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Tim Post

St. Paul schools chief says she's staying

Press conference with Superintendent Silva
Surrounded by city and school leaders at a news conference on Thursday, St. Paul school superintendent Valeria Silva announced that she would drop out of the running for a job in Florida.
Tim Post | MPR News

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

A day after being named one of four finalists to run a major Florida school district, St. Paul schools superintendent Valeria Silva said Thursday she's staying in St. Paul.

Silva, a longtime St. Paul schools administrator who a few weeks ago signed a three-year contract extension, was named Wednesday as one of four finalists for the superintendent's job in Palm Beach County, Florida, a district with more than four times the enrollment of St. Paul.

Public interviews there were planned for next week. She'd already won support for the job from the chair of the Hispanic Education Coalition of Palm Beach County.

On Thursday afternoon, however, flanked by Mayor Chris Coleman and other city leaders, Silva told reporters that she withdrew her name as a candidate for the Palm Beach job and would continue leading St. Paul schools.

"I love St. Paul," she said. "St. Paul is my life."

Silva says the superintendent spot in Palm Beach County would have given her the chance to work with more students, many of whom are Latino.

But after talking with city and school leaders, she decided to continue her work in St. Paul.

The St. Paul school board in mid-March voted to give Silva a three-year contract extension, two weeks before she submitted an application for the Palm Beach job. Silva said the application process for the Florida job had started in February, before her contract was extended.

When asked about her future, Silva said the decision to remove her name from the Florida job search proves she's committed to the district.

"I have given 28 years of my life to St. Paul Public schools and I am here to continue to give years of my life," she said.

Silva's experience in a diverse, urban district caught the attention of education leaders in Florida.

But some in St. Paul have criticized her initiatives in recent years, saying they were pushed forward without enough support for teachers and students.

Silva said she'll continue to push her efforts to reduce suspensions among students of color and put more English language learners and special education students in mainstream classrooms.