brenda cassellius parents
Boston schools superintendent Brenda Cassellius appeared to catch many by surprise Monday when she announced she would step down from her position at the end of the school year. It is tradition for the President to recognize special guests during the State of the Union address each year. How much influence and interference did they really have on her and how the schools are run? "The Boston Teachers Union is thankful to Dr. Brenda Cassellius for her contributions to our public schools during what have been incredibly trying and unprecedented times," union president Jessica Tang said in a statement. Photo by Matt Kalinowski. Superintendent Skipper and her husband Peter, a retired BC High School religion teacher, have three children of whom they are very proud, and two amazing son-in-laws: Kassie, a teacher in the Denver Public Schools and her husband Joseph Montoya who is Senior Director of Residential at Namast Solar; Lihlani, who is the Associate Director at After all, equity is her driving passion. It was so fun to see Tou again in new employee orientation She is too focused on big-picture plans, Bazile says, and she does not have the leadership tools to put in place policies that are going to make those plans actually occur in reality. It creates a level of desperation, Bazile adds, because we cant lose this generation., On the afternoon of November 13, I joined a Zoom call with Cassellius, her chief financial officer, her chief operations officer, and some of her favorite people in the district: her cabinet of student advisers. By winter of the 20192020 school year, concern over Casselliuss leadership had extended beyond the central office and reached BPSs principalssome of the districts most important employees. Unveiled in early 2020, it laid out an audacious vision for the future, proposing that seven large high schools across the city simultaneously expand Advanced Placement and pre-AP courses, create technical and vocational education tracks, offer dual enrollment with local colleges, implement International Baccalaureate programs, and expand to include the seventh and eighth grades. Its that she was falling apart., In October 2019, Cassellius reached for a lifeline, hiring Charlene Briner as her new chief of staff. This button displays the currently selected search type. Woolhouse: The pandemic, I think it's been a very rough ride for her. Brenda Cassellius will resign at the end of the school year, roughly three years after she was hired away from Minnesota. Woolhouse: Well, that's a great question. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Brenda Cassellius held a press conference Tuesday, a day after announcing Cassellius resignation. Kadzis: She would like the challenge and being head of school at Boston Latin School hasn't exactly been the bed of roses either. Was it the pandemic, which stalled Casselliuss agenda and turned her job into mission impossible? I get that. We couldn't do it without you. You know what would be kind of cool, Nate, is having a youth portion of the presentation. Kuder said he loved the idea. The discovery of a gun at a South Boston school on Friday along with the vicious attack on a principal a few months ago showed the school system has a long way to go at protecting kids and teachers from violence. Go Blue! Once, a BPS official saw Briner and Cassellius huddled in a hallway in the Bolling Building. As the students offered suggestionsfree menstrual products, cleaner bathrooms, improved ventilationCassellius had her executives take notes. Run the recorder throughout the midday. Nor could the surrounding city blocks, which encompassed some of Bostons most expensive and densely populated neighborhoods. Stream GBH's Award-Winning Content For Parents And Children. The combination of all of these measures made principals heads spin. Both her father's name and her mothers are unknown. 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Theyve held more than 100 meetings around the state since January 2016 on one of the most important issues facing Minnesota: [], Joe Nathan / A group of Boston parents has filed a lawsuit against the school committee and Superintendent Brenda Cassellius for what they call a wholly-irrational exam school admissions process, which had recently undergone changes due to the pandemic. Through the early summer, officials had grown concerned that Cassellius and her new leadership team might not be up to the task of managing the pandemic response. 2016 columns / We had all this wind under our wings, she says. However, on Tuesday Dr. Cassellius sent her letter of resignation to Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson. Brenda Cassellius, ESSA, Hue Hguyen, Minnesota Department of Education / 0 Comments, originally published by www.hometownsource.com, March 22, 2017http://hometownsource.com/2017/03/22/joe-nathan-column-mde-offers-great-opportunities-to-help-create-education-plans/ MDE offers great opportunities to help develop education plans Give Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius and her colleagues at the Minnesota Department of Education some credit. She has a deep gift for connecting with children, says a current BPS official who is critical of her leadership. She implemented a hiring freeze, eliminated key central-office roles, and repeatedly reshuffled the organizational chart, according to three current and former BPS officials. I was called everything from the N-word to mulatto, she says. The pandemic impacted us all, including our workforce. