The Orleans Parish School Board has shortened its list of superintendent candidates from 15 to seven, after two days of back-to-back interviews last week.
Candidates were interviewed by the board in a closed door session last Thursday and Friday, with members later voting to advance “one or more candidates” to the background check stage.
The board is scheduled to discuss the candidates' references and select finalists during a special meeting on March 22. While the meeting is open to the public, discussion of individual candidates will take place in private.
Finalists are scheduled to be interviewed during a public meeting on March 29 and attend a meet-and-greet at George Washington Carver High School later that same day.
The district’s next superintendent is scheduled to be selected during a special board meeting on March 30. Meeting times have yet to be announced.
New Orleans Public Schools superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. announced last June that he would not pursue a contract extension when his term expired at the end of the 2021-22 school year. Since then, the board has been searching for his replacement with the help of an independent search firm.
Candidates advancing to the references and background check stage include:
Jawan Brown-Alexander, educational consultant and former chief of schools for New Schools for New Orleans.
Brown-Alexander, a native New Orleanian, has spent her entire career in Louisiana, mostly working with schools in her home district. She is the daughter of former school board member John Brown Sr., who resigned earlier this month, citing her candidacy for superintendent as the reason for his departure.
She previously served as director of curriculum and instruction for the Louisiana Department of Education’s Recovery School District and as director and school leader at Lake Forest Charter School in New Orleans East. She has also worked for the district directly as an administrator overseeing federal funds. See Brown-Alexander’s resume here.
Meria Carstarphen, head of an education consulting group and former superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools serving 52,000 students.
Carstarphen was born and raised in Selma, Alabama, and lived in New Orleans for four years when she was an undergraduate student at Tulane University. Her first teaching job was at a middle school in Selma, where she worked for four years before leaving to pursue multiple advanced degrees in education.
She previously served as the superintendent of Saint Paul Public Schools in Saint Paul, Minnesota (2006-2009), Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas (2009-2014) and Atlanta Public Schools (2014-2020). See Carstarphen’s resume here.
Charles A. Grandson, chief equity and strategy officer of Boston Public Schools, serving approximately 55,000 students.
Grandson has spent his career in New York and Massachusetts, primarily in the Boston area. He graduated from Boston College in 2005, where he later earned a master’s in curriculum and instruction and a doctorate in educational leadership.
He previously served as interim superintendent for Malden Public Schools in Malden, Massachusetts, before becoming deputy chief operating officer and later chief academic officer of Boston Public Schools. See Grandson’s resume here.
Marshall Tuck, head of education recovery and strategic advisor at Great Public Schools Now, a nonprofit focused on improving public schools in Los Angeles.
Tuck graduated from the University of California in 1995 and later worked as a financial analyst and general manager for a software company. He began working in education in 2002 when he became the president and chief operating officer of Green Dot Public Schools, a charter management organization based in Los Angeles.
In 2007, Tuck co-founded an organization managing some of the lowest-performing public schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to his resume. He campaigned to be California’s state superintendent of public instruction in 2014 and in 2018. See Tuck’s resume here.
Avis Williams, superintendent of Selma City Schools in Selma, Alabama, serving approximately 3,000 students.
Williams, a North Carolina native, is in her fifth year as superintendent of Selma City Schools and previously served as deputy superintendent of schools in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
She has spent her entire career in education, except the four years she served in the U.S. Army. Williams previously served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal at schools in Alabama and North Carolina and has a doctor of education degree in administration and instructional leadership from the University of Alabama. See Williams’ resume here.
Andre Wright, senior vice president of educational transformation at MGT Consulting in Tampa.
Wright recently served as chief academic officer for Aurora Public Schools in Aurora, Colorado, serving approximately 40,000 students. Before that, he served as an assistant principal, principal and executive director for Fulton County Schools in Atlanta.
He started his teaching career as a middle school language arts teacher in Dekalb County, Georgia and later served as an assistant principal in the same district. Wright holds a master of education in administration and supervision from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee. See Wright’s resume here.
Jermall Wright, founding superintendent of Mississippi Achievement School District, serving approximately 24,000 students.
Similar to Louisiana’s Recovery School District, Wright works with underperforming public school districts in Mississippi to increase accountability and student achievement, according to his resume.
Wright previously worked as chief academic and accountability officer for Birmingham City Schools in Birmingham, Alabama, and before that was a special assistant to the state superintendent, focused on turnaround and school improvement.
His education career stretches all the way back to 1997 when he was a 5th grade teacher at the Potter’s House Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. Wright earned a doctorate in leadership for educational equity from the University of Colorado Denver in 2017. See Wright’s resume here.
Candidates who did not advance past the first round of interviews include Angela Beck, Torina Lewis, Brian Metcalf, Orlando Ramos-Domenech, Thomas Rogers, Cherie Washington, Bobby White and Caprice Young.
