St. Paul schools chief now a finalist for Florida job

Updated 6:20 p.m. | Posted 2:18 p.m.

Less than a month after signing a three-year contract extension, St. Paul superintendent Valeria Silva is one of four finalists for the superintendent's job in Palm Beach County, Florida

Silva made the cut from an initial list of 72 prospective candidates for the top job running the Palm Beach schools, a district with nearly five times the enrollment of St. Paul.

Earlier in the day, Silva was listed among 13 finalists. The district pared that down to four later in the day.

Her competition includes a superintendent from Atlanta, a deputy superintendent from Orlando, and a school administrator from Florida.

A task force decided that out of the 72 people who applied for the job, the four had the most experience in urban school districts.

The Palm Beach County district has about 180,000 students, more than four times as many as in St. Paul.

Joaquin Garcia, a member of the district's search committee and chair of the Hispanic Education Coalition of Palm Beach County, told the board he would support whomever they choose for the job, but threw his support behind Silva.

"We need a leader that will increase achievement, including on-time graduation for all students, while narrowing the gaps between the highest- and lowest-performing students, and we believe Valeria Silva can do this for Palm Beach County."

Toya Stewart-Downey, a spokesperson for the St. Paul school district, said Silva would not comment on her choice as a finalist.

In her cover letter to Palm Beach school officials, Silva said the district was an "excellent fit" for her skills.

She spent 25 years as a teacher and administrator in St. Paul before becoming superintendent in 2009.

Since then, on-time graduation rates for black and Latino students have risen more than 12 percentage points, although their rates remain about 10 points lower than white students.

"I've always been a keen supporter of her leadership," said state Rep. Carlos Mariani, a DFLer from St. Paul, who has worked with Silva on education issues for more than two decades.

Mariani said Silva's efforts to reduce suspensions among students of color and to put English language learners and special education students in mainstream classrooms is likely why she attracted the attention of Palm Beach school officials.

"She has begun a really important agenda here in St. Paul," Mariani said.

But that agenda also has attracted critics.

Some teachers and parents in St. Paul have complained that the reduction in suspensions and mainstreaming of students, efforts that were put in place last school year, came too quickly and didn't include enough support for teachers and students.

Denise Rodriguez, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, also worries that Silva's job search shows she's not fully committed to the district.

"So now it's the matter of the other shoe to drop," Rodriguez said. "If she doesn't get this position is she going to start applying all over the country?"

Public interviews of the four finalists begin next Thursday.