Carol Ericson, schools superintendent, dies at 88

When Carol Ericson interviewed to become superintendent of the Chaska School District in 1984, a local newspaper headline asked: "Can a woman do the job? Yes, says female candidate for superintendent's post."

A few years into her post, the articles provided their own answer.

Education Week touted the district's effort to introduce business concepts into schools as "one of the first such nationwide." The Star Tribune called the district "a model for involving teachers in educational reform." The paper's editorial board urged others to follow its example: "Chaska is doing what other school districts are still talking about: changing the way schools are run."

"She was a rabble-rouser and a reformer," said former state Rep. Mindy Greiling, a member of the Roseville school board that picked Ericson to lead that district from 1990 to 1998. "Instead of being the type of superintendent who would react ... she was in the forefront."

A superintendent with an eye for reform and an ear for teachers, Ericson died July 29 on her 88th birthday.

Ericson earned her bachelor's degree in education in her late 30s, enrolling at the University of Minnesota after caring for her two children, Lynn and David, when they were young. There, she received a master's degree in educational psychology and a Ph.D. in educational administration.

For 16 years, she worked in the Mounds View district as a teacher, director of special education and then deputy superintendent. Parents loved her, and administrators did, too. "She taught for only a few years before people recognized her leadership," said Susan Hagstrum, a fellow teacher who became a lifelong friend.

"Those were the years when women were not superintendents," Hagstrum said. "They were becoming directors of special education; they were becoming principals. But never superintendents."

Ericson took over a district still smarting from a monthlong teachers strike that "created anger, bitterness and despair," according to an article. Underlying that strike were "decisions made at the top with very little input from anyone else in the organization," said Dan Pelowski, then a union leader, math teacher and tennis coach.

When Ericson invited Pelowski in for a conversation, he was wary. But right away, he noticed her talent for listening. She asked questions: What gets in the way of you doing your job? What do we need to do differently? How can we better serve students?

Ericson remembered names, kids, interests. Pelowski heard her ask a custodian about fishing, a secretary about quilting. These were people he'd worked with 20 years, he said, "and I had no idea they had those hobbies.

"She led by example. She rubbed off on you."

"It was a decision ... to be 'proactive' to the reform reports — to take the position that there probably are ways that we could do a better job with our current resources," Ericson told Education Week. "We want to play a part in shaping our future instead of having it shaped for us."

Greiling had noted the buzz. In the search for the Roseville district's new superintendent, Ericson "blew everybody else out of the water,' " she said.

Ericson "was not your typical arrogant, cowboy superintendent," Greiling said. With consensus and quiet confidence, she made big changes.