Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993                   TAG: 9311060039
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS                                LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL DISTRICT HIRES MANAGEMENT COMPANY AS SUPERINTENDENT

The Board of Education voted this week to hire The Public Strategies Group Inc., headed by a man who has never been a teacher or school administrator.

Peter Hutchinson, who served briefly as state finance commissioner, says he won't take a dime in salary unless his team of consultants gets results.

Other school districts have hired private companies or other outside experts to run schools. Minneapolis is the largest city to hire a private company to manage its entire system.

School officials acknowledge that privatization is risky. But they're hoping that in dealing with problems like poor academic achievement by minority students and 12.1 percent dropout rates, several heads will be better than one.

"The way it's always been is there's been a leader, a superintendent, one person at the top," said Ann Kaari, chairwoman of the Minneapolis School Board. "But one person can't handle it all."

Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of Great City Schools based in Washington, D.C., said the Minneapolis approach has obvious advantages for troubled urban districts.

"It is clear to most urban school folks that the problems have become so enormous and the operations of the systems so complex that they can't hope to deal with all the problems by themselves," Casserly said.

The Minneapolis school system has more than 44,000 students in 98 schools and a $385 million budget. It has been without a superintendent since Robert Ferrera resigned in May amid allegations of financial mismanagement.

The city must get a waiver from the state allowing a non-educator to serve as superintendent.

The School Board and Hutchinson must agree on a contract spelling out what results he is to achieve.

"Our firm brings a team to every project that we work on, as we will on this one," said Hutchinson, 43, who also spent nine years as an executive of the Dayton-Hudson department store chain.

`But let's not be ambiguous about this: There will be a superintendent in the Minneapolis public schools, and that will be Peter Hutchinson."

The firm's fee has yet to be settled, though Hutchinson's partner, Babak Armajani, estimated it might be $400,000 to $500,000 a year.