MSCS board interviewed 5 finalists for the superintendent job Friday. Here's what they said

Whoever is named the next superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools will be expected to help it reach ambitious goals and tackle significant challenges.

Last year, 23.6% of third graders earned proficient results on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program English Language Arts tests, and the district wants that number to grow to 52% by 2030. MSCS has $500 million in deferred maintenance and school buildings with an average age of 64, and it’s putting together a comprehensive infrastructure plan to address a wide variety of needs. And with federal relief funds stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic poised to end, the district is considering a significant realignment to prevent a $150 million budget gap in fiscal year 2025.

So, it’s no surprise that student achievement, facilities maintenance, and finances were among the topics discussed Friday as board members interviewed the five finalists for the superintendent post. Each candidate was asked the same six questions, which focused on academic growth and proficiency, the evaluation and monitoring of a district’s financial needs, facilities management, governance and board relations, staff relations and leadership style, and community relations and engagement. After answering the questions, the finalists made closing remarks.

Here are highlights of what each of them said.

Yolonda Brown

Chief academic officer, Atlanta Public Schools

Brown has been with Atlanta Public Schools for 30 years ― and before applying for the MSCS post, she hadn’t ever interviewed for jobs outside the district. But as she learned about the position, and what she saw as its focus on achievement and equity, she realized she wanted the superintendent position.

“There’s that one opportunity you didn’t expect that comes out of the blue in your life,” she said. “We can lead MSCS into a new era of achievement and excellence.”

To lead the district into that new era, she would draw from her three decades in education. When speaking about student achievement, Brown noted that she spearheaded the Atlanta school district’s three-year recovery plan after COVID-19, which had three major components. The first was a robust assessment system, which looked at not just academic learning, but social-emotional learning.

“Kids cannot learn if we cannot address social-emotional needs,” she said.

The second component was adding thirty minutes to the elementary school day, while the third worked in full days during the summer ― for all grade levels ― which focused on academic recovery, support, and enrichment.

The plan seemed to be effective, as Brown asserted that the district achieved “historic year-over-year gains in literacy and numeracy," while the high school graduation rate rose and eclipsed 86%, surpassing Georgia’s graduation rate for the first time.

Regarding finance, Brown emphasized the importance of closely evaluating and monitoring the budget, “taking a look at how every dollar is spent.”

“Here’s how we spent this quarter; here’s what it helped us do,” she said. “Has it been impactful?”

She also noted the importance of ensuring that the district’s budget is aligned with the board’s vision and the possibility of using private dollars. When it came to facilities management, Brown maintained that there’s “not a major facilities or operational decision where I don’t have a seat at the table,” and said her district has been creating a master plan for facilities.

Board governance was another area where Brown believed she had ample experience, as the Atlanta school board, like the MSCS one, has nine members; and she has made collaboration and communication with her board a priority. And just as she collaborates with the board, Brown believes she effectively collaborates with her employees and the community.

“Community is the backbone of a district,” she said. “Anyone who has interest in the school system is part of the community… Community has a unique perspective; they hear everything in the streets; they’re the ones who can whisper in your ear and say ‘It’s not like that, this is what it is…’ Having that focused community voice is going to be very important to me as a superintendent.”

Cheryl Proctor

Deputy superintendent of instruction and school committees, Portland Public Schools

MSCS would be the fourth large, urban school district Cheryl Proctor has worked for, and she didn't apply for the position impulsively.

“Coming before you for this interview is not by chance,” she told the board. “I have considered Memphis for a long time. I had an opportunity to come and visit your city a couple months back, and to really engage and envision what this would look like.”

Her vision is one that would place an emphasis on student growth and achievement, among other things. Before she was a deputy superintendent in Portland, she was its chief academic officer, and she and her team ensured the district was using high-quality instructional materials, while also asking the question, “What does good teaching and learning look like, here in this district?”

The district adopted new curriculum materials and provided professional development training for its teachers. As Proctor worked to implement strategies she was promoted to her current role as deputy superintendent, and she was able to align practices throughout the district.

The work of her and her team seemed to pay off. Post-pandemic reading and math rates improved for third through eighth graders, with proficiency rates rising double digits over state averages. The district also looked at students that weren’t meeting proficiency rates and built an intervention program.

When it came to a school system’s financial needs, Proctor emphasized the importance of having a strong strategic plan and said the “majority of investments should be student-facing.” She noted the importance of financial forecasting and mentioned both working alongside the board and asking the community what it wanted to see.

“We do surveys on our website: what are you interested in seeing us invest more in?” she said of the Portland district. “We have a community budget review committee, where they’re also informed and involved in the process.”

Proctor again brought up community engagement when talking about facilities management, explaining that her district asked the public what it wanted to see as it rebuilt a high school. She, just like Brown, considered a robust community relationship essential to the district’s success.

“The role that community would play is absolutely significant and paramount in the work that I do,” she said. “I define community as every single stakeholder that has an interest in the education of the children in our city. Parents, teachers, students, leaders, community advocates, legislative representatives, everyone that has this deep interest in what’s happening in the city of Memphis.”

Marie Feagins

Chief of leadership and high schools, Detroit Public Schools Community District

As she addressed the board, Marie Feagin described herself as “a native Alabaman with humble beginnings in public housing.”

“I’m a proud Head Start kid, first-generation college alum, and award-winning educator with a firm contagious belief that every child can become a success story when they have the tools to write it,” she said.

She now hopes to help give those tools to MSCS students and believes she’s seen success in her career. During her tenure in Detroit, she’s helped raise the graduation rate from 64.5% to 71.1%. This was the first time the graduation rate had risen in nearly a decade, and it put it above the state average.

“It’s making sure we have the right leaders in the right places, being agile when we need to make adjustments, being clear about where we are, celebrating the wins; and ultimately on the other side, we achieve the results,” she said.

