Shes scattered, she struggles with talent management, and she doesnt provide a clear vision., Those traits were on full display once she arrived in Boston. But even if the consequences of the pandemic are not Casselliuss responsibility, the recovery from it will be. In some cases, that lack of attention paid off. What they heard was troubling: Cassellius lacked strong executive leadership and strategic planning skills. She is confronting an entrenched bureaucracy that wants to pursue incrementalism, rather than radical reform, and she is determined to shake the cobwebs free. And that's really taken up all the air in the room, so to speak. Meg Woolhouse: Well, Henry, I think there's a lot of optimism around Wu she's a mother of two young kids who are in the schools in Boston, and I think people feel like she might be able to fix what's broken at BPS. Brenda married her partner in life Jason Cassellius, they lived together and had three children, Christian Michel, Ani Grace and Charles Justice. Join us. She did not say why she is leaving. Brenda Cassellius, David Esquith, Minnesota State University Mankato, PACER Center, School Safety Technical Assistance Center, US Department of Education Office of Safe and Healthy Students, Walter Roberts / 0 Comments, The following column originally was published by ECM Publications Helping students be safer at school By Joe Nathan on February 10, 2016 at 2:03 pm Joe Nathan David Esquith shares one of the deepest concerns parents have: I worry about a call from the school that my kid got hurt. Its important that Esquith understands, [], Joe Nathan / A group of Boston parents has filed a lawsuit against the school committee and Superintendent Brenda Cassellius for what they call a wholly-irrational exam school admissions process, which had recently undergone changes due to the pandemic. Do the windows open at the central office? I asked. And in that time, building improvements and academic improvements have been promised, but not met. She was looking to the futurea future beyond the pandemicand was on the verge of unveiling her new vision, a plan she called Return, Recover, and Reimagine.Were going to be really reframing and pivoting, she told me, because our five-year strategic planthe one she announced a year ago, parts of which were later lambasted by the principalshas gotten very little attention., The new plan, she said, would increase the budget, close achievement gaps, and turn BPS into a real 21st-century school district., The Best Public High Schools in Greater Boston, The Best Public High Schools in Mass., Ranked, This search result is here to prevent scraping, Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli to Open Hook + Line in the Seaport, The Real, Essential Backstory of the MLK Statue The Embrace', On the Market: A Newport Condo Tucked Away in a Stone Turret, Review: Moca Largely Succeeds With Wildly Clever Seafood, Five Boston Homes for Sale for Under $800,000, This Stoughton Artist Paints Saturated Scenes of '60s Suburbia Boston Magazine, Careers and Internships at Boston Magazine. In Minnesota, he explained, he and Cassellius shared a frustration that an entrenched bureaucracy stood in the way of bold change. The swiftness of criticism, she told me, and the willingness to condemn, its something uniquely Boston. 'Substantial snowfall' likely for parts of Massachusetts, as meteorologists track wintry mix, Howie Carr: The kinked grocery cart under Biden's America, Hire at Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office loses job after old racist, sexist tweets emerge, Patriots slammed in NFLPA survey about team facilities, player working conditions, Boston Police seize 37 dirt bikes and mopeds, recover fentanyl and guns, and arrest 4 after 'illegal drag racing' investigation, Student loan debt cancellation could be on thin ice as Supreme Court takes up case, Massachusetts lawmakers push for relief, Milton asks governor to stop demolition of broken MBTA station staircase, Black WWII vets denied G.I. Hi, Wellington. Or, as Casselliuss remaining supporters contend, is the problem that Bostona city of sharp-elbowed politics and deep skepticism of outsidershas refused to give her a fighting chance? Cassellius has been Boston's school superintendent since July 2019. Nor could the surrounding city blocks, which encompassed some of Bostons most expensive and densely populated neighborhoods. The superintendent was about to go into a meeting and she was falling apart, the official says. "I don't have any further thoughts on that at this time," she said. For this Herculean challenge, leadership will matter. In 2021, school districts will face the daunting task of repairing the damage sustained during the pandemicparticularly for low-income children of color who have borne the brunt of the school shutdowns. Its a gray and frigid morning in Dorchester when Brenda Cassellius bounds toward me on the front lawn of Joseph Lee K8 School. By then Cassellius had earned a reputation for being full of energy and big ideas. She even briefly served as a classroom teacher . Oh, I want to come in on Thursday. She seems simultaneously energized and at ease at the school. I dont want this to come off negative, she told me in our first interview, but I think theres almost a sense of pride in that Bostonians say theyre hard on people, just like in Minnesota