Dennis Carlson chosen Anoka-Hennepin schools chief

Dennis Carlson, interim superintendent of Anoka-Hennepin schools, was offered the job on a permanent basis Wednesday night by the district's school board.

Board members selected him over Michelle Langenfeld, associate superintendent and former middle school principal.

The board still has to negotiate a contract with Carlson before he is officially named the new superintendent.

Board Chairman Tom Heidemann said Carlson got the nod in part because of his "organizational and operational experience" and his broad involvement in the community.

"He's in a lot of clubs and organizations," Heidemann said. "He is well-known."

In terms of Carlson being a district insider, Heidemann said, "We want to develop talent from within."

Groups of interested citizens and district employees -- including the board, teachers and administrators -- interviewed the two candidates Tuesday and Wednesday. The board made its selection almost immediately after interviewing Langenfeld.

Langenfeld's appeal came from her expertise in the classroom. She is the district associate superintendent responsible for curriculum and instruction, and is less than a year removed from being principal of Coon Rapids Middle School.

In contrast, Carlson has spent more years as an administrator. His years of lobbying for district interests at the Legislature also marked him as a candidate with political savvy and an understanding of how education works in the bigger picture of government and politics.

Carlson also was a partner in the Wayzata-based Blueprint Education Group, which the district hired at the beginning of its superintendent search to compile information from community meetings, interviews with residents, and survey data to form a profile of what the new superintendent should be like.

In November, he came out of a short-lived retirement to take the position as the district's interim superintendent. Before his retirement in 2008, he served as a district associate superintendent.

Carlson and Langenfeld emerged as finalists from an original field of 19, six of whom were from other states.

The district has also lost a large number of senior administrators and principals to retirement in the past couple of years. Officials are looking at changing the way they deliver a high school education.

Also, district demographics have changed. Enrollment of minority, low-income and special-needs students continues to rise, while overall enrollment remains static or drops.

Carlson would replace longtime superintendent Roger Giroux, who retired at the end of 2008 after serving as superintendent for 13 years. He was paid $170,000 a year, plus annual bonuses.

Carlson would officially begin his new role July 1.