Adviser on MSCS superintendent search pushes for native candidate

Beverly Davis, president of the Whitehaven Empowerment Zone PTSO, believes the subsequent superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Colleges ought to possess one foremost asset: Bluff Metropolis roots.

Davis, who can be a member of the MSCS board’s superintendent search advisory committee, addressed a gaggle of about 60 who gathered at Therapeutic Cathedral Christian Church in Whitehaven Wednesday to share their ideas on who ought to succeed Joris Ray.

Davis plans to share that group suggestions with MSCS board members, who’ve launched a nationwide seek for Ray’s substitute and hope to search out one by April.

“We’ve educators right here. Our individuals are simply as educated because the individual within the subsequent state or the subsequent nation,” Davis instructed the gang, a lot of whom have been educators or affiliated with group organizations. “Me, I need homegrown. And the rationale I need homegrown is as a result of homegrown cares.

“Homegrown isn’t going to take that cash and within the subsequent yr or two, (they’re) gone.”

Ray, a longtime district worker, stop as superintendent in August amid an investigation of claims that he abused his energy and violated district insurance policies by participating in adulterous affairs with workers he supervised. The board authorized a severance bundle equal to about $480,000, and closed the investigation with out issuing any findings.

When Ray was appointed in 2019, some group teams criticized the board’s resolution to desert a nationwide search and select a candidate inside the district.

However like Davis, others on the Therapeutic Cathedral assembly stated they’d wish to see an area individual within the job, and so they had a reputation in thoughts: Whitehaven Excessive College Principal Vincent Hunter.

Hunter helped construct the Whitehaven Empowerment Zone, which was based in 2016 as an initiative to spice up pupil achievement by specializing in neighborhood colleges that feed into Whitehaven Excessive, and to defend them from state takeovers. 

However MSCS eradicated funding for Hunter’s duties as director of this system in June. That transfer, amongst others, fueled calls for by Davis and others for Ray and several other faculty board members to resign.

Marqui Fifer, principal of Robert R. Church Elementary, stated Hunter is the mannequin for the type of superintendent he desires the board to rent.

“What we’re on the lookout for is a superintendent who understands that simply since you’re within the central workplace doesn’t all the time make you proper, as a result of we’ve loads of expertise inside our zones, and inside our colleges, and generally we simply wish to be heard,” Fifer stated.

“So in the event you’re asking me, myself, what we’re on the lookout for, what we’re on the lookout for is a Dr. Hunter,” he stated.

Darla D. Younger-Berry, principal of Havenview Center STEAM Elective College and a Hunter supporter, stated the Whitehaven neighborhood has rather a lot at stake within the superintendent search, noting the expansion of constitution colleges within the space. 

Most of the college students who attend them and return to conventional public colleges change into pissed off after they be taught they’re failing after they have been passing on the constitution colleges, she stated.

That frustration leads a few of them to behave out criminally, Younger-Berry stated.

“That’s a giant downside,” she stated, “as a result of it’s my center schoolers who exit right here and rob and steal as a result of they don’t perceive” why they’re failing faculty.

“If we don’t choose the correct superintendent, Whitehaven gained’t exist anymore,” she stated.

Hunter, who additionally attended the assembly, stated the reward he obtained made him really feel valued.

The subsequent superintendent ought to make academics, employees and directors really feel the identical means, he stated, along with having a observe report of sustained success.

“Hopefully, we’ll get that this time, as a result of we’re on the level in Memphis training the place, if 80% of our youngsters nonetheless aren’t studying (at) grade stage, we gained’t have a workforce, and Fortune 500 corporations gained’t come right here,” Hunter stated.

Hazel Moore, a beautician who’s also referred to as “the mayor” of Whitehaven, additionally praised Hunter, particularly his stance on boosting expert trades.

“After I noticed the center of Dr. Hunter at Whitehaven, I stated that is the place to be. He’s involved, and he cares in regards to the youngsters,” Moore stated.

Need a chance to supply your enter on the seek for the subsequent superintendent? Right here’s the district’s schedule of public conferences:

• Dec. 8, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Snowden College, hosted by faculty board members for Districts 1-3.
• Dec. 15, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Southwind Excessive College, hosted by board members from Districts 4-6.
• Jan. 12, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Parkway Village Elementary College, hosted by board members from Districts 7-9.
• Jan. 21, from midday to 2 p.m. on the district places of work.

Tonyaa Weathersbee is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Join with Tonyaa at tweathersbee@chalkbeat.org.