Hamilton County school board interviews last three superintendent candidates

Paintings by area elementary students decorate the walls behind the the Hamilton County Board of Education during a meeting on Thursday, May 18, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. McQueen presented a partnership school district plan to the board to with the goal of improving Hamilton County's lowest performing schools.
Paintings by area elementary students decorate the walls behind the the Hamilton County Board of Education during a meeting on Thursday, May 18, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. McQueen presented a partnership school district plan to the board to with the goal of improving Hamilton County's lowest performing schools.

The Hamilton County Board of Education is interviewing the last batch of superintendent candidates tonight.

The board is interviewing:

  • Jack Elsey, Jr.: chief schools officer for the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan. Prior to this, Elsey was the chief officer of innovation and incubation for Chicago Public Schools. From 2005-2011 he was the managing director of public affairs and school relations for Teach for America, New York.
  • Kirk Kelly: interim superintendent of Hamilton County Schools. Kelly has been an educator in Chattanooga City and Hamilton County Schools for 35 years, starting as a math teacher and moving up to assistant superintendent for accountability and testing, before being selected to serve as interim superintendent.
  • Timothy Gadson III: superintendent designee and executive director of curriculum and schools for Robbinsdale Area Schools in Minnesota. From 2014 to 2016, Gadson worked as the associate superintendent for Atlanta Public Schools.

Last week the board interviewed Arthur Wayne Johnson, Clifford Davis, Bryan Johnson, and on May 8 interviewed Natasha Baker and Stuart Greenberg.

It's been 14 months since the district's previous superintendent stepped down, and the board plans to trim the list of eight candidates to five finalists during a public meeting Thursday. The plan is for each board member to list their top five candidates in alphabetical order, and each candidate will receive one point. The candidates with the most points will be selected for interviews. If there is a tie for the position a ballot will be taken with just the two final candidates.

The five finalists will each visit on a different day between June 5 and June 9 for in-person interviews. During each visit, the finalists will have another interview with the full board and get the opportunity to talk one-on-one with board members. The board also decided that during the in-person visits, each finalist will visit two schools and meet with principals, teachers, parents, students and central office staff. The finalists also will spend time with elected officials and advocacy groups.

Board members plan to meet in the coming days to nail down details about the visits.

The board is hoping to vote on a permanent superintendent during its June 15 meeting.

See tomorrow's Times Free Press for the full story.

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