ATLANTA — The Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education oversees 50,000 students and a $1.6 billion budget. Now, the board is overseeing the search for a new permanent superintendent.
School board chair Erika Mitchell said a national search firm is sifting through several candidates. The board decided not to extend Dr. Lisa Herring's contract in June of last year. Herring has since taken a job with the U.S. Department of Education.
By September, Dr. Danielle Battle was named interim superintendent and is serving on a one-year contract. The board hopes to conduct interviews, announce a finalist and hold a vote by the end of the school year.
"Oh, we have to get this right. Our students are counting on it, our parents and community," Mitchell said. "We want a superintendent that's focused on student outcomes, a superintendent that's focused on literacy, a superintendent that's focused on the wellbeing of all our students and understands equity, someone who's a communicator, evidence-based and knows Atlanta."
Mitchell said 65% of third through eighth graders in Atlanta Public Schools are reading below grade level, which is a large reason why she said change was needed. She noted that a panel made up of parents, staff, alumni and other stakeholders will give input during the search process.
"We appreciate and accept their feedback because it helps us as a board to make a final decision," Mitchell said. "Fulton County Schools, Marietta City, they were able to achieve significant gains coming out of the pandemic, and you have to ask yourself what they’re doing differently that we could learn from and implement here. Data tells a story. Data tells us where the gaps are, who is doing good, how they’re doing well, and what we have the opportunity to improve.”
Elizabeth Wickland, a mother of three and a legacy APS student herself, is on the panel that will provide insight during the search process. She said she appreciates the school board's non-cookie-cutter approach. Her children's experience includes language immersion and IB programs that have led to special learning opportunities. Wickland wants the new superintendent to be able to attract and retain local school leaders while trusting them to lead a community they're used to.
"We need someone who can lead with grace and also can listen and understand the needs of individual communities," Wickland said. “They should be increasingly committing to attracting and retaining leadership, strong leadership in schools, which correlates with local autonomy, giving allowances to local school leaders to let them do their job.”
In a school district that has been looking for its fourth superintendent since 2014, Wickland said communication, collaboration and integrity matter in bringing pride back to Atlanta Public Schools.
"There was a time when there were a lot of individual agendas for people who ran for school board, and their interests were not children or education but personal gain," Wickland said. "Thankfully, that's not the case right now. If we’re going to attract increasing industry and jobs and large corporations to our city, we have to prove we have a strong education system to support future job growth and for people to move here with their families.”
The nine members of Atlanta's Board of Education will ultimately have the final say over who gets hired as the district's superintendent. That vote is expected to be taken by July 1, after which the new superintendent would start.