The Hamilton County Board of Education is interviewing three candidates tonight for the permanent superintendent position.
- Arthur Wayne Johnson: founder and chairman of First Performance Corporation. Prior to that, Johnson was the CEO of Reunion Financial Services Corporation and a managing partner at Global Education Partners. He lives in Georgia.
- Clifford Davis, Jr.: chief of staff for Knox County Schools. Davis has been in Knox County Schools since 2005, previously working as the executive director of secondary education.
- Bryan Johnson: chief academic officer for Clarksville-Montgomery County School System in Tennessee. Before being named to that position, he served as the director of high schools for the district.
The board began the interview process last week, conducting video interviews of Natasha Baker and Stuart Greenberg. The board is expected to conclude interviews next week and then decide which candidates to invite for an in-person interview.
Last month the search firm, Coleman Lew and Associates, gave the school board 14 candidates to consider for the superintendent post, 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.
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