Superintendent Joe Gothard has scaled back plans to hire an army of teacher-training coordinators after meeting resistance from St. Paul Public Schools teachers and parents.

The district is preparing to hire 28 “learning leads” to implement the first components of Gothard’s new strategic plan next school year. The specially assigned teachers will help colleagues make instruction more culturally relevant and work to establish a positive climate at their assigned schools.

“There’s going to be a lot of information, and there’s going to be a need for a lot of professional development,” Gothard said.

Having a designated training coordinator will enable teachers to do much of that strategic work during the school day, he said.

However, the St. Paul Federation of Educators sees the positions as an unnecessary new layer of administration.

Union President Nick Faber said Gothard failed to ask teachers what they need in their schools. Faber said that list includes translators, social workers, counselors, psychiatrists and nurses.

“It’s not another coach that they need in their building,” he said.

Gothard initially proposed creating 70 positions — one for each school — over two years. He’s since cut the number to 28, with only the poorest and lowest-performing schools getting a learning lead next year.

The remaining schools will rely largely on school principals to implement the strategic initiatives.

“It just felt like the right approach to take right now,” Gothard said.

Faber said he doesn’t care for the new plan, either.

“Now, the schools that most need adults connecting with kids, building relationships with our students, are instead going to get someone to work with other adults,” he said.

Although the district already has compiled a list of applicants for the new positions, Gothard first needs approval from the school board, which will pass next year’s budget in June.

To pay for the new positions, which cost around $108,000 apiece, the district plans to tap two sources:

$2 million in redirected federal Title I grants for low-income schools. This year, that money helps to pay for teacher training, library materials and district-level family engagement, as well as a contingency fund, Title I director Sherry Carlstrom said.

Ten positions would be covered by part of a $1.75 million federal school-improvement grant that passes through the state. This year, it’s largely paying for teacher and principal training.

Carlstrom said the learning leads represent a new structure for doing the kind of work — training and coaching teachers — that’s now done by different types of positions.

A key difference is they’ll be embedded in a particular school rather than working at the district level. Carlstrom said that will ensure teachers and their principals are getting the same message. Related Articles St. Paul schools superintendent gets high marks, but board wants progress on equity, enrollment, student achievement

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“If you look at the research, professional development that’s ongoing, sustained and supported is the best kind of professional development,” she said.

The 28 positions are among $8 million in proposed new spending next year that’s tied to Gothard’s strategic plan. The rest will pay for a return to a seven-period day at the middle school level and several positions to help high school students prepare for careers.

Gothard said he has no immediate plans to spend what the district will save by scaling back on learning leads.