Good news. The Minneapolis Public Schools has hired a new Communications Director to replace the iconic Stan Alleyne, who resigned (I’m told) in the wake of Michael Goar’s ascendancy to interim Superintendent status. (Stan’s second in command, Rachel Hicks, also left MPS in recent months.) 

Now, MPS can do their spinning in-house, I presume, and maybe cut loose the “outside public relations consultants” Goar has been working with, according to the rather flattering “tough guy” portrayal of him in the June 29 Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Outside PR consultants? Sounds expensive. I wonder if they helped write the piece in the Star Tribune. Consider this:

“Goar’s willingness to implement significant changes is a departure from previous interim school leaders.”

Translation: MPS should really hire this guy, asap. Look what he’s doing, even as interim Supe.

And this:

“At the end of each day, his secretary gives him about seven folders with copies of e-mails he needs to respond to, appointment requests, his calendar and other pending matters. He said he takes them home, makes dinner, watches some basketball and goes through each task.”

Translation: He works really hard. MPS should hire him.

There’s more:

“Goar is rethinking other long-held practices. He instructed staff to meet with various branches of the military who want to be able to recruit in Minneapolis and offer students scholarships and job opportunities.” 

Translation: Military service! Why didn’t we think of that?! MPS should hire this guy, and quickly.

College is so expensive anyway, and lots of kids are probably dying–no pun intended–to join the military. Especially since it seems like this whole war thing won’t be ending anytime soon. More grunts are certainly needed, and of course they’ll be treated like champs when they return–great health care, jobs, peace of mind…right?

There may have been very good reasons for restricting military recruiting in our high schools–such as the data-driven evidence that says the military’s youngest soldiers are the most at risk for mental health problems, alcohol abuse, and anxiety disorders, etc.

And then there is this warning from a commentary piece in that radical publication TIME magazine: 

“In its rush to find the next generation of cyberwarriors, the military has begun to infiltrate our high schools and even our middle schools, blurring the line between education and recruitment.”

But we certainly don’t want to take away from Goar’s hireability index. And, the PR consultant who may or may not have planted the pro-Goar piece in the Star Tribune made sure to throw a few zingers at the Interim Supe, for that all important air of neutrality:

• He’s so tough he even makes RT Rybak “uncomfortable”
• He’s a “micromanager.” (Boo! And he wants to head up a bureaucracy?)
• There have been some “setbacks in gaining the community’s trust” for Goar 

  

But, Goar has the last word, in true PR fashion:

“’There are always going to be people who will still be unhappy,’” he said. “’This is not a popularity contest.’”

Becoming MPS’ next Supe may not involve winning a popularity contest (especially when you are the kind of person-in-charge who is fond of “not holding back“).  But the help of a few well-placed PR consultants probably never hurt, either.