Name: Teresa Glass
Age: 65
Neighborhood: West Seventh
Teresa Glass is a retired occupational therapist and former assistive technology lead for St. Paul Public Schools, where she worked for 18 years before retiring in June 2026. She has previously worked in Bolivia and with the Navajo community at a school in Arizona.
Glass is knowledgeable in the district systems and fluent in Spanish, and has expertise managing budgets and developing specialized programs for students with disabilities.
She thinks the district should maintain services that support ELL students, and she proposes better inventory tracking for improved stewardship of taxpayer funds, strengthening teacher retention and a deeper connection between the district and community members.
“I want the school board to be transparent and intentional about hearing from the community,” Glass said. “I met some of the community members who, many of them, had not done anything for that community school until that need arose [during Operation Metro Surge], and then they found their purpose. They were a huge asset to the schools because the schools needed them, and I believe we still need them.”
The candidates are competing for three at-large positions on the school board, which represent voters in every part of the city.
Glass spoke with Sahan Journal on Oct. 14. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Why do you want to be on the St. Paul school board?
I know St. Paul schools can do better, and I know that my prior experience — not only working there for 18 years, but my perspective as an occupational therapist and an assistive technology professional — gives me a unique lens into the functioning of the district.
I had the benefit of working overseas for many years in Bolivia, in a very isolated area of the Amazon, where, along with the community, we were able to develop a community-based rehabilitation program for more than 350 children in an area where there were no services for children with disabilities. It was a place where the outsider might come and say there’s nothing there, but I learned even at a deeper level that it’s not all about money, and that if you have the ability to harness the skills and talents of community members, you can do amazing things. You always need money, but can do amazing things with less money because that human resource is so, so valuable, and I think that perspective is really going to help me on the school board.
I also had the privilege of living with the Navajo for two years in northeastern Arizona working in a special ed school. I got an in-depth understanding and respect of their culture. Just the fact that I was able to work for a little over 10 years of my professional life in cultures and communities that were not English-speaking or the dominant culture were very helpful and instructive, and changed the way I do everything. They inform my practice on a daily basis, and I believe that that would be a very helpful thing for someone on the school board to have. I also speak Spanish fluently, and I would be able to communicate at that level with at least the Spanish-speaking parents.
I am running because I want to help improve things, and one of the things is to increase fiscal transparency and responsibility, and better use of resources across the district. The biggest thing is to increase academic outcomes for all students, which to me means that all students will be progressing and learning. I believe all students can learn, and if they are not learning, it’s on us adults to figure out why. I don’t believe in blaming the students. I believe we can have better systems so that more students can learn to read, so that we can increase literacy rates that are extremely low at this time. I feel like for me, it’s the right time to enter and share what I know and my previous experience. I’ve developed programs, I’ve managed budgets, and so I feel like I can be of benefit to the St. Paul school board.
St. Paul, like many districts, has seen a decline in English language learners since Trump’s second term began, and lost nearly 500 students following Operation Metro Surge. What impact does that have and how should the district respond?
It’s a tragic situation. I believe that it is imperative that we continue to have the ELL services for the students who are in our schools. Of the 500 that have left, I know just from living in my community, many have left the area, but I do wonder if there is anyone looking to see if some of those students have left St. Paul and maybe gone to a charter school? So I would ask more questions about the data of these students who have left. Has there been an increase in private schools or charter schools in our area? Because I know that would help make more of an informed decision on that. We have to continue to have the services for the learners that are at our schools, and make sure that any changes don’t reduce the services they’re currently receiving for English language learning.
Last year St. Paul cut ELL funding after a decline in ELL students. How can St. Paul best support those remaining students?
They need to be intentional about the programming and what that looks like, and be creative about how they provide the services without impacting students negatively. Since I don’t have the numbers for each specific school, there’s one big thing that I learned in St. Paul schools, being there so many years, is that every school is a different culture, every school functions differently administratively. I think that’s why sometimes it’s so complicated when something like this comes up, because I think there needs to be transparency on where those numbers are, so that parents know what is going on before a change happens, and ensuring that the students that are at St. Paul Public Schools do not lose their services because of a cut.
The district has grappled with some major budget challenges in recent years leading to cuts in 90 school-based positions in the most recent budget. Looking ahead, what challenges do you see in keeping the district on track financially? How do you think the district can address those challenges?
I’m going back to one of my reasons for running, and it may sound silly simple: I know St. Paul schools could do a better job in tracking and utilizing the current physical resources that exist, and that is anything from the physical curriculum that teachers get to the reallocation of file cabinets from one building to another. It is the job that I came into when I first came in 2020. Assistive technology is anything from a pencil grip to specialized iPads for students that need communication, oral communication, or are nonverbal and need a way to communicate. It goes all the way from that to specialized seating, to walkers, wheelchairs, all of the different equipment that students with all different disabilities – not just physical disabilities, but students with sensory issues, students with autism. That’s all considered assistive technology. In that world, we had a lot of stuff.
