St. Paul superintendent list down to three

Three finalists have been named for the top job of St. Paul schools superintendent.

Two of the finalists worked under former superintendent Meria Carstarphen, who left the district this year to become superintendent in Austin, Texas. The third nominee is from outside Minnesota.

The finalists are are: Deb Henton, superintendent of the North Branch Area Public Schools and former chief of staff of the St. Paul Public Schools; Valeria Silva, chief academic officer of the St. Paul School District; and Charles Hopson, deputy superintendent of the Portland, Ore., School District.

School Board chair Kazoua Kong-Thao says she is pleased with the three finalists.

"It was a hard decision for the board to make to have to choose three. If we were able, to I would love to be able to have all six of them come back," said Kong-Thao. "But we are moving forward with three and so we are really excited with the three that we chose.

The three finalists were chosen from a group of six that were named last week. They will return for another round of interviews this week.