Boston Has A New Superintendent Of Schools

BOSTON — After a tumultuous few years and almost a year of searching, Boston has a new superintendent of Boston Public Schools. Late Wednesday night, the Boston School Committee voted 5-2 for Dr. Brenda Cassellius, of Minnesota, to step into the position. She needed just four votes for a simple majority to take the position.

Once she formally accepts, Cassellius will succeed the current Interim Superintendent Laura Perille, who became the Interim Superintendent last summer following the resignation of Tommy Chang. He held the superintendent role for three years before he abruptly resigned last summer.

The vote comes after some three dozen people applied for the high stakes position and were winnowed to three, including Oscar Santos, head of School for Cathedral 7-12 High School in Boston and Marie Izquierdo, chief academic officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida.

Last week, each candidate participated in a day-long round of four public interviews for nearly 20 hours with community partners, parents, educators, and students.

“All three superintendent candidates brought excellent ideas and experience to the discussion," said Boston School Committee Chairperson Michael Loconto, but he said Cassellius's experience, commitment to equity and track record was "critical in continuing our progress in the Boston Public Schools."

Cassellius, still has to formally accept the offer to lead the city's some 128 schools serving more than 55,000 students. She then would need to finalize with the school committee conditions of her employment, including a start date and salary. Chang had a salary of $149,117.42 in 2018, but earned a total $450,583.20 with his departure agreement.

“With the selection of Dr. Cassellius, we’re investing in a proven leader who knows what’s right for kids and understands the value of community voice,” said Mayor Marty Walsh. “The role of Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools is one of the most important and difficult jobs in the city. I’m pleased that the Boston School Committee selected someone with deep experience improving educational outcomes for students.”

Walsh praised the transparency of the search, but the process had its fair share of detractors.

Boston Coalition for Educational Equity criticized the search process as flawed, minimizing community engagement by only giving families five days to give feedback through a survey. Still, they supported the selection of Cassellius.

"Dr. Cassellius has demonstrated an ability to see students as whole individuals, to see schools as whole communities, and to support policies that can be life-changing for students," the coalition said in a release.

Her background

In 1990 she began her educational career as a paraprofessional for students with special needs. She later became a social studies teacher, diversity coordinator, and assistant principal of schools in Minnesota before becoming an academic superintendent for the Memphis City Schools in Tennessee. From 2007-2010, she served as an associate superintendent for the Minneapolis Public Schools in Minnesota, and was superintendent of the East Metro Integration District in Maplewood, Minnesota, from 2010-2011 before becoming the state’s education commissioner.

As education commissioner for Minnesota for some eight years she oversaw education reforms, including new funding for schools, all-day kindergarten, state-funded preschool for 25,000 children, and historically high graduation rates, according to the city.

Next up

Through the end of the school year, Perille will continue to lead ongoing district initiatives, including the BuildBPS facilities master planning process, high school improvement working groups, and expanding access to preschool under the Quality Pre-K Fund, along with daily operations.

In recent years, the Boston school system has seen a rising graduation rate and improved MCAS scores, but several kinds of minorities have noticed stubborn achievement gaps when studying across the school system.

Chang replaced Carol Johnson, who had announced her retirement in April 2013, almost two years before she stepped down. Chang, 39, was the youngest of the seven finalists back in 2015, he had experience teaching in Compton, California and two and a half years as a superintendent.

More coverage:

• Tommy Chang To Resign As Superintendent
• Tommy Chang On Claims Boston Schools Helped ICE
• Read Dr. Cassellius’ biography
• Read Dr. Cassellius’ resume

Watch the discussion at the May 1 meeting of the School Committee, as the committee votes.

School Committee members Rivera and Alexandra Oliver-Davila voted for Izquierdo, praising her work with immigrants and ability to turn around schools:

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).