Sue Simons, Assistant Super to the SF School District (KELO-TV, Screenshot)
According to the SF School District’s website;
Sue Simons, Assistant Superintendent for HR and Legal Services
And according to martindale.com (which still has her listed as a partner at Davenport Evans):
| Susan Brunick Simons 206 West 14th Street, P.O. Box 1030 Sioux Falls, South Dakota
(Lincoln & Minnehaha Cos.)
|
| University | College of St. Benedict, B.A. |
| Law School | University of South Dakota, J.D. |
| Admitted | 1987 |
| ISLN | 908719493 |
I don’t mean to split hairs, but wouldn’t you want the assistant super to have a little knowledge in teaching and administration? Maybe I can’t find the credentials. Does anybody know?
On the other hand, do you really want a geography or biology teacher as your administrator of human resources and dispenser of legal advice? She is not THE assistant super…she is one of SEVERAL Assistant supers.
And I speak as a skeptic of this current Administration’s overall competence and this school board’s skill at governance..
No, Simons is not a teacher. The state’s certified teachers can be found here:
https://apps.sd.gov/applications/de04public/TeacherLookup/TeacherSearch.aspx
The super in most school districts will have teaching background before they move up to any administrative position. It is suppose to allow them to be versed in how a school and education works.
I would never want a businessperson to run any school my child would attend. Schools are for learning and not only testing or quantitative measuring every step.
An educator leader is far more valuable than a businessperson leader to society. An educator leader will instill personal / moral virtues to strive for. A businessperson leader will show the impressional young minds how greed works. We all have a chance as we age to see how greed works and destroys society, why give an attorney – businessperson the special place in education to shape future minds.
So thc, I would really rather have a teacher in line to be super than an attorney like Sue. My real interest is why is she not still an attorney partner with the largest legal firm in South Dakota? What did she do wrong to be out the door or is she on hiatus from the firm? Who is the legal council for the school district?
If we really feel all school leaders need to have been teachers, are we suggesting the school board should be comprised of former teachers as well?
No thanks. The skillset between teacher and administrator don’t necessarily overlap. It might be helpful in some cases, might not help in others… I don’t honestly care either way provided they do their job well.
Where I am confused is if Sue is 2nd in line for Super? In other words, if Homan were to leave suddenly, who is in charge? Do we want that person to be an attorney?
And as Testor brings up, is Sue still receiving dividends from Davenport, or was she outright bought out? When you are a Sr. Partner you aren’t just given a cake and a box for your office shit on the way out . . .
I posted this on Madville.com to answer a question posed by a SouthDacola reader and thought it should be said here also.
I too want business people running the ‘business’ functions in the schools. We could hire many qualified attorneys to be qualified attorneys for schools. Why do we need attorneys in line to be a Sanford Falls superintendent?
Pretty sure Sue left Davenport on her own accord. She served the bulk of the districts legal needs from Davenport. District probably realized it was more affordable to hire her on salary than to pay her fees. Can’t really blame Sue for her choice. She is probably earning less, but I’m guessing she has more free time, benefits, only the one client, and is free from the administrative/business management drama of the big firm. She is very sharp, but handled the dakota bowl thing poorly.
Anoon- That is exactly what I heard to. Kinda like Dave Knudson moving over to Sanford.
But what is up with the Dakota Bowl thing? Are you talking about the insurance?
Heard she didn’t handle the meeting well. Don’t really want to throw stones at it cause I wasn’t there. I tell you next time I see you DT.