Memphis-Shelby County Faculties superintendent search: Three finalists chosen

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The Memphis-Shelby County Faculties board voted unanimously Tuesday to slender its slate of superintendent finalists from 5 candidates to 3, none of whom are from Memphis.

The three finalists advancing to the subsequent spherical of interviews are:

You may learn extra about these finalists on the finish of this story.

Carlton Jenkins, who just lately retired as superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan College District in Wisconsin, and Angela Whitelaw, MSCS’ deputy superintendent of colleges and tutorial help, the 2 different candidates who interviewed with the board Friday, gained’t advance to the subsequent spherical of interviews.

With Whitelaw off the slate, Memphis is poised to have a faculty superintendent from exterior the town for the primary time in additional than a decade.

“That is just the start,” stated board member Joyce Dorse-Coleman, who’s main the search effort together with Stephanie Love. “We’ve began on this, and we’re going to see it all through. … We’ll proceed with our neighborhood engagement by this course of.”

The highest three candidates are anticipated to return to Memphis within the new 12 months for a spherical of in-depth interviews. Board members are anticipated to pick a everlasting superintendent by the spring, and that individual would begin the job in time for the July 1 begin of the brand new fiscal 12 months and 2024-25 faculty 12 months.

The three finalists emerged from a gaggle of 5 main candidates that search agency Hazard, Younger, Attea and Associates introduced to the board on Friday. All 5 answered a sequence of questions from the board in interviews that have been open for the general public to observe. Many of the interviews have been about 45 minutes lengthy.

Board members evaluated every of the candidates on a rubric, and neighborhood members who attended — about 30 all through the day — additionally crammed out scoresheets. Tomeka Hart Wigginton, a former Memphis faculty board member who has helped the board all through its superintendent search course of, shared composite scores with board members Tuesday.

The rubric evaluated candidates on pupil achievement (30%), enterprise and finance (20%), governance and board relations (20%), employees relations and management (15%), and neighborhood relations (15%).

Rankings from board members aligned with the rankings from the neighborhood, she stated Tuesday.

Brown, Feagins, and Proctor — the finalists the board voted to advance — obtained the best marks from Friday’s interviews.

The Memphis-Shelby County Faculties board is on observe with the hiring timeline it set out over the summer season, when it relaunched the seek for a brand new superintendent.

Its first try unraveled in April amid a board dispute, partly over whether or not interim Superintendent Toni Williams, the district’s former finance chief, was certified to take the everlasting job. The board agreed to restart the method it started in August 2022, after former Superintendent Joris Ray resigned in a cloud of scandal.

Williams is predicted to help the brand new chief’s transition, and might keep on as chief monetary officer or a advisor after her time period as interim superintendent ends, in line with her contract.

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