For two days last week teachers, students and community members told a group of consultants that they need a leader who is committed to improving academic outcomes for children and someone who will partner with outside groups to make that happen.
The Illinois-based consulting group BWP & Associates is compiling data and feedback from focus groups and community forums to soon present to the school board. The consulting group has led dozens of superintendent searches including for Chicago Public Schools.
The group didn’t have a total number of participants available on Friday. But Debra Hill, a managing director with the group, said that the level of participation was typical for a community of Pittsburgh’s size. She emphasized the importance of the community survey that is open to the public through May 18.
The forums and survey ask similar questions: What leadership skills and qualities should the superintendent have? What should a leader prioritize in Pittsburgh Public Schools. Hill said that the feedback has ranged from a desperate need to improve reading programs to the inequities between schools.
The community forums were announced a week before they were held. Hill said that the group historically has given two weeks’ notice, but they’re short on time as the district wants to make a hire before the next school year.
“While some people feel like there wasn’t enough time for notice, I feel that when you make it important and you try to get the word out and the announcements out and the information out and make it as convenient for people as possible, that if you give them two weeks of if you give them four weeks, you’re going to still get about the same participation,” she said.
Allyce Pinchback-Johnson, a co-founder of the Pittsburgh group Black Women for a Better Education, told WESA’s the Confluence last week that the short notice didn’t make her hopeful for true engagement.
“Part of the problem with he district is that they want community input but they kind of want it on their own terms, which looks like last minute and in some way just moving towards their own agenda,” she said.
Former superintendent Anthony Hamlet left the position in August after a state investigation found that he violated the ethics law. Longtime PPS administrator and former teacher Wayne Walters stepped in on an interim basis and committed to filling the vacancy until the next school year.
The candidate pool will remain anonymous until the final selection is made, according to the district. Some community members told the consultants that they wanted Walters to remain in the position because of his deep knowledge of the district.
Five people joined the virtual community forum, and five other sessions were held in person across the city. A participant in the virtual forum wondered if the district was behind in the search process. The board started looking for a consulting group in December once new board members were sworn in.
Hill said that while some administrators have already solidified their plans for the next year, there are quality candidates available.
“We will bring quality candidates as we are scheduled to bring, or we will tell them that no one meets the profile at this point and that we need to extend the search and then they need to do plan B,” she said.
It’s unclear what other options the district would have, though.
Hill, a retired superintendent, said that the district has potential. She said the goal is to find someone who has the passion to form partnerships and to address the issues of equity within the system.
“A person with passion and experience coming to Pittsburgh would really help turn the system around and move it forward,” she said. “I think that’s going to be really attractive to some people who have that kind of energy, that kind of potential.”
