Star Tribune
St. Paul superintendent’s tenure ends after ‘some tests,’ national praise
Joe Gothard settled his 6-foot-6 frame into a bean-bag chair on a recent morning at the American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul.
He was there to observe a reading intervention class — a routine that dates to the fall — and he noted the name on the chair, which was Big Joe.
That had been his nickname in his hometown of Madison, Wis., where he will return as that district’s new schools chief next month.
Gothard leaves St. Paul as the 2024 National Superintendent of the Year, yet he and others say that it’s the right time for a fresh start for all.
“Being back in Madison to me is really appealing at this stage in my life,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s not bigger than St. Paul, but that doesn’t really matter to me. The purpose is still the purpose. The challenges are still going to be there.”
Gothard is one of America’s longest-serving urban superintendents, the third longest, in fact, among 78 in the Council of the Great City Schools. Although he and his leadership team have made creative moves that have garnered national attention, challenges remain for Minnesota’s second-largest school district.
St. Paul’s enrollment has steadied a bit under his watch, thanks in part to the district’s multicultural offerings. Nonetheless, it still is sliding and now stands at 32,145 students.
The literacy work made possible by a massive infusion of federal pandemic aid shows promise and will remain in place, but the district’s annual test scores lag and the achievement gap persists.
As Gothard prepares to hand the reins to veteran interim leader John Thein, he is helping shape a 2024-25 budget with a $107 million deficit and with cuts that undermine the goal of his Envision SPPS district redesign. School closings and mergers were supposed to make a well-rounded education for all elementary students possible, yet dozens of specialist teaching positions now are on the line.
Stephanie Anderson, a parent who helped block the proposed closing of Wellstone Elementary and later chaired board member Yusef Carrillo’s campaign, said she believes Gothard “believes in public education and in the value of it. I believe he goes to work each day doing the best he can.”
But, she said, “I think the timing is really good for him to leave.”
Calm in a busy job
On Feb. 15, Gothard was in San Diego for the national conference of the American Association of School Administrators, during which the 50 state superintendents of the year are paraded out, an envelope is unsealed and the name of the National Superintendent of the Year is announced. As a finalist, he prepared a few words, just in case.
At the same time, St. Paul’s teachers were in the process of authorizing a strike — a clean sweep of such votes during his seven years at the helm — and Madison’s school board president phoned him in the morning to offer him the superintendent post.
“Thankfully, I’ve been through some tests in my tenure in St. Paul,” he said of the ability to stay calm when emotions may be running high.
A year ago, a student was fatally stabbed in a hallway at Harding High School, and the district spent months exploring what it would take to make the schools safer.
As a mentor to aspiring leaders, Gothard said he makes it a practice to be present in the moment, to listen before speaking, to ask good questions and take cues from people who come at him all day with diverse perspectives.
“In this work and the work of leadership, you can’t say ‘yes’ to everything,” he said. “In fact, I have a quote I often share with people: How good are my ‘yeses’ if I never say ‘no?'”
School closures and additions
Last spring, Gothard and his administrative team said yes when Somali parents and others advocated for a broader array of programming — eventually opening an East African Elementary Magnet School that helped ease the district’s projected enrollment decline.
They launched a Karen language program believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.
Even Envision SPPS, which Gothard acknowledges as unpopular, set the district apart from others in the country by taking on school closures in a systematic way that allowed for some innovation, he said.
But Anna Peters, a parent at Galtier Community School, which was closed to make room for an early childhood education hub, said that after a year at nearby Hamline Elementary, she and her husband decided to pull their fifth-grader and place her in a St. Paul charter school.
Teachers need support to meet all of their students’ needs, Peters said, and it isn’t clear the bigger schools that result from mergers can deliver. Not that she blames Gothard. “Running a school district is such a behemoth of a job,” she said.
What’s next in St. Paul
Gothard’s tenure in St. Paul ends on May 17, and Thein, who was interim leader before Gothard was hired in 2017, will bring the 2024-25 budget with its expansive cuts to the finish line in June.
The school board has not set a timeline for its search for a permanent superintendent.
Last week, Gothard was in Madison, visiting schools long familiar to him and his family, and in an exchange with a student who asked why he was returning, said: “How can I make school awesome every day for you? That’s why I’m back.”
But he has made clear, too, that he is National Superintendent of the Year because of St. Paul.
Longtime business owner and photographer Shawn Fagan has been named the next executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance (RDA).
Fagan, who had been on the RDA’s staff as a deputy director since the summer, takes over for Kathleen Harrington, who led the organization in an interim capacity for the past year and a half.
“Shawn’s passion for downtown, his collaborative spirit, and his strategic vision for growth make him the perfect choice to lead the RDA forward,” Harrington said in a written statement.
