I, too, was disappointed to learn of Meria Carstarphen's leaving her position as St. Paul schools superintendent. Her record was a definite "not bad," and she showed promise in continuing to improve our schools if she had chosen to stick it out.

Losing a good administrator is always a blow to an organization, but I am sure we will find another capable person to take her place. What bothers me is her apparent lack of loyalty to the students, parents and taxpayers whom she is abandoning. A $90,000 raise is a nice incentive, but she was already making $195,000 plus benefits -- not CEO pay but still pretty good. The Feb. 27 editorial stated that, for a young and ambitious school leader, staying put for only three years is "predictable." Predictable perhaps, but I find it disturbing.

One of the important things we hope students learn in school, as well as from parents and mentors, is that commitment is important and not always to be abandoned when one gets a "better" offer or to further one's ambitions.

All the time, energy and money put forth by a lot of people to find, hire, train and build relationships with Carstarphen perhaps could have been better spent on someone who would have stuck with us for more than a few years.

I hope that when the members of the St. Paul school board look for a replacement, they will do some deeper probing into the commitment the candidate is willing to make to us.

DOUGLAS ROBERTSON, ST. PAUL