SEATTLE —The school board for Washington’s largest school district is getting closer to finding its next superintendent.
Seattle Public Schools has not released the names of the two remaining candidates, though both of them are scheduled to participate in a second round of candidate interviews on Wednesday.
In the meantime, parents like Erin MacDougall look forward to a leadership change for SPS to grow enrollment, get a handle on the budget, and help improve student learning outcomes.
She’s a co-chair of the parent group All Together for Seattle Schools. The group did not want to speak in support of or about a specific candidate, only that they hope it’s someone from outside Seattle schools.
That’s because they want someone to come in with fresh eyes and ask the hard accountability questions about safety, the budget, and more, MacDougall said.
The district hired the executive search firm Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA), whichin Augustreviewed the results of a parent survey.
“They’re expecting this to be a very fair process,” Micah Ali with HYA told the board.
Since then, every meeting on the topic has been in executive session. While parents are left in the dark, some say they are trusting the process.
“Are you concerned about a lack of transparency there?” ‘s Jackie Kent asked.
“It definitely has been a different process than what we’ve seen with past superintendent hires,” MacDougall responded. “Of course, we would be excited to have some opportunity to meet the candidates and weigh in, and that’s for very specific reasons, as the board has stated, to protect the employment of those folks.”
This fall, the board has been reviewing the initial slate of candidates, conducting interviews, identifying finalists, plus more candidate vetting,according to SPS.
Member Liza Rankin has said this is a callout for the 7-member board to support the next district leader.
“When I’m looking at candidates, I’m not necessarily expecting some magical unicorn person who’s going to come in and save us,” Rankin said at an Aug. 26 meeting. “We need to help that person, we need to support that person and we need to be really clear on what we expect of that person.”
Rankin said after Wednesday’s interviews, deliberations are planned for Oct. 29, and the new superintendent’s start date will depend on the candidate’s availability.
The search process started in March. Former SPS Superintendent Brent Jonesannounced his departureto spend more time with family and in anticipation of a move to California.The district’s chief operations officer of six years, Fred Podesta,took overas interim superintendent. He has said at prior meetings that he does not intend to be in the running for the permanent role.
트위터 공유: 시애틀 공립학교 새 리더 임박 결정 기대 고조