Schools

Superintendent Gets Middling Performance Review—District Releases Few Specifics

The Board of Education determined that Superintendent Randy Clegg met four out of seven job standards, but would not say which goals he did or did not meet.

The results of Superintendent Randy Clegg's annual review are in, and they're mixed. The Burnsville-Eagan-Savage District 191 School Board disclosed that the district's top official had met four of seven standards, but revealed almost no further information.

According to a recent article by John Gessner in Sun Thisweek, board members said little about what such an evaluation might mean. Clegg's formal evaluation took place behind closed doors, which is legal as per Minnesota statute, as long as the district offers apublic summary at the next open meeting.

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In its public statement, read by Board Member Sandy Sweep, the board listed the seven standards—“shared vision, culture of learning, management, family and community, ethics, social context and goal attainment”—but did not say specifically which ones he did meet or where Clegg's performance fell short. The board's statement was also silent about which board members voiced criticism of Clegg, merely stating that the evaluation was based on consensus.

In the recent past, the board has faced criticism from parents, teachers and others for lacking transparency. The issue came to a head in March, after the , former executive director of human resources, abruptly left Independent School District 191 with a large severance settlement and little explanation. Officials would not discuss Chance's performance evaluations nor why she left, though they insisted that the district was being "as transparent with information as the law allows."

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Legal counsel for the Star Tribune successfully disputed the district's claims that the information was protected by Minnesota Data Practices Law. : The district should not have redacted the Chance's settlement document, according to Spencer Cronk, the commissioner of the Department of Administration. Following the review, the school district released the unredacted settlement between Chance and ISD 191, which revealed that Chance had filed a complaint regarding Clegg with the .

It is unclear how the controversy may further play out for Clegg, who was hired in 2008 to replace retiring Superintendent Ben Kanninen. He is nearing the end of his three-year contract, which expires next June. 


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