Potential candidates for Brainerd High principal position to be interviewed today

In this Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016, file photo, a mural is seen on the wall near the school entrance at Brainerd High School in Chattanooga, Tenn.
In this Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016, file photo, a mural is seen on the wall near the school entrance at Brainerd High School in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The potential new leader of Brainerd High School will undergo a somewhat nontraditional interview process before being selected for one of the most significant vacancies for Hamilton County Schools.

Today the school district is inviting potential candidates for the principal position at Brainerd who were selected after initial interviews to visit the district for a full day of interviews, community panels and conversations with both district officials and community members.

Members of the community panel

Darian Scott, outreach coordinator at the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and president of the Orchard Knob PTAChristopher Ramsey, CEO of Tech Town and executive board member of the Brainerd High School Alumni AssociationStacy Lightfoot, vice president of college & career success at the Public Education FoundationAlexa Leboeuf, director of community engagement and design at UnifiEdKaritsa Mosley-Jones, District 5 school board representativeMoise Baptiste, director of student development at UTC and global director of educational affairs, Haitian-American CaucusAkira Pinkerton, Brainerd High School parentJeffrey Pinkerton, Brainerd High School parentTwo Brainerd High School student representatives will also serve on the panel, but the school district did not release their names. An additional parent representative did not consent to having their name released before the panel.

"This is a very important selection for the Brainerd community," said Bryan Johnson, superintendent of Hamilton County Schools, in a statement. "Quality schools begin with high-quality leadership, so we are looking for a Brainerd High leader who will inspire the staff and students to higher levels of excellence."

In January, the district announced it would screen and interview 14 candidates, eventually offering virtual interviews to 16, said Jill Levine, chief of the Opportunity Zone.

Seven of those candidates have been invited to the next step: the full-day experience today.

Carmen Carson, the district's newest recruitment coordinator, is working specifically on recruiting teachers and leadership staff for the Opportunity Zone, the district's network of 12 highest-needs and lowest-performing schools. Carson is also heading up the Brainerd principal selection committee.

"Recruiting really strong administrators is key for me," Carson said. "In order to recruit, retain and maintain strong teachers, having strong leaders - people who are there to facilitate teacher leaders, understand that working in the Opportunity Zone schools is very challenging and a rewarding opportunity, and can bring out the best and build a school culture - is key."

In the past, many of Hamilton County's principals came from internal trajectories through the ranks in Hamilton County schools - some even characterized principal selection as a "good ol' boy system" where those in district administrators' favor were selected for top jobs.

Last year, when preparing to hire new principals for the 2018-19 school year, district officials announced a change to the system, expanding the process from just an interview to three steps including an interview, a group interview with community members and district officials present, and shadowing by a district administrator at the candidate's current post.

The process to select Brainerd's principal echoes and expands upon that.

Today, candidates will have individual customized schedules that include: a community panel, a faculty panel, school tours, a writing sample, individual meetings with Johnson and the Opportunity Zone leadership team, including Levine and directors Zac Brown and Saunya Goss.

The community panel was put together by the Opportunity Zone's community school coordinator John Cunningham, who formerly worked at Brainerd High and is helping to bring community school models to Brainerd and the entire Opportunity Zone. The panel includes representatives from local nonprofits, parents, school board members and even Brainerd alumni representative from the school's alumni association.

"Improving these schools is not something Hamilton County Schools can do on its own," Cunningham said. "We are hoping to offer community members the opportunity to feel like they have skin in the game and a chance to have input on how to improve these schools."

The effort is justified, Levine believes.

Recruiting an exceptional individual to lead Brainerd aligns with some of Levine's biggest strategic goals for the zone - hiring great teachers and leaders.

"It's a big hire," Levine said. "It might be the most important hire I will make in my career."

The Brainerd High principal position has only been empty since December, when former principal Uras Agee took over as exceptional education coordinator at Washington Alternative School. Agee had been at the school since 2012.

Brown is now serving as interim principal. He was previously principal at The Howard School, the only other high school in the Opportunity Zone, for three years, before taking an assistant superintendent position at Central Office.

Of the 11 other principals in the Opportunity Zone, many of them have not been in their positions long.

Robin Bambrey also moved over the Christmas break from her position as assistant principal at Barger Academy of Fine Arts to Hardy Elementary. Two principals, Lindsay Starnes at Clifton Hills Elementary and Megan Bray at Calvin Donaldson Environmental Science Academy, also just took over this school year.

Chris Earl, the principal at Brainerd's counterpart, has only been at the helm at Howard for two years. Earl moved from Ooltewah High School when Brown was promoted to assistant superintendent.

The Opportunity Zone leadership team's goal is to find a candidate who will commit to three to five years in the position.

"We want someone who is going to be in this for the long haul," Carson said.

Though most of the potential candidates for Brainerd's principalship come from outside Hamilton County, Levine said that was not strategic - those were just who applied.

"We are looking for someone who is bringing in fresh eyes, fresh perspective," Carson said. "Someone who is not going to shy down from this work. Brainerd is not just a school, it's community, and it's pivotal to Chattanooga."

The hiring committee is expected to make a recommendation fairly quickly after today's interviews. Carson hopes a recommendation will be made to Johnson and the school board by the end of the month.

This appointment is one of the last pieces of the Opportunity Zone leadership puzzle that Johnson began to address last fall when he put the zone's leadership team in place.

Levine also hopes to add first-year coaches, along with a district-wide induction specialist, to the team.

Contact staff writer Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.

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