Three-Ring Super Circus For CMS
After skirting open meeting laws and lurking in seculsion at the airport to interview prospective candidates for the high-flying gig of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent, the Board of Education today announced three finalists to trot around town over the coming days in meetings and forums with the public and schools officials:
Long-time CMS administrator Ann Clark, who currently holds down the job of the district’s chief academic officer; Kriner Cash, who since 2008 has been superintendent of 113,000-student Memphis City Schools; and Heath Morrison, who since 2009 has been superintendent of 64,000-student Washoe (Nevada) County Schools.
After the flurry of public and private meetings and forums scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, the school board is supposed to have another round of interviews Thursday with each candidate behind closed doors. An announcement on naming a new superintendent is slated for no later than early May.
With a name like Cash, my early money would be on the guy from Memphis, if for no other reason than the wonderful headlines that could twist around his name. And Cash, apparently, has a rather high opinion of himself. This from ABC24 in Memphis:
A-plus, that’s the grade Memphis City Schools Superintendent, Kriner Cash gave himself in his yearly self evaluation. Thursday, September 21, 2011 Memphis City School Board members gave Cash their take on his job performance.
“Dr. Cash is not Jesus, so he’s not a miracle worker,” said Memphis City School Board member Martavius Jones.
Jones told abc24.com although Dr. Cash can’t walk on water he’s happy with the path Cash has walked as superintendent of Memphis City Schools.
…
The school board graded Cash in 55 categories, in 27 of those the board gave Cash an excellent rating, 8 were marked satisfactory, in 8 others they say Cash needs improvement and in 12 categories the school board gave him an unsatisfactory mark.
If Cash gets the nod from the CMS board, he should be able to hit the ground running when it comes to urban/suburban skirmishes, with Memphis hip deep in its city school district essentially compelling consolidation with a more suburban district. Cash is also the only African-American candidate of the final three vying for the CMS superintendent job, which can’t hurt his chances given the ever race-conscious leanings of the CMS board.
Morrison’s pedigree, though, would likely curry favor with the World Class leanings of the school board: he was recently named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators and is a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy. But despite the glowing reviews from his educrat peers, some folks out in Reno are apparently growing tired of the lionized superintendent, according to this report from the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
Closer to the home front, Clark – also a graduate of the Broad super academy – has a long history of climbing the ranks up the CMS brass ladder. She joined the district in 1983 as a teacher of behaviorally and emotionally handicapped kids, has held principal jobs at the elementary, middle and high school levels, and pulled a stint as both an associate and regional superintendent.
Interestingly, the last greet-and-grill forum for superintendent finalists is slated to be held at Northwest School of the Arts, which could throw a monkey wrench in the works for Clark. Recall that Northwest was engulfed in controversy and tumult earlier this year, when the school’s popular principal, Barry Bowe, committed suicide the day before he was to meet with CMS top brass to discuss a security breach involving a gun at the school. CMS administration, Clark included, received a scathing backlash from parents at the school who faulted the district’s treatment of Bowe and the way CMS had responded to the gun incident.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=9329
