Atlantans pushed for a new superintendent Monday who can unite the city around solving its educational problems, be accessible to parents and bring classroom experience to the job.
They want someone who can leave behind Atlanta Public Schools’ standardized-test cheating scandal, raise graduation rates and heal leadership failures that stall academic progress.
More than two dozen community members voiced their visions for the qualities they’d like to see when Atlanta Public Schools hires its next leader to succeed Superintendent Erroll Davis when he steps down after the 2013-2014 school year.
“We need someone who’s very innovation minded. I feel like we’re stuck, and we need to get ourselves unstuck,” said Jamina Cole DAmico, who has a daughter in preschool in Atlanta’s north side. “We need a leader who’s not afraid of taking some risks.”
Others said the next superintendent should have local ties, and the superintendent search committee should avoid hiring an outside candidate who would have a hard time navigating Atlanta’s politics and regional economic differences.
“We want somebody this time who has an investment in this city, who has a vested interest in this city,” said Sandra Dixon of southwest Atlanta.
The residents’ suggestions will be combined with more than 1,000 survey responses to help form a superintendent profile that will serve as a sort of job description when it’s advertised. Private executive search firm PROACT Search will present its profile recommendations to the superintendent search committee, which will then forward them to the Atlanta Board of Education.
The Monday evening meeting was the last of about 15 community gatherings held before the profile is completed.
The future superintendent should be able to come to the school system with a specific plan that goes beyond a broad strategy for raising up low-performing schools and further improving good schools, said west Atlanta resident Kay Wallace. A strategy won’t go far if the superintendent doesn’t understand the realities of Atlanta Public Schools.
“Everyone’s talking about making sure everyone understands what the vision is. If we only give them the vision, that’s one hand clapping and it doesn’t make any noise,” Wallace said.
The superintendent’s job will be advertised by the end of August, and the school board may vote on a candidate by January or February, said Ann Cramer, chairwoman of the search committee.
Everyone agreed the superintendent should be motivational and charismatic enough to move beyond petty disputes.
“It should be an inspirational figure who won’t shy away from showing some passion every once in a while,” said Jason Esteves of northwest Atlanta.
Davis took over as superintendent in July 2011, right when results of a state investigation of cheating were released.
The report named 178 educators as having been involved in inflating test scores on the 2009 Criterion-Reference Competency Tests, including former Superintendent Beverly Hall.
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