In St. Paul, school chief's conditional license denied

The St. Paul School Board has been slow to replace its outgoing superintendent, Meria Carstarphen; now it appears the district also could be without an interim schools chief in a couple of weeks.

The Minnesota Board of School Administrators, charged with issuing superintendents' licenses, has refused to issue a conditional license to Suzanne Kelly, who had been chief of staff for Carstarphen and was tapped by the St. Paul school board in April to be interim superintendent while it searched for a permanent replacement.

The tension over the interim superintendent's post comes at a critical time for the district, the state's second largest. On Tuesday, the district's board gave final approval to a package of $25 million in budget cuts from the $642 million budget. That includes the elimination of 267 jobs. What's more, the district now is embroiled in a controversy over a recommendation to close three schools.

"Based on the documentation that was presented to the board, [Kelly] was not licensed and therefore she cannot be the superintendent," Judith Lamp, executive director of the administrators organization, said Wednesday.

"A person who serves as or performs the duties of a superintendent, principal, or director of special education shall hold a license appropriate to the position of school superintendent, principal, or director of special education," the state statute says.

Statutes also require districts to employ a superintendent. Failing to do so could draw penalties ranging from a simple written reprimand to withholding funding, Lamp said. Though Kelly lacks the required educational background, St. Paul board officials said she is the best person for the job.

"We needed to have somebody who could step in with full knowledge of where we were," said Elona Street-Stewart, the board's vice chairwoman. "The cosmos continue to circle around Suzanne Kelly," she said, adding that Kelly worked under Carstarphen and has always had a good relationship with the board.

"She is the interim school superintendent," Street-Stewart declared.

This isn't the first dustup over a superintendent's licensing. Fifteen years ago, Peter Hutchinson got special approval from state education officials to become the Minneapolis schools chief though he had neither a license nor an education background. David Jennings, who briefly served as interim superintendent in Minneapolis and was offered the job on a permanent basis in 2003, withdrew after an outcry over his lack of a superintendent's license among other issues.

Carstarphen's term expires June 30. She announced her departure in February, but the board didn't post a request for proposals for recruiting firms interested in helping lead the new superintendent search until Monday. The board's goal is to have a superintendent in place during the 2009-10 school year, preferably this fall, which it says will be within the nationwide average for superintendent searches.

Lamp said the board of school administrators denied Kelly the needed "variance" for the interim post on May 5 because the job had not been formally posted - meaning that others with superintendent's licenses were not allowed to apply - and because Kelly does not have a master's degree, nor has she enrolled in a course of study that would lead to a superintendent's license.

Kelly has been chief of staff for two years, and was chief of staff in the Memphis school district before that. She entered the education field 11 years ago as communications director for the Minneapolis schools. Before that she was a reporter and editor at the Star Tribune. Currently she is enrolled in an educational leadership course through Minnesota State University Mankato. Gregory A. Patterson • 612-673-7287