we have Minnesota Nice., Paul Reville, who served as secretary of education under Deval Patrick and is a supporter of Cassellius, says Cassellius needs to be given time. She implemented a hiring freeze, eliminated key central-office roles, and repeatedly reshuffled the organizational chart, according to three current and former BPS officials. The staffers, all veterans of public school administration in Boston and beyond, listened closely. I was such a go-getter, she told me, and confident and, you know, dig in. Last but not the With help from the Minnesota Department of Education and Target, we have completed new videos that are in 7 languages: Hmong, Somali, Arabic, Karen, Dakota, English and Spanish. Per her contract, Casselius must be paid a years base salary, or the rest of what she would have been paid, had she stayed until 2023, whichever is less. But when youre in charge of a school district for more than 50,000 students, being nice isnt enough to prevent us from being honest that shes not getting the job done.. Casselliuss staffers were stunned that she believed it was possible to shut down two school buildings in a matter of weeks, when that process normally took years. But she knows where she is. This year, in addition to giving thanks to God and [], Joe Nathan / Before she even started the job, when she was still a candidate for the position, she had already seemed to achieve the impossible: winning the support of the community, the school committee, the teachers union, and the mayor. Alexi's professional experience encompasses print, television and radio at NY1, CNN en Espaol, 88.7FM WRHU and The Republican newspaper. Massachusetts could get another snowstorm Friday: What areas were the jackpot zones in this past storm? The Boston. Current and former BPS officials came to believe that the root causes of Casselliuss scattershot ideas were her lack of attention to detail and short attention span. Transitions are difficult for kids and adults alike. If you're a scraper, please click the link below :-) Note that clicking the link below will block access to this site for 24 hours. But it's not the only issue here. Josh Collins, Education Evolving, Education Minnesota, EdVisions Schools, Friendship Academy of the Arts, Jensen family, Julene Oxton, Kenneth Eban, Larry Pogemiller, Lars Esdal, Lisa Snyder, Lynn Nordgren, MAAP STARS Conference, Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs, Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Nell Collier, Patti Haasch, Rep Roz Peterson, Rep. Carlos Mariani, Rep. Jenifer Loon, Rep. Linda Slocum, Rep. Sondra Erickson, Sam Fredrickson, Sandy Connoly, Sen. Greg Clausen, Steve Allen, Students for Education Reform-Minnesota, Westra family / 1 Comment, This column originally was published by a series of ECM/Sun/Current Newspapers in late November, 2017 Thanks to passionate, practical families, students and educators Joe Nathan One of Americas finest traditions encourages us to pause late in the year, regardless of current controversies, to offer thanks. Brenda Cassellius's husband is Jason Cassellius. . The column gave a good glimpse of some of the real problems facing school systems like Boston. "It does make for a difficult start to the day," she said. Her hometown school board, which had watched her work closely for years, passed her over, citing the scarce progress on closing achievement gaps during her eight years as the top education official in the state. Even though it is a Wednesday morning, Lee K8, a sprawling red-brick building standing behind us, is mostly empty, staffed by a skeleton crew and completely devoid of children. "Brenda Cassellius is the right choice for the leader of the BPS,'' he said. As the students offered suggestionsfree menstrual products, cleaner bathrooms, improved ventilationCassellius had her executives take notes. She started in the position in July 2019. Boston Public School Superintendent Brenda Cassellius will walk away with more than $300,000 as part of a separation agreement that she reached last week with the Boston School Committee. She worked her way up from teacher to assistant principal to associate. While the nation tunes in tonight to hear the The daughter of a young single mother who later became a young single mother herself, Cassellius grew up on food stamps in the projects of Minneapolis and participated in a Head Start program.. Once, in August 2019, Cassellius returned to the Bolling Building in tears from a visit to the McKinley South End Academy, which was housed in a decrepit building. Most recently as Boston Public School Superintendent. If she appeared harried outside, coming off her meetings and calls, she is now something much closer to jubilant. I dont like to criticize people for crying because its often a form of sexism, says a current BPS official. Once we got settled in a classroom at the school, Cassellius told me about her life. Cassellius will step down at the end of the school year, bringing to an end a three-year tenure marked by COVID-19 upheaval and leaving Boston's new mayor with major decisions on the education and policing fronts. Woolhouse: Well, it actually made me think she already has someone in mind. On Twitter, Brenda has 9,689 followers on her @bcassellius account. Day? she responds, incredulous. Still, Casselliuss critics and some of her former supporters