We Are SPPS

When Jim Vue joined the school board in July 2020, he was selected to fill the seat that was tragically vacated when then-Board Chair Marny Xiong died from COVID-19. Just three years and three days prior to Marny’s passing, Jim’s 6-year-old daughter drowned in Lake Elmo. The family’s story has been shared in the media and a children’s book by award-winning Hmong author Kao Kalia Yang. Now, a new mural “honors the grief we carry for those no longer living within this world.”

When Karina León de Bettino moved to Minnesota from Mexico in 2017, it wasn't easy. She had worked as a teacher and a journalist in Mexico, but being an immigrant who did not speak perfect English made it difficult to find a job at first.

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. No one knows this better than Eli, a student at Focus Beyond whose entrepreneurial spirit and passion for baking inspired a new menu item that will be served in every Saint Paul Public Schools cafeteria starting in fall 2025.

Katie Kupris is a first-year teaching assistant at Como Park Elementary School, where she attended elementary school before finishing her SPPS education at Como Park Senior and Focus Beyond. Born with mosaic Down syndrome, Katie considers herself a person with a special ability and is being highlighted as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.