MPS board votes to name Brenda Cassellius district's next superintendent
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) board voted Tuesday night to make Brenda Cassellius the district's next superintendent.
Cassellius, the former Boston superintendent and Minnesota commissioner of education, will now begin contract negotiations with MPS. The board vote was 8-1, with Darryl Jackson the lone "no" vote.
Board leaders cited Cassellius' resume as a unique type of experience that separated her from the other two finalists, former Montgomery County, Maryland Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr and current Calvert County, Maryland Schools Superintendent Andrae Townsel.
They pointed to Cassellius' record of leading another big city district in Boston Public School while also having served as Minnesota's top state education official.
"When we looked at the steady hand she has, the experience she has on the local, state and national level, her ability to really connect with people, ability to understand and navigate policy and also lead a district really made her the clear choice," Jilly Gokalgandhi, the MPS board's vice president, said.
The board praised all three finalists after emerging from a closed session discussion that lasted a little less than two hours. Board member Henry Leonard said he believed the candidates composed the most qualified group of superintendent finalists MPS had ever attracted.
"First of all, the best talent this city has ever been offered for a superintendent," Leonard said. "Secondly, all three definitely have the capacity to do the job."
The board expects to finalize a contract with Cassellius and vote to approve it by the end of this month. Cassellius would then take over as superintendent on July 1. Until then, interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan will lead the district.
Board President Marva Herndon said board members were also moved by the more than 300 messages they received from the public following the finalists' visit to Milwaukee last week, which included an open forum where the candidates answered questions submitted by parents and taxpayers.
"You must understand that was critical was listening to the community and listening to the students," Herndon said.
Herndon said academics were the board's highest priority, and members were impressed with Cassellius' ideas for improving performance. Recent national testing found MPS had one of the nation's worst 4th grade reading scores among large urban districts, ranking ahead of only Detroit.
Cassellius will also have to continue rebuilding MPS' financial reporting efforts, which caused a crisis last spring when late and inaccurate data reporting sparked an uproar that cost former Superintendent Keith Posley and former Chief Financial Officer Martha Kreitzman their jobs.
Board members said they were confident Cassellius' experience in Minnesota would allow her to form relationships with Wisconsin's political leaders. She previously served with Gov. Tony Evers on the nine-member Council of Chief State School Officers when Evers was Wisconsin's state superintendent of public instruction.
Evers praised the selection Tuesday, citing their shared history and adding, "I'm really excited about the leadership, passion, and energy she will bring to MPS.
MPS still mum on comptroller
District officials still aren't saying whether or not Comptroller Begmurad Nepesov still works for MPS. The district heralded his hiring last month when updating its corrective action plan for reporting financial data to the state.
However, multiple sources told CBS 58 last week Nepesov left the district after only two weeks on the job. Galvan did not respond when asked about Nepesov's status at Tuesday meeting.
Gokalgandhi told reporters she couldn't comment on Nepesov's employment status because it's a personnel issue. Yet, last spring, it was Gokalgandhi who announced the district's last comptroller, Alfredo Balmaseda, was out amid the district's financial reporting scandal.
In an interview before Tuesday's meeting, Leonard said the board was in the dark about Nepesov's status with MPS.
"I don't want to speak to it because I haven't had confirmation, but I've heard too many people saying that he's no longer employed with MPS," he said. "But no one has spoke to it directly."
"Extremely frustrated," Leonard added. "There's no need to- there could be a million reasons why, so there's nothing to hide here. There really isn't."
Update on SRO talks
Board member Missy Zombor shared with reporters an update on the district's negotiations for bringing school resource officers (SROs) back into MPS schools.
The district and the city are at odds over who should pay for the officers. Zombor said MPS is now offering to pay 33% of the officers' salaries, as well as cover the cost of their training. The district is offering to enter into mediation with the city to hammer out a deal.
As part of a 2023 state law that increased state aid for local governments, MPS is required to have 25 SROs by January 1, 2024.
District leaders have said because the city directly benefitted from the shared revenue deal via a new city sales tax, they should shoulder the SRO load. City officials have maintained MPS is largely responsible for staffing officers in its buildings.
A complicating factor is MPS and the city get their money from completely different revenue sources. Each entity levies a property tax while receiving state aid from two different formulas.
With the district now 13 months late, a Milwaukee County judge has given MPS a deadline of next Monday, February 18, to bring back the officers.
Evers has previously called for the sides to come to an agreement, saying it was important for the district to get in line with the law. In a statement to CBS 58 Tuesday night, he praised the district's latest offer.
"MPS has been working diligently in recent weeks to make progress on this issue, and I'm glad to see this good-faith effort to try and reach consensus," Evers said. "Let's get this done."