With a contentious spring behind them, St. Paul Public Schools Superintendent Valeria Silva and teacher Aaron Benner met privately last summer to discuss their opposing views on the district's handling of student misbehavior.
The setting was Rondo Days, a celebration honoring the city's historic black neighborhood and an event held near a Head Start center named after Benner's grandmother, Ruth Benner.
Benner, who is black, has long argued that the district's push to reduce suspensions too often fails to hold black children accountable for classroom disruptions. Silva, a racial-equity advocate, sees black students suspended in disproportionate numbers, and demands change. But on that day last summer, she was attentive, Benner said, and later gave him her cellphone number while the two made light of her having called him a "troublemaker."
But there'd be no harmony in the 2014-15 school year.
In fact, in recent weeks, Benner has stepped up criticism of the district's racial-equity work in TV and radio appearances that included an interview on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor." He also has accused administrators — Silva included — of unfairly targeting him in a series of personnel investigations and other maneuvers that he claims were designed to silence him or to lay the groundwork to fire him.
His concerns, in turn, have contributed to perceptions of St. Paul being a district plagued with out-of-control hallways and classrooms, a view not fully supported by suspension data recently released for the first three quarters of 2014-15.
District officials deny any conspiracy or retaliatory action against Benner. An assistant superintendent said in an e-mail to Benner that he respects the rights of employees "to voice their concerns, ideas and feedback in a constructive manner."
Last week, school let out for the summer, and Benner, who finished the year at John A. Johnson Achievement Plus Elementary on the city's East Side, wouldn't say where he's headed in the fall. But he has not been hesitant to speak out in the past.