The Minneapolis School Board held their first meeting of 2023 with five new members on Tuesday evening at the Davis Center. During the meeting, board members designated leadership roles, assigned committees and Director Kim Ellison provided an updated timeline on the superintendent search party.

Abdul Abdi, Collin Beachy, Sonya Emerick, Fathia Feerayarre and Lori Norvell joined the board for the first time after swearing in as directors prior to the meeting. Minneapolis voters elected them to their four-year terms in November.

The members selected Sharon El-Amin as chair of the board, Collin Beachy as vice chair, Lori Norvell as clerk and Abdul Abdi as treasurer. Each position was unanimously elected besides vice chair. Beachy beat Director Adriana Cerrillo by just one member’s vote. Directors Beachy, Abdi, Ellison, Norvell and Ira Jourdain voted for Beachy while El-Amin, Feerayarre, Cerrillo and Emerick voted for Cerrillo.

“As an educator for 21 years, I just think that it’s important to make sure that educator voices are included,” Beachy said, explaining why he should be voted in for vice chair.  “We’ve got a returning member who now is the chair, and I think a new member sitting beside them as the vice chair would be a nice message that we’re sending to the community.”

El-Amin replaced Ellison as chair, meaning El-Amin will preside over each upcoming meeting and act as the board’s spokesperson. She also holds the important job of setting the agenda for board meetings. The vice chair’s job is to fill in for the chair if they aren’t at a meeting. The clerk’s job is to make records of each meeting and to act as time-keeper during board delegations. The treasurer handles money and reports for the board. More information on board leadership roles is available on the district’s website.
The School Board also released the 2023 board committee assignments. The Policy Committee includes Norvell, Beachy, Cerrillo, Feerayarre and El-Amin. Jourdain, Ellison, Abdi, Emerick and El-Amin make up the Finance Committee. The Superintendent Evaluation Committee consists of Ellison, Beachy, Abdi, Feerayarre and El-Amin, and the ELL Caucus is made up of Cerrillo, Abdi, Feerayarre and Ellison.

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The list of school board committee assignments as presented at its January 3 meeting.

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The list of school board external committee assignments as presented at its January 3 meeting.

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A continued list of school board external committee assignments as presented at its January 3 meeting.

In an update in the search for a new superintendent, Ellison said that the Board hopes to find a preferred candidate for the position by March 31, or the beginning of spring break. Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox’s term will end on June 30.

The board discussed the timeline of the search and the importance of getting community feedback.

Emerick expressed concern that there will not be enough time for the listening sessions, which had not been scheduled at the time of the board meeting. Ellison assured them that the timeline is fluid and the Board can decide if more community engagement is needed before moving on to the next steps.

Just today, the district published details for eight community listening sessions scheduled through the end of January.

The superintendent search timeline as presented at the school board meeting on January 3.

Minneapolis Public Schools also released a survey to get feedback from the community about the superintendent search.

After the update on the superintendent search and a resolution to hold a meeting on January 17 to interview a search vendor, the newly elected Chair El-Amin ended the meeting with a tap of the gavel.

“I’ll have to get used to that one,” she said.