Memphis colleges poised to begin interviewing superintendent finalists

The Memphis-Shelby County Faculties board is poised to start interviewing 5 finalists for superintendent Friday, because it tries to wrap up a tortuous search that started greater than a 12 months in the past.

The finalists have been to be introduced Friday morning.

The interviews are a major step towards hiring a brand new chief for Tennessee’s largest college district, which has been working with interim Superintendent Toni Williams in cost since August 2022, when Joris Ray resigned beneath a cloud of scandal.

The seek for Ray’s successor gave the impression to be nearing an finish within the spring, solely to break down as some board members balked at an preliminary slate of finalists chosen by search agency Hazard, Younger, Attea and Associates — and the method that produced it.

Whoever emerges as the following chief has a difficult job: Like different public college districts, Memphis is projecting a big price range hole as federal pandemic aid funds expire, leaving leaders to determine which tutorial applications and personnel they’ll afford to chop or hold. Plus, the present administration has launched a serious services overhaul that would contain college consolidations and closures.

The brand new chief will even must take care of direct challenges to native management from state leaders and lawmakers, who’ve stepped up the stress on public college programs. New insurance policies from the GOP-led state authorities embrace restrictions on classroom instruction, modifications to high school analysis standards and an enlargement of private-school vouchers.

The 5 finalists interviewing with the board Friday emerged from a gaggle of 21 candidates who have been chosen for preliminary interviews with the search agency, in keeping with an MSCS press launch. Max McGee, president of Hazard Younger, mentioned the search drew candidates from outdoors Tennessee but additionally included “sturdy native curiosity.”

“I’m particularly impressed with the breadth and depth of the applicant pool,” McGee mentioned in a press release launched by MSCS in November.

If the interviews finally result in the choice of a candidate who wins board approval, will probably be the primary efficiently accomplished nationwide superintendent search for the reason that district was shaped within the merger with Shelby County Faculties simply over a decade in the past. The 2 earlier leaders have been inner candidates who obtained promoted: Dorsey Hopson in 2013, and Ray, who took over for Hopson in late 2018.

The board is anticipated to decide on a everlasting superintendent early in 2024, and that particular person would begin the job by July 1.

The primary try to search out Ray’s successor unraveled in April amid a board dispute, partly over whether or not Williams, the district’s former finance chief, was certified to take the superintendent job on a everlasting foundation. The board agreed to restart the method.

Since then, the board has largely averted controversy and maintained the revised timeline it specified by June.

Williams’ contract spells out the methods she may stick with the district when her time period as interim chief ends: The following superintendent or the board may reassign her to her earlier position as chief monetary officer, or give her an opportunity to remain on as a advisor.

Tomeka Hart Wigginton, a former college board member who helped the board get the search again on observe this summer season, is anticipated to play a job within the subsequent part of the search as nicely, mentioned board member Joyce Dorse-Coleman, co-chair of the search.

Hart Wigginton will tally the board’s scorecards after this primary spherical of interviews, and announce the outcomes at a public assembly subsequent Tuesday. At that time, the board will slim the slate to 3 finalists.

These candidates are anticipated to be in Memphis within the new 12 months for extra intensive interviews in a course of that may embrace extra neighborhood engagement, Dorse-Coleman mentioned.

Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Faculties for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Attain Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org.