New Minneapolis Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams vows to spend first months listening

After a week as superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, Lisa Sayles-Adams said she’s feeling a “buzz” of excitement and hope in the district and plans to spend the next couple of months listening and learning.

She began in the role on Monday, kicking off her 100-day plan, which she said is focused on understanding what people want to see continue and change in the district. That information will then inform an evaluation phase, she said. She’ll present the 100-day plan to the school board on Tuesday.

“I’m not coming in midyear to make a whole bunch of changes,” she said, “but it is a benefit to start now.”

Sayles-Adams will meet with the budget committee next week and hear their recommendations for how to close a $90 million budget gap. And she said she’s “getting updated” on ongoing negotiations with the teachers union, with mediation set to begin Feb. 29.

“Like public education across the country, we’ve been through a lot, and we’re dealing with a lot,” she said Friday, adding that she’s so far heard concerns about staffing shortages and academic achievement, particularly for students of color.

Sayles-Adams said she and her staff are still building ways to hear directly from parents, likely through a series of listening sessions with school board members. The guiding questions, she said, will be: What excites you about Minneapolis Public Schools? What is one thing you love the most about the district? If you were superintendent, what would you do first?

On her school tours this week, Sayles-Adams said she’s seen a lot of similarities to the other districts where she’s worked. Teachers arrive early. The principals help with directing buses. The students are welcomed by support staff as they walk to class.

Though the issues of a particular district may be unique, Sayles-Adams said the wins and the challenges of public education are largely the same: All districts have to focus on student learning and staffing.

Still, she’s happy to be back in the district where she started her career. Her office at district headquarters sits on the same site that was home to the elementary school where she began her first teaching job.

Sayles-Adams also spent eight years working in schools in Clayton County, Ga., outside Atlanta, before she was recruited to join St. Paul Public Schools. She worked as a principal in the district’s elementary and middle schools before being promoted to assistant superintendent. In 2020, she became the superintendent of Eastern Carver County Schools, a suburban district of about 9,400 students.

“I’m really happy to be back in Minneapolis Public Schools,” she said. “I’ve had a very warm welcome.”