MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Education has a new leader.
Commissioner Willie Jett is the first Black man to serve as state commissioner of education. In 2010, Brenda Cassellius became the first woman of color to serve in the same role.
"Growing up the way I grew up, there was some pain in that in terms of being the only or being the first in something," Jett said, "but I'm honored."
Jett was born in Minneapolis and attended Osseo Area Schools. He went on to become a student-athlete, playing college basketball for a year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland and three years at the University of Illinois Chicago. He spent about 10 years away from Minnesota continuing to build his resume.
"New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Vegas," he said. "Yeah, a little bit of everything. Baltimore."
He returned to Minnesota to be closer to family and to further pursue a career in education. Over the years, he was a teacher, sports coach, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent, and briefly, a university instructor. After serving as superintendent of the St. Cloud Area School District for nine years, he worked at the University of Minnesota until the Walz administration appointed him to the commissioner position a few months ago.
Since Jett's confirmation, he's spent a lot of time at the state Capitol.
"It's been eventful," he said. "The first thing is the budget. So, the governor's put forth this education budget that's historic and so to walk in as the commissioner of education, it's the right time to walk into that."
"[The budget] is about literacy for all," he continued. "It's about under-served students. It's about mentors and teachers of color. It's about recruiting and retaining teachers. It's about mental health … and so, it's an honor but there's some pressure with it that I probably put on myself to perform and to raise expectations and to do right by a kid."
He plans to do that by putting boots on the ground.
"Everybody needs something differently and … the only way we're going to learn that and understand that is actually be out so that's one of our big pushes this spring and next fall is to get out and be in every district across the state of Minnesota."
Narrowing Minnesota's achievement gap starts with kids as young as pre-K, he says, and community support.
"We need the business community," Jett said. "We need the workforce to help shape what we're teaching, what we're talking about so that we meet the needs of the workforce when our students graduate."
Friday, the commissioner spoke to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce about the importance of exposing young people to the workforce, including trade jobs.
He says he's also "filled with joy" to see the next generation become educators.
"Educators of color, I take pride in that because what I remember years ago was being the only," Jett said. "Students of color, when they can see themselves in somebody, that makes a big difference."
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