Re: [Mpls] School District COO

[Brobson34]

Steven Stolarek writes:

"I thought financial integrity of the school district
was the responsibility of the Superintendant. So now
she needs someone to help her do what she is already
overpaid to do? I don't get it. The school district
has to lay-off staff and at the same time hire a
$125,000 COO.  

I am asking and pleeding with the list members to
straighten me out on this! Being that I am not a
caring and sharing liberal-I need to be educated on
this matter.

[BR]
I too am skeptical of this maneuver. Off the top of my head, I figure it might have something to do with Jennings being a former Republican Speaker of the Minnesota House and subsequently a presumably effective lobbyist at the Capitol. The Republican House helped pull the rug out from education financial planning--with MPS a particular target--in the last session. If Jennings can be an effective advocate for the MPS among the legislators who hold the purse-strings next spring, his $125,000 could be a bargain.
Or, here's another scenario that a proudly unsharing and uncaring non-liberal like Mr. Stolarek might appreciate: For years people have carped at the MPS for not operating more like a business. It seems to me that a fat raise for the CEO (Superintendent) and the hiring of a COO to share even more of the booty and perhaps someday take the fall is in the great Minnesota business tradition of Honeywell, Northwest Airlines, et al.

Britt Robson
Lyndale