District Missed 'Red Flags' in Washburn Principal's Resume

According to a report in the Star Tribune, Minneapolis Public Schools officials missed or disregarded multiple "red flags" in the resume of the charter school administrator briefly named as Washburn High School's new principal.

Patrick Exner, deputy head of Hopkins' Ubah Medical Academy, told MPS he was Ubah's head and misstated the total number of students at the school by 10 percent. Both facts are easy to verify with cursory Google searches and examination of publicly-available state databases.

Exner also took credit for a 2011 rise in standardized tests scores but did not mention or explain why scores dropped again in 2012. When announcing Exner's appointment, Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson praised test score gains at Ubah under Exner's leadership.

Exner was fired less than a week after being hired when allegations emerged that he had tampered with state standardized test scores last year. Assistant Principal Linda Conley will lead the school with help from retired administrator Craig Vana until a permanent replacement can be found.

The fiasco has district officials examining hiring processes.

"There are definitely areas we can improve," the district's new deputy head Michael Goar told the newspaper, saying Exner's hiring process was rushed in an effort to get a principal in place before the start of the school year.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com

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