Northfield's Charlie Kyte Reflects on Retirement from the Minnesota Association of School Administrators

Editor's note: Retiring MASA executive director and Northfielder Charlie Kyte sat down with Patch to talk about his four decades in education and about what's next.

During Charlie Kyte’s first year in Minnesota education, Lyndon Johnson held the presidency and the Beatles were writing The White Album on a meditative retreat in Rishikesh.

Some 40 years later, when LBJ and the India-going Beatles have become the stuff of television montages, Kyte remains involved in the state’s schools, and despite his impending retirement from the Minnesota Association of School Administrators on Thursday, he plans to stay engaged.

Kyte began teaching after he studied chemistry, math and physics at college. Education hadn’t been the only logical choice, though—a career in engineering was also on the table. But after his cousin, an engineer, lost his job during an economic downturn, Kyte decided to follow his mother’s lead and pursue a career in public schools.

Over the next several decades, Kyte collected postgraduate degrees and rose through the Minnesota’s public school ranks with ease. He got a Master's, became the principal of Red Rock Central High School, moved to the Eden Valley-Watkins district as superintendent, got a PhD from the University of Minnesota, and finally became superintendent of , where he stayed for 12 years before becoming the head of MASA 11 years ago.

Kyte remembers his years in Northfield as a time of productivity and change.

“When I came in the '88-'89 school year, the district was absolutely flat broke,” he said. The buildings were broken down and the staff was “demoralized.”

Under his supervision, NPS repaired their buildings and finances. During his tenure, the district fixed up , , the old middle school, and the district also started building new additions on the high school.

But, as befits someone whose career began in the classroom, Kyte also made some important curricular reforms. He helped launch the Compañeros program, which offers elementary school students immersive, bilingual education.

“I look on that and say ‘here’s something that’s stuck around,” said Kyte.

He also was instrumental in banning smoking at Eden Valley and in the Northfield Public Schools.

After his time in Northfield, Kyte took the helm at the MASA, where he’s worked with legislators, helped superintendents deal with difficult situations, and generally tried to be "the preeminent voice speaking for public education in the state.”

Looking back on several decades of public service, Kyte says that today’s students are, on the whole, doing better than the ones that he taught in the 1960s.

“My perception is that a greater portion of the kids are better-educated today. They know more and they do more,” he said.

Surprisingly, this has taken place in an era of budget cuts.

“It’s gotten harder and harder to run the schools financially [lately]. Our costs of operations have gone up faster than the new money coming in. In fact, in the last two years, there has been no new money coming in,” said Kyte. “It’s kind hard to keep the quality up.”

With this fiscal challenge ahead, Kyte will hand over MASA’s reins to Dr. Gary Amoroso, who is currently the superintendent at Lakeville Public Schools.

As for Kyte? He’ll work as a consultant, help schools with executive searches, and tackle whatever else pops up.

Still, he plans to spend a lot of time at his home in Northfield.

“My wife really was a force in saying ‘I want you to retire’—now she's living with the fear that I'll be hanging around the house 24/7.”