After a spring of hard choices, Minneapolis superintendent optimistic about new school year

For Lisa Sayles-Adams, the energy of the first day of school never gets old.

“It was exciting for me as a student,” said Sayles-Adams, superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. “It was always exciting for me as a teacher. I was excited for the first day of school as a principal, and for the superintendent, it’s no different.”

She’s hoping to channel that excitement to set a positive tone for her first full year as Minneapolis superintendent. Since Sayles-Adams started her job in February, she’s helped navigate the district through difficult budget cuts and avert a teacher strike. In coming months, she’s expected to play a key role in the district’s “transformation” process, which may include school closures and consolidations.

As teachers and principals prepared to start classes last week, Sayles-Adams says she can feel the excitement in the air. Teacher staffing vacancies are at their lowest levels in years. A technology levy on the ballot this November may help close budget gaps. And she’s witnessed “amazing things” in the schools that she says don’t match common narratives about the district.

Sahan Journal spoke with Sayles-Adams about the year ahead. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What are you looking forward to as the school year begins?

A: I have been asking people to stand with us in talking about some of the good things that are happening in Minneapolis Public Schools — of course, knowing that there are many things that we need to continue to work on. But I do feel that excited energy in the air. I want to keep that going.

We do have a technology levy question on the ballot this November. Our voters will be asked to vote on the increase in the amount of $20 million annually for dedicated funding for technology, which will minimize the cuts to other programs and services.

And then, of course, I think everyone knows that we are working through school transformation, so making sure that we’re able to get the information that we need for the board so they can certainly help guide the way.

Q: Can you tell me about the status of the district transformation process, the timeline, and what that process will entail?

A: In December, the board passed a resolution asking the district to do four things: the physical space study, community engagement, finding efficiencies within the budget, and then developing a Spanish dual-language task force.

Our next steps are the walkthroughs of all our facilities. We want to make sure that we’re getting the voices of our communities of color. We want to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard.

We’ll continue to do the priority-based budgeting that we’ve been doing. And then the Spanish dual-language task force: right now we are identifying members for the task force, and then we want to determine the objectives, and then we’ll start setting the timeline.

Q: So you’re preparing for walkthroughs?

A: The board identified specific staff that would be there. They named the board chair, the vice chair, the board member of that election district, area assistant superintendent. They also noted the principal of the school, a special ed teacher, a multilingual teacher, and then additional staff.

My understanding is to walk through the facility to see how the actual spaces are being utilized, to see if they’re being utilized for their intended use — or over the years, as we have brought on new programs, different mandates from the Legislature.

Q: What do you expect will come of the transformation conversation?

A: We really want to deliver on our district vision, our mission, our commitments and goals for our students and families. With the transformation process, we want this to be sustainable to the future, so it could include consolidation. It could include closures. It could include growing our enrollment. I think it is variable. It’s not just one thing.

Q: What is the timeline for when a plan for transformation would be presented and voted on?

A: We will take the next several months to actually gather that data. And then my expectation would be to give that information to the board so they can discuss it, they can analyze it, they can reflect on it, and then we can work collaboratively. And then they can share their expectations and possible next steps.

Q: How does the district plan to support newcomer students this year?

A: Although we did have some challenges with our budget, we did make an investment of 24 additional English language teachers. We’re also prioritizing our funding for our Office of Latine Achievement, and that department has quite a bit of family engagement.

Q: Are there other changes or new programs you’re excited about this year?

A: I’ve had an opportunity over the past eight months to be in 52 of our schools, and I have seen some really amazing things. We have Minnesota’s 60th Teacher of the Year, Tracy Byrd. We also have Christian Ledesma, who was selected as the High School Principal of the Year [Hennepin Division] by the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals.

And we’re encouraging people to come out and check out our North CTE [Career and Technical Education] center. We will have two additional CTE centers across the city, one at Roosevelt and one at Edison High School.

Q: What is something you really want students and families to know as come back to school?

A: This is their year. These are their schools. This is their school district. We are here to partner with them, to support them, to give them what they need. We want to continue to build healthy and sustaining relationships and just to support our students. We are here to serve them and support them. That’s the whole reason why we exist.

About the partnership

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for a free newsletter to receive Sahan’s stories in your inbox.