fear she is ill equipped to tackle this next challenge. Dr. Cassellius wrote she will transition out of her role as superintendent at the end of the 2021/2022 school year. Her leadership skills are very lacking, a former Minnesota Department of Education official who worked with Cassellius told me. It is tradition for the President to recognize special guests during the State of the Union address each year. So I would say, keep an eye on Rachel Skerritt. You can do this. Rachel Pearson is a parent advocate and trainer at the PACER Center, a nonprofit that champions youth with disabilities and their families. Brenda Cassellius was born in Minnesota on September 9, 1967, and she will turn 54 in 2022. It is tradition for the President to recognize special guests during the State of the Union address each year. On an unseasonably warm day in October 2019, Brenda Cassellius took the floor during a meeting at the Bolling Building, BPSs headquarters in Nubian Square. She was named superintendent in May 2019 by then-Mayor Marty Walsh. Previous superintendents had done deep dives into the details of how the district ran. Building consensus, he notes, is a long, agonizing process. ", 'Heartbroken' by the tragedy of war, a Ukrainian opera singer performs in Belmont, Healey's proposed budget a boon to education and the environment, Senate confirms first Hispanic judge to Massachusetts federal court, The woman who introduced MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott lies in an unmarked grave in Boston, The civil rights memorials that expose America's ugly history and warn of repeating the past. When Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius resigns at the end of the school year, she'll take with her hundreds of thousands of dollars from a separation agreement. When BPS faced a lack of staff, Brenda took a substitute teacher position at Nathan Hale Elementary School, Roxbury. Login or Sign-up to show all important data, death records and obituaries absolutely for free! By winter of the 20192020 school year, concern over Casselliuss leadership had extended beyond the central office and reached BPSs principalssome of the districts most important employees. After two-and-a-half turbulent years as superintendent of Boston Public Schools, Brenda Cassellius will resign in June, city officials announced Monday. Sorry to keep you waiting, she says. It was so fun to see Tou again in new employee orientation Who is giving that criticism? she asked me. Shes had an extraordinarily difficult maiden year as superintendent, and I think shes performed remarkably well under the circumstances. But, he adds, There have been times when Brenda had such a bold vision that its overwhelming to people. Kadzis: Well, first of all, I didn't sound very sympathetic the first time. Strike a blow for transparency for once. Cassellius was a former commissioner of education for the state of Minnesota, where she oversaw schools there for nine years. Unveiled in early 2020, it laid out an audacious vision for the future, proposing that seven large high schools across the city simultaneously expand Advanced Placement and pre-AP courses, create technical and vocational education tracks, offer dual enrollment with local colleges, implement International Baccalaureate programs, and expand to include the seventh and eighth grades. Yet even by the standards of a city that has had five superintendents in the past decade, Casselliuss first year and a half on the job since arriving from Minnesota, where she served as the commissioner of the Department of Education, has been tumultuous. First published on February 7, 2022 / 4:00 PM. Battenfeld: Boston parents and kids deserve a truthful accounting from Superintendent Brenda Cassellius Start the conversation BOSTON MA. The BPS officials listening to this concept were stunned. Kadzis: That's what I might say, but she's a very accomplished woman. They were tracking COVID, and it was the parents that forced the closure of the school. I want you to run academics for Memphis middle schools, Johnson told Cassellius, assuring her she could handle the job overseeing 31 principals, many of them decades older than her. Thats my style, and I think people are getting used to that now. She said that ultimately it was not possible to close McKinley and Jackson/Mann before the 2019 school year began, but that if she could have done it, she would have. Cassellius has barely stopped moving since. They began considering an intervention. Then, throughout the day, the students would shuttle between buildings on a train. She has a deep gift for connecting with children, says a current BPS official who is critical of her leadership. For the next hour, she listened warmly and keenly to the advice of her most important constituentsstudents. In a statement, Cassellius said, "Working alongside so many people - parents, educators, community and faith leaders, and philanthropic partners - all dedicated to helping our children achieve their dreams has given new meaning to my vision of all hands on deck. Henry Santoro hosts midday newscasts on GBH Radio and contributes to breaking news coverage and other hosting duties for GBHs daytime programming. The community was behind us, the mayors speech was inspiring, we had secured this new investment, and then, boom, here comes the plague.. The plan, which