by Dennis Dalman
Tom Lee, the interim superintendent for the Sartell-St. Stephen School District, is in the swing of things after he’s gotten to know so many teachers, school staff, school-board members, students and parents.
Lee, who lives in Bloomington and commutes to Sartell, began his job July 1. He was hired by the school board to replace Jeff Ridlehoover who resigned in March after accepting the superintendent job for the Rockford School District (west of Minneapolis).
Lee was hired to be the interim principal throughout the school year until June 30, 2024.
“I’m excited to be in Sartell,” Lee said during an interview with the Newsleader. “I’ve met some highly professional individuals in the school district here. I’ve met some kids, too, and when I meet more I know they’re going to be awesome.”
Lee is well aware of the bristling divisions that happened on the school board after three new members were elected in November of last year. There were disagreements about school curricula, about what should be taught and not taught, and about the availability of certain “questionable” books being made available to students.
In recent meetings, Lee said, the board members seem to be getting along, working together, moving forward in a positive direction. He said it is virtually impossible for the board – any board – to function well if so many issues raised for a vote are split on a 3-3 tie.
Lee said he has known for a long time how the Sartell-St. Stephen School District has a sterling reputation statewide for excellence and how the district has for years attracted many new residents to the cities of St. Stephen and Sartell.
“I want to help restore that luster,” he said, meaning a cessation of divisionism among school-board members and residents.
“I’m getting to know people, I’m learning about the district,” he said. “We’re working now on teacher contracts, and I’m working with the (school) board. We’re working on how to all get along, and I think we’re reaching that point.”
Lee has had a very peripatetic life, moving quite often from place to place, including three years in London, England.
Born in Detroit, Mich., his father worked at the world-famous General Motors Corp. When Lee was young, his father was transferred to a General Motors job in New York City. The family lived in nearby New Jersey until Lee left the ninth grade, at which time his father was assigned another job – this one in London. So the family moved there, and after three years attending American High School in London, Lee graduated in 1976.
Back in Michigan, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and later a master’s degree from the school. He also earned an education specialization degree from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul. In addition, Lee earned licensure accreditation as a teacher for students who happen to be blind and/or deaf. He volunteered to teach at the School for the Blind in Lansing, Mich.
At one point in his life, he moved to Oregon and was an itinerant teacher, going from school to school teaching blind and visually-impaired students. It was in Oregon he met a woman named Shawn, who was to become his wife. After four years in Oregon, he and Shawn decided to move back to the Midwest, back to Minnesota so they could be closer to their relatives there and in nearby states, Michigan included.
Eventually, he became the principal of Normandale Hills Elementary School in Bloomington and also principal of Bloomington’s Olson Middle School as well as in a middle school in St. Anthony. For one semester, he served as an elementary principal in Stillwater. Then, for seven years he served as the superintendent of the Waseca School District, a job he held until he decided to retire in 2020, just before the Covid pandemic struck. He began doing interim fill-in work in schools, which led to his hiring as the Sartell-St. Stephen interim superintendent.
He and Shawn, who have lived in Bloomington for the past 26 years, have three children: Joshua, 36, a police officer in Owatonna; David, 34, a contractor in St. Louis Park; and Lidia, 30, an insurance representative who lives in Midlothian, Va., a suburb of Richmond.
One of Lee’s passionate hobbies is music and making music, not surprising since he grew up in the heyday of the musical renaissance that began in Motown (Motor Town, Detroit) – Stevie Wonder, Dianna Ross and the Supremes, Smoky Robinson and the Miracles, The Shirelles, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. Those names and others trip off Lee’s tongue with warm fondness.
Lee plays a guitar and is a member of a fun Minneapolis band dubbed the “Easy Readers,” a nod to the classic 1969 American motorcycle road movie “Easy Rider.”
Tom Lee is the interim superintendent of the Sartell-St. Stephen School District. He began his job in July and will serve until June 30, 2024.
