district employees to perform personal chores.

After rough seas, Green calmed the waters
When then-board chair Joseph Erickson announced that Green, who served on the school board from 1993 to 2001, would replace Peebles on an interim basis, the shouting in the school board meeting room on the third floor of district headquarters literally stopped.

“Thandiwe was just a couple of days out of office when I stepped in, and that was very difficult,” he recalled. “Each of those very vocal community leaders has become a valuable member of the process since then.”

Green assembled an enviable senior leadership team. He convinced Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s former finance commissioner, Peggy Ingeson, to take the district’s top fiscal post. He appointed Bernadeia Johnson as chief academic officer and Steve Liss as policy guru. He wooed Jill Stever Zeitlin away from McKinsey and Co. and placed her in charge of strategic planning.

Directed by a board that has since undergone near-total turnover, he and that core staff have led a painful three-year reorganization that is in its final phase. The district has space for 55,000 students but enrolls just 32,000. Green and the board have closed a number of schools and are in the process of selecting more to shutter.

Attendance boundaries throughout the city are being redrawn, and the district has been chipping away at union rules that have made it hard to put the most qualified teachers in the most challenged schools. Despite the passage of a new referendum last fall, the district is struggling with its sixth consecutive year of budget cuts.

Two-thirds of Minneapolis students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and one-fifth are considered homeless or highly mobile.

The process of deciding which schools to close has been fraught with racial overtones. Most of the school closings of recent years have taken place on the city’s impoverished African-American North Side, while affluent white schools in Southwest Minneapolis have been spared. Current board members have been outspoken on the topic of racial equity, but some community members aren’t yet convinced that the pain of reorganization will be distributed equally.

“We’re talking about equity across the district,” said English. “If that means they need to close some Southwest schools, which they have never done, then that’s what they’ve gotta do.”

Successor should get a positive, running start
By staying through the 2009-2010 school year, Green will allow his successor to take the helm of a reorganized district. The painful, divisive process of deciding which schools to close and which students to move, and how to stanch the fiscal hemorrhaging will be over, and the newcomer can get a running start, with a strategic plan painstakingly hammered out by school board members in hand.

“I took the news as a sign that we’re definitely headed into some challenges,” said Kate Towle, a member of the district’s parent advisory council. “It’s very difficult to close schools and change schools and we have many ambitious goals. We have ambitious desegregation goals, we have ambitious achievement goals.”

Still, she added, “His timing is such that a new leader can come in and go forward.”

Both Green and English said they hope the board will consider internal candidates. “I hope the board takes into account the need for continuity,” said Green.

“They need a kick-butt superintendent in order to bring cultural change to this district,” said English. “We have confidence in this board. We believe they have the right intent and they have a sense of urgency about them.”

“I promised myself years ago that I would have the good sense to know when it’s time to move on,” said Green. “We’re nearing the point where this work has to be handed over to someone else.”

Beth Hawkins writes about schools and other topics. She can be reached at bhawkins [at] minnpost [dot] com.