was pursued without Casselliuss knowledge, was never consummated. Then she added an admonition: You need to grow in humility., Stung by the criticism despite the vote of confidence, Cassellius went home and cried. When you are disrupting the status quo with an anti-racist lens, as an African-American woman, you have to think about the motives of why people might be criticizing the ideas and the disruption that Im making so that underserved children can be served better and to create opportunity and access. Her heart is in the right place and I believe deeply she is a good person, says a former BPS official. Joe Nathan / 2018 Columns / Blue Ribbon Schools, Brenda Cassellius, Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota . Because of her background, she says, she has a lot in common with many BPS students. . She served as co-anchor of the NBC news program Weekend Today from 2003 to 2007, and hosted the series Campbell Brown on CNN from 2008 to 2010. As we left Lee K-8, Casselliuss aide invited me back to the BPS central office for an interview. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu unveiled Cassellius's impending departure in February, calling it a "mutual decision" by the mayor, superintendent and Boston School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson. We got Tommy Chang, who relatively quickly washed out. Just last summer, the school committee renewed Cassellius' $311,000-a-year contract through June 2024. Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius will resign at the end of the school year, bringing to an end a three-year tenure marked by COVID-19 upheaval and leaving Boston's new mayor with major decisions on the education and policing fronts. That kind of knocked me down a peg. She picked herself up by reading every book I could find about the craft of leadership, she said. That was triggered by parents who had been keeping a close watch, a much closer watch than the city had. Boston Superintendent Brenda Cassellius helped dismiss children at the Nathan Hale Elementary School in Boston after substitute teaching there on Jan. 5, 2022. Alexi Cohan is a general assignment reporter covering local news and government as well as health and medicine stories. Cassellius came to Boston less than a year before the pandemic began,. "Dr. Cassellius articulated an inspiring, yet practical, vision of how she has been . She is too focused on big-picture plans, Bazile says, and she does not have the leadership tools to put in place policies that are going to make those plans actually occur in reality. It creates a level of desperation, Bazile adds, because we cant lose this generation., On the afternoon of November 13, I joined a Zoom call with Cassellius, her chief financial officer, her chief operations officer, and some of her favorite people in the district: her cabinet of student advisers. I think Wu understands that the next super needs the trust of students, their parents and Boston teachers to really hit the ground running. Henry Santoro: Meg, let's start with you. But they found her methods strange. She does not seek out people, Bazile says, who are going to push her, interrogate her process, and ask provocative questions., Even more unnerving was the growing sense among BPS staffers that Cassellius herself realized she was in over her head. And now I know its for getting us through this pandemic. Her confidence, and her self-belief, paid off. In districts that were well managed and in those that were not, the results have been largely the same: learning loss for students and hardship for parents and teachers. According to five current and former BPS officials, she often appeared to make snap decisions, seemingly without contemplating their ramifications. It was the early 70s and people werent too nice to biracial children., Cassellius started her career as a special-education paraprofessional and soon rocketed up the ranks. Linking the Minnesota MCA III Assessments to NWEA MAP Tests. The plan was opposed by some parent groups that wanted 20 percent of the spots at the schools set aside for the best applicants regardless of socioeconomic status. [], Joe Nathan / The problem, Casselliuss critics alleged, was that it arrived too late and too light on details. The district is primarily Black and Latino, and parents have been promised much over the years and bore the brunt of the pandemic illnesses and job losses. Cassellius came to Boston less than a year before the pandemic began, forcing her to deal with several unexpected issues, including remote learning and mask and vaccination requirements, as well as staffing issues. This button displays the currently selected search type. Sweet potato fries! Cassellius says, pointing at the calendar. Parents Evaluation. From the start, Walshs administration had hoped that Cassellius would restore stability to Bostons struggling school system. All of this landed in her lap precisely when the district was trying to figure out how to reopen schools in the fall. Was it the superintendent herself, who, her critics argue, is too focused on visionary (and starry-eyed) future transformations to tend to the urgent problems of the present? . Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Brenda Cassellius, ESSA, Hue Hguyen, Minnesota Department of Education / 0 Comments, originally published by www.hometownsource.com, March 22, 2017http://hometownsource.com/2017/03/22/joe-nathan-column-mde-offers-great-opportunities-to-help-create-education-plans/ MDE offers great opportunities to help develop education plans Give Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius and her colleagues at the Minnesota Department of Education some credit. It's been two very difficult years for schools, as many teachers and school officials are leaving. Brenda's parents have consistently encouraged her career goals. The Boston School Committee announced last week that Dr. Brenda Cassellius will serve as Boston's next superintendent. Joe Nathan / Brenda Cassellius has been criticized for her job thus far as superintendent of Boston Public Schools, though her supporters say she deserves time and a chance to implement her vision. That's not out-front administration. The people I spoke to who had no inside knowledge. September 8, 2018 Will new reporting & school support systems help students? Prior to that she served as Minnesota's education commissioner. Working with educators, parents, business people, students, policy-makers and other concerned people throughout the United States. Together, we've laid a stronger foundation upon which BPS can continue to build. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. If you're a human and see this, please ignore it. The combination of all of these measures made principals heads spin. According to four current and former BPS officials, she has offered multiple BPS employees significant promotions seemingly on a whim, with little knowledge of their track records. At the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, for instance, she wowed teachers and parents when she started communicating with children in American Sign Language. Brenda ignored all of that, a former official says. I'm a little sympathetic the second time. But mostly the Boston Latin School. Casselius is the second BPS superintendent to leave after three years on the job. Secretary Cardona to Visit Los Angeles High School of the Arts, Join Roundtable with Parents to Discuss the Importance of Mental Health Services for Students On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will continue touring schools in Southern California with a visit to Los Angeles High School of the Arts at Robert F. Kennedy . There wasnt anything particularly unusual about the planit called for rotating cohorts of students to attend school two days a week while teachers used a combination of Web-based and in-person instruction. She has worked arduously to reach her dream of becoming a successful teacher. What are their intentions and motives? GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. She quickly won jobs as a teacher, assistant principal, and then principal of a middle school, after Carol Johnson (who would later serve as BPS superintendent) hired Cassellius to work in the Memphis school district where she was superintendent. I paused. Will they be encouraged and challenged? Boston parent group suing school committee for, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Boston parent group suing school committee for new exam school admissions process, Boston looks to continue remote testimony for public meetings, Special Olympics grant brings the magic of inclusive sports to BPS schools, 98.5 employees had their sensitivity training after Tony Massarotti suspension, Mike Felger rants about people getting fired over a bad comment, Heres what Maura Healeys $55.5 billion budget buys, Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence. Her husband Jason is a stay-at-home dad. Let's focus on Marty Walsh, and the instability in the Boston Public Schools is clearly Marty Walsh's fault. Cassellius has faced criticism for allowing her administrator's license to lapse. For some reason, I just felt like I was supposed to be here in Boston, she told me. Collaborations, School Choice (including dual credit, district & chartered public schools). But hearing it 49 days before the school year starts doesnt give you much hope., The teachers union also criticized the plan, calling it totally out of touch with reality. In the midst of the pandemic, a teachers union taking a shot at a superintendent should be as shocking as an April snowstorm in Boston. All rights reserved, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu unveiled Cassellius's impending departure in February, Still No Word on Reason Behind Boston School Superintendent's Departure, Boston Public Schools Superintendent to Resign, Even After Investigation, Stoneham Cop Hasn't Paid Dime of Rent to New Landlord, Rescuers Capture Bald Eagle Believed to Be Critically Sickened by Rat Poison, Here's How Shark Extinction Would Devastate the Ocean, Driver Describes Very Scary' Moments Trapped in Car After Crash Takes Down Power Lines in Stoneham. Its a very bold vision, she said, to get people to stretch their thinking. Of her big ideas, she said, The good ones stick and the bad ones fall away. The windows open there. Before her aide could object, she was off. In a letter to "the BPS community" this morning, Mayor Wu said she, School Committee Chairwoman Jeri Robinson and Cassellius decided it was time for Cassellius to move on. AN EDUCATION CAREER Cassellius spent her early career as a single mom. 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