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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Executive talent

Star Tribune Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:58:58 GMT
Burnsville school board to pick new leader tonight

Nancy Rajanen sat in front of the quiet Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school board on Tuesday night, clutching a cup of water. Board member Nancy Banyard glanced over her reading glasses at Rajanen, an assistant superintendent in the Robbinsdale district, and asked her what she would do as superintendent about changing district demographics that have caused a decline in parental volunteers. "A lot of times we think of parental volunteers as a 'room mom,'" Rajanen said carefully, referring to cultural and financial difficulties that make it hard for some parents to make it into classrooms. "We need to redefine what we mean by parental involvement. ... For example, parent-teacher conferences don't always need to be at the same time we've always had them. We need to ask, 'What are we doing as an organization that makes it hard to be involved?'" Rajanen is one of three superintendent candidates to interview with the school district this week. The other two are Randall Clegg, superintendent of the Clinton, Iowa, school district, and Michael Lovett, assistant superintendent in the Minnetonka district. The school board hopes to pick a new superintendent at a 5 p.m. meeting today.

[[keywords: Schools;metro]]

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