As she turned to finances, Feagins described reviewing a budget as a process that requires “a lot of finesse and even more patience,” and she noted the importance of paying attention to how resources are directly impacting students. She also said you should be willing to cut ties with strategies that aren’t effective and stay focused on your objectives. As she put it, you should be “keeping the main thing the main thing.”

“All money is not good money,” Feagins said. “Overall, the money tells what our priorities are… if is it good for kids, then it’s a resounding yes.”

When asked about facilities management, she emphasized that facilities and academics are connected, explaining that “If students and staff don’t feel safe, our achievement demonstrates that as well.” And Feagins has experience with the kind of aging infrastructure in MSCS’ footprint.

“I’ve had a ceiling tile fall on my head before, and you keep moving,” she said. “You make it work.”

Feagins, like Proctor and Brown, noted the importance of involving and respecting the community, and as she spoke about her leadership style, she explained that she can remove emotion from decisions when moving staffers around if it’s in the best interest of students. However, she also pointed out the importance of ensuring staffers feel valued.

“I’m old school, I write thank you notes, I still show up in classrooms, substitute for principals,” she said.  “I’m quick to ask you, ‘How is your soul?’”

Carlton Jenkins

Former superintendent of Madison Metropolitan School District

Carton Jenkins was one of the original three finalists for the superintendent job the first time it considered applicants in the spring, and at the time, he had his “interview shoes” ready. When the search was paused, he put the shoes away – and didn’t bring them out again until Dec. 15, when he finally got to sit before the board.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to get an audience with this board,” he said.

Jenkins has already been a superintendent for three school districts – the Madison Metropolitan School District, the Saginaw Public Schools in Michigan, and the Robbinsdale Area Schools in Minnesota – and he’s interested in the Memphis post, in part, because he identifies with many of the district’s low-income students. Jenkins’ mother had her first child when she was 15, her second child when she was 17, and her third child when she was 19. Jenkins' mother had a 10th-grade education, and her father had a 3rd-grade education.

"I’m a real person, a real kid, that you’ve seen in your streets, that could have gone either way,” Jenkins said.

It's important, he explained, to believe in students; and as he spoke about academic achievement with the board, he emphasized that the district shouldn’t just look to proficiency. It should look beyond it.

“[We] talk about proficiency,” he said. “That’s just the baseline… If I’m gifted, why are you just giving me third-grade work in the third grade?”

Jenkins also continued to focus on students as he addressed finances.

“If our children are not achieving, and you have a heavy fund balance, we’re going to have a conversation,” he said. “Because the dollars coming in from the taxpayers, I believe they want to direct them to what’s best for students.”

And when asked about facilities management, he noted repurposing buildings in the district that have closed and leaving them for the community. In addition to this, he directly addressed deferred maintenance ― and the issues that can come with it.

“If you have maintenance that you’re deferring, and you continue to defer, it grows into a number that no one really wants to talk about,” he said.

Jenkins, like the other finalists, noted the importance of community engagement, and near the end of his interview, he turned to literacy. He described the reading challenges students are facing as a “national crisis” ― and hinted at how it can be combatted.

“When I’m talking about reading, you have to do it with fidelity. If we say we’re going to focus on something that’s what we have to do,” he said. “You can move the needle. You really can.”

Angela Whitelaw

Deputy superintendent of academics and school support, MSCS

Angela Whitelaw didn’t need a long introduction on Friday. She’s been employed by MSCS for the past three decades, and described the superintendent post as her “dream job.”

“Why now, after 30 years?” she said. “I have been able to support many superintendents… now I want to come from behind… In no way am I afraid of making bold decisions about what we need to do for children. I am a workaholic, but that’s not why I want to be in this position. I want to lead change.”

While people have said MSCS would benefit from someone outside the district coming in, Whitelaw believes her long tenure with the school system makes her uniquely qualified for it. She knows everything the district has tried ― what’s worked and what hasn’t.

And she acknowledged both successes and challenges as she spoke to the board.

In the 2021-22 school year, Whitelaw said, the district’s third-through-eighth graders made considerable gains in literacy on TCAP tests. High schoolers, however, struggled, so she and her team poured energy into high schoolers. Thanks to this, high school students’ scores noticeably improved in 2022-23. As Whitelaw admitted, though, the district lost ground in elementary school – which caused her to reflect on best methods.

“We have to constantly be thinking about all grade levels at one time with achievement,” she said.

For two straight years, MSCS has earned the highest possible marks on the Tennessee Department of Education’s evaluation that focuses on academic growth, but Whitelaw knows that more needs to be done. She emphasized that the district needs to be implementing strategies “with fidelity,” putting people where they’re needed, and holding tutoring sessions “before, during, and after school.”

As she talked about finance, Whitelaw displayed her knowledge of the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) plan, which is the funding method for public school districts in the state. When speaking about facility management, Whitelaw referenced experiences as both an interim superintendent and principal. And as she discussed her leadership style, she emphasized both dedication and collaboration.

“My strength is encouraging, influencing, and building a coalition of people who will work,” she said. “I believe in hard work. That’s who I am, that’s what I represent. But I want people at the table helping me make decisions.”

What’s next

The board members ― as well as members of the public ― used a rubric to evaluate the candidates in five categories, which had different weights. These categories and their weights were: Student achievement (30%), business and finance (20%), governance and board relations (20%), staff relations and leadership (15%), and community relations (15%).

On Tuesday, the board members will be presented with the average scores they gave to each candidate, and the average scores community members gave. They’ll use these scores to narrow the field down from five to three.

After the top three candidates are chosen on Tuesday, the board will break for the holidays, then resume the selection process. The goal is for a superintendent to be announced in January or February and begin on or before July 1.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent candidates answer questions