So when I became lead, the mantra was pretty much, we don’t have anything. I knew from my 12 years before, and working in many schools, that there was equipment and there were assistive technology materials, but sometimes they were down in a basement in a school or in a closet because there wasn’t any kind of tracking. We check this out for a child, and then when they don’t need it, it comes back, and then we check it out to someone else. I really focused on that in my little world. I’ll acknowledge it wasn’t huge. I mean, we did serve a lot of kids, because there’s about 7,000 kids with special education needs. But I saw that I was able to get things back or get them to a central location and start putting them into a formal inventory.
We had so much more, and without spending an exorbitant amount of money to do that. So I know that if it can happen, in my small example, I know that just doing that can save a lot of money. Ensuring that if a teacher receives a specialized curriculum, that if that teacher happens to leave St. Paul, that that curriculum stays in St. Paul. That’s a big thing for me, just helping all staff to feel and know that they are stewards. They need to be good stewards of taxpayer funding, because we’re receiving this money from taxpayers. We all need to be accountable to the taxpayer for the materials.
There’s also the human resources. I know there’s been efforts to retain teachers, but I think there still needs to be a big focus on teacher retention and supporting new teachers, and not just new, but new and struggling teachers, so that they don’t choose to leave and go to another district after we have spent money and resources on them. That’s a big challenge. I think it’s not the only challenge.
We need to figure out how to retain students and not blame charter schools or private schools. If students are leaving, I believe it’s because parents know their students are not receiving what they need, and that’s on St. Paul schools to really work to figure out. It goes back to my first thing about literacy. We need to allow all students to learn, even if they have a disability, even if they’re second language learners, even if they’re immigrants. They all can learn and all should be making regular progress. If they’re not, we need to work on that, or St. Paul is going to continue to have issues with students leaving.
I know that seeing the budget and understanding the budget is something that’s extremely important to do. Because in order to help with the solution, I know I need more in-depth information on specifics of all of the expenditures and exactly where they’re going and how they’re being utilized.
Last year, parents raised concerns about overcrowding at Txuj Ci Hmong Language and Culture Lower School. The school board rejected their proposal to address the overcrowding, and the parents’ concerns remain. Now there is no Hmong member of the school board. How will you make sure this community feels heard and their needs are met?
It’s a very unfortunate situation that I hope there are continued communications with the school board and with the community. I think it’s very unfortunate that Jim Vue decided to step down, because he was a very important voice. I think I am going to be someone who will be listening a lot. I love doing community work, and so I would say there needs to be ongoing discussions with this community and what is going to be done for this school, where it’s doing so well, but yes, is overcrowded and needs more space. Definitely there needs to be continued outreach to the community, and I would assume there needs to be some trust-building there because perhaps there was a lot of trust broken between the school board and the Hmong community.
What’s another school board priority of yours we haven’t talked about?
I want the school board to be transparent and intentional about hearing from the community, which I believe is more than just people coming to a school board meeting. There’s many who can never make that work. And not just parents are super important, but students, community members, and figuring out a way to harness their interests and their talents and their skills. I’ve spent a lot of time supporting my 97-year-old mom right now, and so I’m in her place where she lives. It’s just a regular apartment building, but there’s a lot of seniors, and it’s been great to hear their concerns. Sometimes we forget that it’s not just the parents who care about the public schools. It’s seniors who know that that’s the next generation, making St. Paul what it is, and we need students who have received a good education to be able to make St. Paul as good as it can be.
I really want to be community-focused and look into partnerships with different community members. I was very proud to be a part of St. Paul schools when Metro Surge happened because I think they did pivot pretty quickly in allowing students to switch to online learning — even though that’s not the best, it’s better than not getting any learning when families didn’t feel their children were safe leaving home. Also, how every single school had community members supporting them, and most of them wore the yellow vests. In my job, I was always running around all day long, and I’d usually be at eight or 10 schools in the day. I saw the yellow vests and I met some of the community members who, many of them, had not done anything for that community school until that need arose, and then they found their purpose. They were a huge asset to the schools because the schools needed them, and I believe we still need them.
I’m hoping that there’s going to be a way to really see what we learned from Metro Surge, and that there are these community members who maybe have a little bit of free time they could dedicate to specific schools, and figuring out a way to invite people in, and allow them to serve their public schools.
As I said in my experience in Bolivia, I saw it. It’s not all about money, and sometimes I get frustrated when I hear such a focus on money, which I know is a mess right now. We’ve got to fix the money issues. However, we have such potential just in the community and community businesses that could support us more, and I’m not even saying financially. Maybe some of the big ones, but the smaller ones, there’s ways for them to support work-based learning and different things. That’s kind of my big, lofty ideas for this part-time job.
