What's next in MSCS superintendent search? Firm expected by end of January
After closing the old year and reopening the new one with community meetings, Memphis-Shelby County Schools is poised to make its next big move toward a permanent superintendent later this month by securing a search firm.
Four vendors applied for the job, which board members want wrapped up by the end of the school year to give the superintendent the summer to prepare.
Which of the vendors will be charged with recruitment for the top Memphis education job will be up to a group of three: MSCS board chair Althea Greene, plus two MSCS cabinet members, Kenneth Walker, general counsel, and Quintin Robinson, newly tapped chief of human resources.
The three will select a firm and recommend it to the board for a vote.
It was not immediately clear who decided the composition of the group, which was confirmed to The Commercial Appeal in a statement Greene made through a communications firm.
MSCS board members announced a national search in August after terminating former superintendent Joris Ray and soon thereafter elevating chief financial officer Toni Williams to the interim superintendent position. The announcement was seen as a referendum on the board's choice to abandon a national search in appointing Ray in April 2019. And while Williams upon her interim appointment said she was not interested in the full-time job, she has since stopped taking that hard line.
This search marks the first national search for a Memphis education leader since the historically large and brief merger and subsequent demerger of the city and county, now municipal, school districts. A new leader will take on a Memphis district hoping to get its footing back after the COVID-19 pandemic compounded existing complications of poverty and stalled academic progress for many students.
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“We want to know what you want in a superintendent. Because at the end of the process it is up to the nine of us (board members) to make a decision and so that’s why the community…is so important, for us to hear what you want," Greene said at a Southwind High School community forum last month.
“We don’t want another resume builder in Memphis-Shelby County Schools," she later added. "We want someone that will have the heart of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.”
During a committee meeting with an update on the search Tuesday, Greene declined to share a list of the search firm applicants, stating she wanted board members to receive the list first before it was made public. Applications closed Dec. 21.
Walker told board members it would be feasible to have a contract to the board for a vote by its voting meeting at the end of the month. The current timeline for the search has the firm beginning recruitment in February.
Application materials say the evaluation committee — composed of Greene, Walker and Robinson — should prioritize experience and qualifications in evaluating the firms and how well the application meets requirements. Worth less weight are references and financial stability. (Two of the applicants have yet to submit reference materials, Walker said Tuesday, but it was unclear if that would disqualify the applications.)
Greene announced the launch of the procurement process at the start of December as the board endeavored to gather community feedback on ideal candidates. She expects to share the community feedback with the search firm.
So far, though, across two community forums, attendance has been sparse. A third meeting included student government representatives, who all resonated with one student's request for a visible, consistent superintendent who really knows Memphis.
One student sought a leader "not to give up on us. We have hope."
Separately from the district's events, Whitehaven community members held their own forum in December, attended mostly by school leaders, teachers and community members. Many voiced support for a longtime local principal to take the job.
The district has three more of its own community meetings:
Thursday, 5:30 - 7 p.m., Parkway Village Elementary School, 3000 Claudette Rd.
Jan. 19, 5:30 - 7 p.m., Kingsbury High School, 1270 N Graham St. Hosted by MSCS and MICAH, the event will have a Spanish language translator
Jan. 21, noon - 2 p.m., MSCS Board of Education, 160 S. Hollywood St.
A survey about the search is available online until Jan. 22.
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An ad-hoc committee of community members is also charged with helping the board members with the search, though it is unclear how much power the committee has or what they will be tasked with doing. The group had its first meeting in December, and is for the most part composed of leaders of various Memphis education groups.
Greene plans to announce the meetings when more than one board member is present, and board member Kevin Woods was absent from the meeting.
Included on the community committee, as named and described by spokespeople for the board, are:
Jim Boyd, Former Bridges CEO
Sarah Carpenter, Memphis LIFT
Beverly Davis, Whitehaven Empowerment Zone
Venita Doggett, Memphis Education Foundation
Paul Garner, Stand for Children
Mattie Gilliam, Grandmother
Gisela Guerrero, MICAH
Rebecca Hutchinson, South Memphis CDC
Lurene Kelly, CBU Faculty/Parent
Jessica Mosley, Greater Memphis Chamber
Sam O’Bryant, Literacy MidSouth
Kalen Sy, Student
Mary Walton, MSCS Teacher
Rev. KT Whalum Jr., New Olivet Baptist Church
Kevin Woods, MSCS Board Member
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: What's next in MSCS superintendent search? Firm expected by end of January
