Corporate Ties and Side Hustles a Conflict of Interest for New Interim Superintendent of Portland Public Schools?
With Husk's ties to corporations that sell districts curricula and profit off collecting student data, as well as expanding personalized, digital learning, her role as Superintendent through June could spell a conflict of interest. Because she has been empowered by the PPS Board during her tenure to fill vacancies at "at the Chief level and higher," there is danger that PPS management ranks will swell with proponents of profit-motivated ed tech reform whose initiatives further devalue and erode the teaching profession.
After serving as superintendent in north Denver and Clarksville-Montgomery County, Tennessee, from 2006 to 2014 she was the superintendent of the Salem-Keizer school district in Oregon. Next, Husk moved on to become the Chief Operating Officer of the San Diego-based non-profit AVID (or Advancement Via Individual Determination), a post she held until March of 2022. AVID, founded by a California teacher in 1980 to prepare middle- and high school students for college, operates on a corporate growth model. Husk became AVID's CEO the year Nike School Innovation Fund (NSIF), founded by current PPS School Board member, Julia Brim-Edwards, selected AVID as its professional development partner for teachers, and funded its large-scale expansion into Oregon's schools.
Two PPS Board members, Andrew Scott and Julia Brim-Edwards, took the
lead on tapping Husk. Brim-Edwards, who has worked for Nike and founded NSIF, has had at least a decade-long
relationship with Husk.
Taking the helm of PPS for the next several months for a salary of $330,000 will be a pay cut for Husk who, as AVID's CEO, made $517,625, plus an estimated $52,714 in "other compensation from the organization and related organizations" last year, according to the non-profit's 2022 tax statement. Although AVID is officially a 501(c) (3) organization, it is able to pay its leadership team salaries between $200,000 and nearly $700,000, which AVID's President earns.
Husk also has several "side hustles" going with ed tech and curriculum vendors. According to her LinkedIn profile, Husk is on the Board of Wayfinder, a company whose Social-Emotional Learning PPS recently adopted. Husk is also a Board member at abl., or Always Be Learning, and leadership trainingthat "allow districts to examine the efficacy of their resource and time allocations and how resource utilization directly impacts student outcomesny says, "share a passion for revolutionizing education through school design."
Additionally, Husk is an adviser to uses cognitive data to personalize learning. In April of last year, MindPrint formed a research partnership with Digital Promise. Funded by the Walton Family Foundation, which was started by the founders of Walmart, the project aims to "demonstrate the effect of MindPrint Learning's solution on teacher self-efficacy." The Walton Foundation is one of the earliest supporters of personalized digital learning as well as a proponent of charter schools.
Will PPS soon be adopting abl. products for its data analysis and scheduling needs? Will the district be purchasing MindPrint's tools? (MindPrint's Director of Research and adviser to the CEO happens to live in Portland.) Will Husk, who collaborated with Nike on the expansion of AVID into Oregon schools, be hiring business-minded leaders with ties to the corporate world to fill the vacant senior leadership positions? Only time will tell.
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