'Rigorous timeline,' 'above reproach': What Memphis chamber seeks in MSCS leader search
The Greater Memphis Chamber has called for a "rigorous timeline" in the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board search for a new superintendent, and they want the process to reflect the board rebuilding community trust in the district.
"...the pressing issue is timeliness," representatives from the chamber wrote in a letter sent to Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members Friday and obtained by The Commercial Appeal. That timeliness, they wrote, would provide both national and local candidates the time needed to seriously consider the top Memphis schools job.
Chamber President Beverly Robertson, Ted Townsend, the incoming president, and Bobby White, the policy officer, signed on to the letter, as well as the chamber's board of directors' leadership in Chairman Doug Browne and Vice Chairs Greg Duckett and Duncan Williams.
More:MSCS is making changes. How is the board deciding who will take the reins next?
The letter comes as the MSCS board prepares to discuss the superintendent search policy in committee meetings Monday afternoon.
A quick-moving summer ended as the board voted for then-Superintendent Joris Ray to exit, suspending an investigation into allegations of policy violations, and appointed Toni Williams, the district's chief financial officer, to the interim position. As Williams committed to a "business review" of the district, the board committed to a national search. When she was selected, Williams said she did not have interest in the job permanently.
In the two months since then, Williams has launched an external audit of the procurement department and announced changes to top leadership positions. The MSCS board met for a retreat in late October, at the two-month mark of the district's leadership change but has not made any formal moves to begin the search process.
More:Interim Toni Williams to lead MSCS 'review' as board 'definitely' moves on national search
More:MSCS 'reset' includes procurement audit, new cabinet member
Althea Greene, the board chair for this academic year, told The Commercial Appeal the board would begin the procurement process for a national search firm in November. So far this month, the board has yet to announce it has initiated the process.
The projected timetable for a new leader, though, has inched sooner and sooner. At the board retreat, Greene said there was there was no way to define how long the process could take. Greene then told The Commercial Appeal that she would like to have a permanent superintendent by the start of the 2023-24 school year. A week after the retreat, Greene announced a new leader should be in place by the end of the current school, before next summer.
Like the chamber, many in the community are volleying to offer input.
This search is, after all, the first superintendent search for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the new district created by the merger and subsequent creation of the municipal school districts in 2013. The Memphis City Schools board last launched a superintendent search in 2007. The search yielded Kriner Cash, of Miami. The board selected him in June, and he was at the helm two months later in August.
Since Cash, the de facto city school district appointed its next two superintendents in Dorsey Hopson, the attorney who lead the districts through the merger, and then recent superintendent Joris Ray. In both instances, board members called off national searches in favor of their appointments.
The chamber acknowledged as much in its letter to the board, which supported the national search but described it would be "the first for this position in nearly 20 years." The chamber has previously been critical and desiring of details from the school district. In winter 2021, Robertson asked MSCS for more specificity on its plan to return to in-person learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A local candidate could be the best fit for the top job, the chamber wrote. But national candidates shouldn't be precluded from the search because the board hasn't given them enough time to seriously consider the role, the chamber representatives wrote.
"We ask that a rigorous timeline be established and followed to give any potential candidatesfrom outside the market sufficient time to consider an offer, make a decision, and transition toMemphis before the start of the 2023-2024 school year," the letter says. "High-caliber candidates expect areasonable and consistent timeline."
"We also want to make clear that our push for a timely national search in no way precludes localor even internal candidates from being considered," chamber representatives continued, adding that local candidates could benefit from having their portfolios stacked among national candidates.
"Finally, in light of recent publicity, we must make sure this national search is above reproachfrom any criticism – just or unjust – that it was delayed to give an unfair advantage to localcandidates," the chamber wrote.
"By adhering to a transparent and reasonable timeline," the representatives said, "we will lay the groundwork for the success of the next superintendent, the advancement of our school district, and the prosperityof our community."
Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis chamber calls for timeliness, trust in MSCS superintendent search
