May 24, 2016
There is one central question hanging over today’s expected announcement of Minneapolis’s next superintendent:
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the reformiest of all?
Is it former Minneapolis administrator, Brenda Cassellius, who helped guide the district through its romance with McKinsey & Company consultants, back in the mid-2000’s? Cassellius is also cut from the same professional cloth–sewn by former superintendent Carol Johnson–as recent MPS administrators, Bernadeia Johnson and Michael Goar. 
This fact alone has scared off some potential supporters, who worry that Cassellius, as superintendent, will push Minneapolis further down the flash in the pan path of the market-based reform movement, where no shiny stone–or successful MPS department–has been left unturned. (Read my series on McKinsey’s influence on the Minneapolis schools for more info about this, starting here.)
Oddly, rumors are surfacing that the local reform glitterati (read the McKinsey series for names) are lining up behind Cassellius’s soft-spoken competitor, Anchorage superintendent, Ed Graff. Graff, if selected, is poised to either be a miraculous uniter, unknowingly aligning divided camps, or–some might hope–a blob of putty in the hands of Minnesota Comeback-like forces, who want to take apart and rebuild the Minneapolis schools in their own, highly proficient image.
There can be no denying that Graff interviewed well. He was calm, cool, personable and actually had something of a vision for education. His focus has been on social-emotional learning, which sounds as refreshing as a warm day in Alaska. He smartly would not nod along to board member’s questions about student-based funding and autonomous schools, and instead offered grounded answers that implied he is not likely to be any plutocrat’s puppet.
Cassellius has earned her marks, too. There must be a reason certain reformers–the kind who would like to convince us that alternative licensure is the burning issue of the day–do not want her in as head of the Minneapolis schools. Is she too savvy? Too familiar with their soulless data maps? Maybe she is the Carol Johnson protegé Minneapolis has been waiting for–the one who, like Graff, is not likely to fall for reform-minded shenanigans imposed on the district by outside political influences and agendas, propped up by hedge fund excesses.
Now that I think about it, either one of these candidates sounds pretty good. And it’s Bob Dylan’s birthday, too. 
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to–Bob Dylan, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” 1965
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I think the interesting question is what will the one that doesn’t get the super job do? Cassellius has done a better than average job convincing me that she is invested in making the MPS better, and the fact that the reformers are uncomfortable with her makes me like her. I’m not sure how much influence she actually had as far as bringing in McKinsey and the TFAers. Graff can sing a great tune, but he’s a guy without a job who hasn’t worked as an adult in Minnesota, as far as I can tell. I think he’ll be more beholding to outside money than Cassellius. He can move on to another superintendency somewhere else if thinks don’t go well for him here and he plays well with outside money – whether or not things go well for the students and teachers of the MPS may not matter all that much to him. I get the sense that Cassellius is committed to Minnesota and Minneapolis. She could very easily go almost anywhere she wanted and get another superintendency without spending any energy on the MPS.