CASS LAKE-Cass Lake-Bena Schools' superintendent was a finalist for a spot in Gov.-elect Tim Walz's cabinet.

Rochelle Johnson was one of hundreds who applied to lead one of 23 state agencies in the incoming Walz administration. She was one of four finalists who interviewed to lead the Minnesota Department of Education, but Walz and Lt. Gov.-elect Peggy Flanagan, a member of White Earth Nation who became the first American Indian woman elected to statewide executive office, chose Mary Cathryn Ricker, the executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. Staff on the governor's transition team announced Ricker's hire Thursday.

Walz and Flanagan interviewed Johnson, Ricker, and two other finalists earlier this month in St. Paul after a pair of smaller-scale interviews that culled the large field of applicants. Someone-Johnson said she isn't sure who-put the CL-B superintendent's name into the mix.

"I was absolutely humbled just to get an interview," Johnson told the Pioneer. She said she was drawn to the governor- and lieutenant governor-elect's education platform, which emphasizes educational equity and closing the "opportunity"-rather than "achievement"-gap. That's on the same wavelength as CL-B's priorities, Johnson said.

The Minnesota Education Commissioner generally earns an annual salary of about $150,000.

Olson to head higher education

Dennis Olson, a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, also was named Thursday to be the commissioner of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. He's the executive director of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

He's also the former head of the Department of Education's Office of Indian Education and the Commissioner of Education for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

Walz and Flanagan also named Paul Schnell as commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Schnell is the police chief for the city of Inver Grove Heights, and has also served as the chief of police in Hastings and Maplewood, as was also a member of the St. Paul Police Department. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Saint Thomas and Metropolitan State University, teaching courses in criminal justice diversity, criminal justice ethics, restorative justice, and victimology.

On Tuesday, the Walz-Flanagan team announced commissioner picks for the departments of administration, transportation, housing and office of management and budget, as well as chair of the Metropolitan Council.

Walz, a Democrat, has several more agency heads to name before he assumes office in early January. DFLers retook the Minnesota House of Representatives last November, but Republicans kept their majority in the state Senate, which means Walz and Flanagan will work with the country's only split Legislature.