The Hamilton County Board of Education is interviewing two candidates for the permanent superintendent position tonight.
The board is interviewing:
- Stuart Greenberg: chief academic officer for Leon County Public Schools in Flordia. Prior to that, Greenberg was the executive director for Reading and Early Learning for the Florida Department of Education. Greenberg was one of the six finalists in Knox County's recent superintendent search.
- Natasha Baker: state school reform officer for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Previously, Baker was the deputy superintendent and state school reform officer in the division of education services for the Michigan Department of Education.
Two weeks ago the search firm, Coleman Lew and Associates, gave the school board 14 candidates to consider for the permanent position, including Hamilton County Schools Interim Superintendent Kirk Kelly.
Highlander told each board member to email him a list of the 10 candidates they wanted to interview, and asked for two lists, each in alphabetical order, with the first list representing their top five choices. And then last week, Highlander, the board secretary and a representative from the search firm tabulated the results in private.
Forty-eight hours later Highlander told the board about which nine candidates it would interview. Highlander has not said what method was used to tabulate the results, or whether candidates on the members' top five lists were weighted differently from those on their second lists.
State law says the board must deliberate in public and members may not cast secret votes or use emails as a way to avoid open meetings laws.
It's been 14 months since former Superintendent Rick Smith resigned after months of turmoil following the Ooltewah High School rape case. The school board in November hired the search firm at a cost of about $60,000, and hopes to have a permanent leader before the start of school this fall.
See tomorrow's Times Free Press for the full story.