Top jobs thin out at St. Paul Public Schools

You'd get by cheap springing for the bagels at a St. Paul School District cabinet meeting.

Interim Superintendent John Thein has a cabinet of eight people, including himself. That's compared with the 22 people who could be in the room when predecessor Valeria Silva was in charge.

But proponents of leaner administrative operations can't claim full victory just yet.

Thein prefers a small inner circle. His cabinet consists of an executive assistant, three chief officers and three assistant superintendents who oversee schools.

At the same time, he has expressed concern about the recent exodus of high-level officials and wants new hires to stem the "brain drain" so that his job remains attractive to anyone who wishes to succeed him.

Administrators who've left or are leaving include:

Michelle Walker, the district's second-in-command, who will assume the role of executive director of the public-private collaborative Generation Next on Oct. 18.

Liz Keenan, assistant superintendent of specialized services, who moved on to the Chicago Public Schools.

Patrick Duffy, director of leadership development, who now supervises middle schools as the Anoka-Hennepin School District's new director of secondary schools.

Tyrize Cox, family engagement director, who now is a Minneapolis Park Board assistant superintendent.

In addition, two other Silva appointees, Ryan Vernosh and Michelle Bierman, have left cabinet-level posts for school jobs. Vernosh is the principal at Maxfield Elementary in the Summit-University neighborhood and Bierman is assistant principal at Open World Learning on the West Side.