Fagan and his wife, Michelle, have been involved in the downtown since 2003 when they opened a photography studio along South Broadway. They later bought the 151-year-old building and added an event space, Studio 324, that they continue to operate. For their contributions to downtown, the couple received the Sandy Keith Downtown Impact Award recipient in 2021.
The Fagans also own Café Aquí, a coffee shop just outside the city’s special services district.
With his new role, Fagan will be responsible for leading the downtown business community through a period of major anticipation and disruption tied to Mayo Clinic’s $5 billion build-out.
The RDA, which represents more than 300 downtown stakeholders, is best known for putting on popular events like Thursdays Downtown and Social-ICE. The organization is also responsible for managing a public service program that provides cleaning, hospitality and safety services to the 44-block district.
Star Tribune
Minneapolis Market mass shooting among 5 homicides in federal RICO charges against Lows gang
Five Minneapolis homicides — including a February mass shooting outside a market — are at the heart of the latest federal racketeering case to take aim at a street gang in the city. The latest target: the northside-based Lows, described by law enforcement as the most violent among its peers.
The new charges, announced Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, chart a three-year path of bloodshed that saw rivals and bystanders alike killed amid a long-running gang war. Eleven alleged members of the Lows are named in the indictment, which also includes allegations of gun and drug trafficking.
“The murders and shootings alleged in this indictment should shock the conscience of every law-abiding citizen in the city,” Luger said in a press conference Wednesday. “To put it simply, the existence of the Lows gang constitutes a threat to the sanctity of human life and we will continue to take all appropriate steps under the law to remove this threat.”
The Lows indictment bookends an initiative launched by Luger’s office in May 2023 to use complex conspiracy charges to disrupt Minneapolis’ most prominent gangs. The charges follow similar indictments against alleged members of the Bloods, 10z/20z and Highs gangs and brings the tally of those charged to beyond 90 people. Earlier this month, Luger’s office won its first racketeering conviction since starting this work when a jury found three alleged Bloods members guilty of charges that covered racketeering and using a firearm to carry out murder.
All of those charged in this latest case — some of whom have related state prosecutions pending — are in custody and were expected to make first appearances in St. Paul. None of them had attorneys listed as representing them as of late Wednesday, according to the federal court docket.
The Lows street gang has existed in Minneapolis since about 2004 and claims as its territory a section of north Minneapolis south of Broadway Avenue while the rival Highs gang operates north of that road. According to court documents, the murder that year of 18-year-old Christopher Little, identified by law enforcement as “a known Lows member,” intensified a rivalry with the Highs that has since included “hundreds of shootings and murders” in their territories.
A grand jury on Monday returned the latest 18-count indictment under seal charging 11 alleged Lows members with crimes including racketeering conspiracy involving murder, attempted murder, gun trafficking and drug trafficking. The indictment charged 78 “overt acts committed in furtherance of the enterprise” – including seven murders or attempted murders involving 10 victims. Bystanders were struck on two occasions. A judge unsealed the charges Wednesday amid the first federal court appearances in the case.
Those charged include: Ashimiyu Alowonle III, 38; Timothy Calender III, 26; Glenn Carter III, 23; Victor Collins, 22; Damari Douglas, 20; Deontae Jackson, 35; Shannon Jackson, 32; Robert Knights Jr, 19; Albert Lucas V, 20; Kaprice Richards, 23; Cartrelle Smith, 27.
Star Tribune
4 months in jail for road rage attack in Lakeville that left victim permanently disabled
Henderson added that his health has steadily deteriorated since the attack, noting, “I now have issues with my speech, and my need for oxygen has become almost permanent. … My back hurts more than it ever has, often leaving me bed-ridden. … I struggle to walk even short distances due to the pain.”
Also speaking at sentencing was Sharon Henderson, who said of her husband, “The funny, joyful man I once knew is now a shadow of himself — sad and depressed, acutely aware that he has lost the best years of his life. … The laughter and light that once filled our lives have been replaced by sorrow, a daily reminder of what we once had.”
According to the criminal complaint:
The day after the attack, Henderson told police an SUV was closely following him after he had exited Interstate 35 at 210th Street W. After the two parked, the other driver confronted Henderson, yelled obscenities, accused him of cutting him off and threatened to beat him.
Beckett then ordered Henderson to go behind the Walmart, saying he wanted to be somewhere without surveillance cameras.
Henderson was with his mother-in-law and told her to go inside the store to get help.
Shawn Fagan tapped to lead the Rochester Downtown Alliance
Minneapolis Market mass shooting among 5 homicides in federal RICO charges against Lows gang
Democrats and Republicans in tight races seize on comments stemming from “garbage” joke at Trump rally
Shawn Fagan tapped to lead the Rochester Downtown Alliance
Minneapolis Market mass shooting among 5 homicides in federal RICO charges against Lows gang