This is sad news in my view.
First, since when should a very small group of people with loud voices get the privilege of approving or disapproving the hiring by elected boards such as the school board? This is tyranny of othe minority over the majority. If this kind of bullying becomes prevalent, we will never have reasonable or timely decisions made by public bodies.
Second, the chief executive of many large public institutions with multiple funding sources are chosen more for their political connections and ability to lobby and persuade than for their ability to operate the organization precisely because in such organizations getting the revenue to do the job is crucial, and there are plenty of other executives and managers who will have and use their operational skills to make sure the organization is run well. Without the money, the whole organization suffers. (I'll offer as an example the University of Colorada system where the President of the University is primarily the chief lobbyist and public relations person, and is not involved in the day to day running of the system -- by design. Without the president and his staff meeting and persuading the various funding sources, primarily the state legislature, the revenue stream would be much smaller and less reliable.)
The Minneapolis Public Schools are in exactly the situation of needing funding from multiple sources, most of which are politically controlled, and most of which comes from the state legislature. David Jennings is clearly head and shoulders above any other potential candidate for the superintendent's job in his ability to connect with the legislature.
He's also an intelligent person who is intimately familiar with the MPS system, having worked there the past 21 months in the number 2 leadership position. Just as Jennings acted as superintendent Carol Johnson's expert on operations, he could easily have selected someone to fill the number 2 position under him who was an expert on educational and instructional practices. Both skills, and more, are needed to run the district properly. Jennings has both the political clout and the operational skills. That he does not have a Ph.D. or Ed.D is almost irrelevant. In a small school district, that may be an important qualification because there won't be additional district management in which to find all of the skill necessary. But at large disticts like MPS, that's not the case. It could be argued that it would be impossible for one person to be well qualified in all the areas needed for such a large and complicated system.
Forcing Jennings out is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. It's a bunch of self-important racists with a bogus sense of entitlement playing a new kind of "stealth" race card.
"You cannot cut the people out of the process!" they shouted. Wrong. The people's chance to be part of the process was in voting for the school board members, and contacting them and Carol Johnson with their concerns prior to the decision.
Mob mentality is not part of the process. Second-guessing the board's choice is not part of the process. As long as the board followed the law, and it appears they did despite inflammatory rhetoric to the contrary, there is nothing wrong with making a choice without the public's approval. In fact, that's generally a better way to conduct business if a board wants to accomplish anything.
Even if the board erred in some way in dotting the i's and crossing the t's of public meeting laws, that does not make Jennings a per se bad choice. I happen to think he might be a good choice. If he is not, we would see soon enough.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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