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'Responsibility isn't lost on me': Incoming MSCS board members lay out their priorities, goals in upcoming superintendent search

The board will decide whether to open a national search to replace Dr. Joris Ray, who resigned Tuesday in mutual agreement.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When they take over next week, the new Memphis-Shelby County Schools board won't have much of a honeymoon period.

Those in charge of the state's largest district will get straight to work with arguably the most important and impactful decisions they'll make: choosing the next superintendent.

This, after the outgoing board Tuesday night accepted Dr. Joris Ray's resignation and a more than $400,000 severance package in what was described as a mutual separation.

Once she's sworn in next week, Amber Huett-Garcia is hopeful the MSCS board will cast a wide net for the next superintendent and a national search.

If the board approves such a search, that would be a contract from the last superintendent search in 2019, when members elevated then internal interim superintendent Dr. Ray to permanent superintendent without a national search.

"The responsibility isn't lost on me," Huett-Garcia said. "I think is an amazing opportunity for us to find the highest quality candidate across the country. We owe it to kids and families to make sure that we look everywhere and that does not mean that the best candidate is not in our backyard."

Huett-Garcia - an MSCS parent herself - believes if the next superintendent is chosen from the outside, an academic track record will be the top priority.

"I would like to see a leader who has demonstrated some turnaround, some dramatic gains in districts that are a similar profile to us," Huett-Garcia added.

"We want to move as quickly as possible; the time is now," MSCS Board Chair Michelle McKissack said.

McKissack said Wednesday she's open to a national search if a majority on the board wants to go to that route. White Station High School parents also weighed in on what they wanted to be prioritized.

"I'd like them to focus obviously on test scores but safety, right now I'm more concerned about safety than anything else," Mark Allen said.

"I think they need to concentrate on people who have extensive experience in large city schools, urban schools, multi-cultural schools," Russell Hines added.

The MSCS board chair said once the new board begins its meetings on September 13, they'll be tasked with hiring a search firm and perhaps naming an interim superintendent for the time being.

Currently, Dr. John Barker and Dr. Angela Whitelaw serve as co-superintendents.

    

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