It's the teachers?

 *Full disclaimer: I am a proud resident of Minneapolis, a proud teacher in Minneapolis Public, a proud parent of a Minneapolis Public student, and passionate about my community.  These often intersect in troubling ways that I struggle with internally and externally.  This is one of those struggles. These thoughts are truly my own and no ill meaning is meant toward Minneapolis Public.  I'm just confused.

I woke up one morning to this tweet from Stan Alleyne, MPS communication officer:

It blew my mind.  

One of the schools mentioned, Pillsbury, is an incredible school.  They have "strong vision, strong leadership, and strong teachers."  I would never question that.  I've worked with their leadership and many of the teachers. They are passionate, driven, and successful.

This was my reply to Mr. Alleyne:

You can pull out all the research, studies, and facts you want, but Mr. Alleyne's tweet says it all: it's not always the teachers or principals. Here's why:

In 2012, Minneapolis Public shut down Cityview School.  It was labeled as failing under NCLB. The district had many options but they chose to shut the school down and displace all the students.  Two years before, they replaced the principal and assistant principals as ineffective.  For the record, Cityview's student population was more than 90% Free/Reduced lunch, a key indicator of poverty.

Fast forward to Mr. Alleyne's tweet.

The principal and assistant principal at Pillsbury were the principal and assistant principal at Cityview.  Of the 79 current staff at Pillsbury, 14 of them are from Cityview.  I know that many of those 14 moved with the principal and assistant principal because they know they are amazing leaders.  I would have followed them too if Pillsbury had a middle school.

How can you shutter a school in 2012 citing ineffectiveness and then compliment the same leaders and teachers in a different school for the same thing you labeled ineffective just a few years ago?

I don't know the answers.