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Nicastro resignation ends contentious tenure

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro announced this week that she would resign at the end of the calendar year, ending her five-year run in a post marked by intense criticism and increasingly bitter public and private battles over how to reign in Missouri’s struggling public schools.

Nicastro oversaw the implementation of a slew of new standards for school district classification, teacher preparedness, and student achievement, some of which were met with ferocious opposition in the legislature. Tensions between Nicastro’s policies and the wishes of the legislature boiled over last year when documents showed Nicastro’s close involvement in helping a Rex Sinquefield-backed group craft ballot language seeking to end teacher tenure in 2014.

Chris Nicastro
Chris Nicastro

Teach Great, an organization originally founded to push for the initiative, has since said they are ending their campaign in 2014, although the measure remains on the November ballot. But Nicastro’s involvement in crafting the language in the first place drew swift denunciations from several lawmakers. Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-St. Louis) even offered a non-binding resolution last year demanding for Nicastro’s resignation or termination. The measure went nowhere, but Chappelle-Nadal and a small cadre of lawmakers never missed an opportunity to hammer Missouri’s top education official.

Nicastro served as education chief during the descent of Riverview Gardens and Normandy School Districts into unaccredited status and the wave of transfer students that followed. DESE’s handling of the transfer students in the last year, including its recommendations that districts skirt state law, came under fire from Republicans and Democrats alike.

In the five years since Nicastro assumed her post, DESE implemented stricter standards evaluating individual school districts and implemented a department-wide strategy to make Missouri a top-10 state for education by 2020, all while attempting to effectively handle an unprecedented student transfer crisis and the bitter legislative debate that followed.

Nicastro said it was “exactly the right time both personally and professionally for a change in leadership” in a written statement.

Gov. Jay Nixon lauded Nicastro for her leadership in a written statement as well.

“For nearly four decades, Commissioner Nicastro has dedicated her career to improving public schools and helping students succeed,” Gov. Nixon said. “The progress Missouri’s public schools have made during her tenure as commissioner is a testament to her unwavering commitment to providing every Missouri child with a high quality education that prepares them to meet the demands of the global economy.”

Rep. Genise Monticello, a St. Louis Democrat and one of the lawmakers frequently chiding Nicastro from the floor of the House, issued both a subtle jab at the Department’s performance and a thanks to Nicastro.

“The retirement of Dr. Nicastro presents an opportunity to move forward and restore confidence in DESE, not only with the General Assembly, but more importantly with Missouri parents,” Monticello wrote. “I’m eager to begin work with a new commissioner to improve the educational outcomes for all Missouri children.  There are several exceptional candidates outside the department who will once again put our children’s education ahead of outside interests and influence.   I have complete faith that the State Board of Education shares my goal.  Though I had concerns with the commissioner’s performance, I want to thank her for her many years of service towards educating the children of Missouri.”