Schools and many other districts often hire outside consultants - as do
chartered public schools - do help with various projects. As noted in an
email that I just sent out, the St. Paul Public Schools has just hired a
consultant for $157,000 to help review its scandalous
facilities department.
While SPPS decided to pay more than $157,000 to a consulting firm, it
rejected an offer from Mn Dept of Education to provide a (free) staff
member. Given that MDE wrote to Supt Gothard in Dec 2018 that SPPS was not
following procedures and that this could have negative consequences for
the district, wouldn't it have been wise for SPPS to accept MDE's offer?
Joe Nathan, parent of 3 SPPS graduates and grandparent of 5 current SPPS
student