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 14 BPCAE families in U.S. District Court in Boston on Friday. Because of her background, she says, she has a lot in common with many BPS students. Just to cite one example, she's run through four chiefs of staff in two years. (Later, in December, the teachers union would pass a vote of no confidence in the superintendent.). . She envisioned that when students arrived in the morning, they would receive a playlist of programs available at each of the schools, according to BPS officials with knowledge of the plan. For the next eight years, she served as Minnesotas commissioner of education. However, she was Carol Johnson's chief of staff, a former superintendent. And in that time, building improvements and academic improvements have been promised, but not met. Brenda CasselliusCommissionerMinnesota Department of Education1500 Highway 36 WestRoseville, Minnesota . On Twitter, Brenda has 9,689 followers on her @bcassellius account. The Emerald Necklacea narrow, marshy landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmstedcould not possibly be the site of a half-dozen or more high schools. With the backing of the teachers union, community activists, and Mayor Walsh, she won the job in May 2019, with a 52 vote from the school committee. The school committee approved her plan and Walsh agreed to the budget increase. She has said to me that she hires people based on familiarity and trust, says Edith Bazile, a former president of the Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts who has worked closely with Cassellius on a volunteer basis. Briner had been her right-hand woman in Minnesota, serving as chief of staff and then deputy commissioner throughout Casselliuss eight years leading that states Department of Education. Everyone was going every which way without direction, without leadership., Meanwhile, the senior leadership ranks cleared out as incumbents defected (Casselliuss chief of staff left in complete and utter dismay, a current BPS official says) or were pushed to resign. Note that clicking the link below will block access to this site for 24 hours. For the next hour, she listened warmly and keenly to the advice of her most important constituentsstudents. Here's what she said at a press conference the day after announcing Cassellius' departure. The warnings that a recession may occur continues but fears that it will happen in 2023 are fading. Cassellius loves playing hockey and water skiing. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length. This is not a new problem in Boston, having a superintendent leave. Its a gray and frigid morning in Dorchester when Brenda Cassellius bounds toward me on the front lawn of Joseph Lee K8 School. Josh Collins, Education Evolving, Education Minnesota, EdVisions Schools, Friendship Academy of the Arts, Jensen family, Julene Oxton, Kenneth Eban, Larry Pogemiller, Lars Esdal, Lisa Snyder, Lynn Nordgren, MAAP STARS Conference, Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs, Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Nell Collier, Patti Haasch, Rep Roz Peterson, Rep. Carlos Mariani, Rep. Jenifer Loon, Rep. Linda Slocum, Rep. Sondra Erickson, Sam Fredrickson, Sandy Connoly, Sen. Greg Clausen, Steve Allen, Students for Education Reform-Minnesota, Westra family / 1 Comment, This column originally was published by a series of ECM/Sun/Current Newspapers in late November, 2017 Thanks to passionate, practical families, students and educators Joe Nathan One of Americas finest traditions encourages us to pause late in the year, regardless of current controversies, to offer thanks. Get all the latest from Sanditon on GBH Passport, How one Brookline studio helps artists with disabilities thrive. Santoro: If Rachel Skerritt is happy where she is, why would she even consider taking on this monstrosity? To say that Casselliuss daily life in Boston has not been smooth is something of an understatement. Students in the zip code with the lowest family income will be placed first. Yet even by the standards of a city that has had five superintendents in the past decade, Casselliuss first year and a half on the job since arriving from Minnesota, where she served as the commissioner of the Department of Education, has been tumultuous. The parents of all Boston school children will appreciate the rare candor. Big changes and bold visions were called for. Her leadership skills are very lacking, a former Minnesota Department of Education official who worked with Cassellius told me. Do the windows open at the central office? I asked. But she knows where she is. When BPS faced a lack of staff, Brenda took a substitute teacher position at Nathan Hale Elementary School, Roxbury. On an unseasonably warm day in October 2019, Brenda Cassellius took the floor during a meeting at the Bolling Building, BPSs headquarters in Nubian Square. She came under fire from some parents and teachers for her efforts to reopen the schools for in-person last fall. Without Charlene, I dont think Brenda would have survived., In the months that followed, Briner helped prop Cassellius up, sometimes almost literally. The problem, Casselliuss critics alleged, was that it arrived too late and too light on details. [], Joe Nathan / As this story went to print, Cassellius was preparing for a virtual retreat with the school committee. Then, in late July, Walsh sent Patrick Brophy, the citys chief of operations, to help with BPSs reopening effort. She has overseen defections and ousters among her senior executives, a revolt from school principals, and public excoriation from influential nonprofits and activists. 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