St. Paul schools chief gets lower grade for 2022-23

St. Paul Public Schools Superintendent Joe Gothard earned generally positive marks from school board members in an annual job review released Tuesday.

The grading was not as generous, however, as it was a year ago before the board signed Gothard, 51, to another three years atop the state's second-largest district.

He now is in the first year of a contract that has raised his pay from $240,000 to $256,000 in 2023-24, and he ranks among the nation's longest-serving urban school leaders.

Board Member Jeanelle Foster, who voted to hire Gothard in 2017, said at Tuesday night's board meeting that she still considered him to be the "best person at this time" to lead St. Paul Public Schools.

"While we may not always agree on everything, your heart is there. I trust your passion and your purpose," Foster said. She is not seeking re-election this year.

Gothard did not address the board Tuesday — as he has in previous years. But in an interview before the meeting, he said he was eager to see efforts made possible by federal COVID relief money begin to pay off in terms of student achievement.

"There is a lot of unfinished work and a lot of aspirations," he said.

St. Paul received $319 million in federal funds in response to the pandemic. During the coming year, the district must prioritize what's worked and what's affordable when the money runs out in September 2024.

In its closed-door review of Gothard's work, the board took note of an intensive reading program, WINN (What I Need Now), funded with COVID relief dollars.

The initiative, targeting struggling elementary students, is grounded in the "science of reading" and appears to be showing promise, board members say.

"That has to continue," Gothard said before the meeting.

As for any potential layoffs, he said it was too early to know.

A year ago, the board voted to renew Gothard's contract after it concluded that he had raised his performance in four of six assessment areas from "effective" to "highly effective" — the highest mark given.

This year, he was deemed highly effective in three areas: community engagement, school district operations and ethical and inclusive leadership.

He fell short, however — and he acknowledged it, too — when it came to advancing the district's equity plan, according to the performance review.

In February, a Harding High student was fatally stabbed in a school hallway, and students, families and staff members aired concerns about behavior in the middle and high schools. The district gathered input and reported survey results to board members in May.

Members Zuki Ellis and Jim Vue on Tuesday requested an update soon on any new safety and security measures that are to be put in place in the coming school year.

There were no immediate answers from district administrators. But before the meeting, Gothard said one idea that had been raised this spring with students, families and staff — the return of cops in the schools, also known school resource officers (SROs) — was not likely to be presented to board members.

"I don't foresee any discussion of SROs," he said.