When the appointed school board of the Gary Community School Corporation was created last May, its members had the power to do just one thing: choose a superintendent to take over after emergency management ended.
Today, with less than two months left before the district’s distressed status ends, its next leader has yet to be announced, leaving some community members antsy and frustrated.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, residents rattled off a litany of concerns — from the perceived lack of community input in the search process to whether all candidates were fairly considered. One attendee bluntly told the board they needed to “hurry up!”
Danita Johnson-Woods, who led the board’s superintendent search committee, said contract negotiations with a finalist are currently playing out and she’s hopeful for an announcement in early June.
Board Chair Michael Suggs believes people will be “proud” of the way the search was handled once it’s officially wrapped.
“We gave stakeholders a good opportunity to be engaged all along … I feel that we had good input and I think our results are going to speak loudly for that,” he said.
Not everyone is satisfied by these assurances.
Nikki Byrd, who has a grandson in the district, has been unhappy with the board’s process and hasn’t been shy about expressing her discontent. “It’s too secretive,” she said. “At this point, we should know something.” As a hands-on grandparent, she feels she and others deserve more information than what’s been given out.
“They’re not being fair about this superintendent search,” she said.
A major point of contention with the search has been its length. State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said legislators who pushed for Gary schools to exit the state takeover stressed the importance of having the board select a superintendent by January. Since it’s taken longer than anticipated, he’s worried about a new leader’s ability to acclimate to the job before the beginning of next school year.
“They’re putting the superintendent at a stress point by bringing him or her on at the timetable that they’re using,” Smith said. “The search could have been done sooner than that.”
While searches for superintendents vary by district, the director of the search firm Gary schools contracted said in January the search could be anywhere from 16 to 22 weeks long.
To help make sense of the length of the process, Capital B Gary created a timeline detailing the district’s search for a superintendent.
May 2023
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 327 into law, establishing an appointed school board for the Gary Community School Corporation. Under the new law, the board must serve in an advisory capacity to the emergency manager until July 1, 2024. Until then, the board also has the authority to select a superintendent.
June 2023
All five members of the school board were appointed. The state secretary of education appointed Suggs, the board chair, Johnson-Woods, and Shontrai Irving. The Gary Common Council appointed Vanessa Allen-McCloud, and former Mayor Jerome Prince appointed Akilia McCain.
September 2023
The new board attended its first public meeting. Johnson-Woods later said the superintendent search committee began work this month.
October 2023
The first mention of the superintendent search was made during an Oct. 3 board meeting. Johnson-Woods reported that the committee was in discussions with search firms and that “hopefully” one would be selected by the next meeting. Suggs promised to introduce the chosen firm to the public once it was selected.
November 2023
The board discussed the superintendent search during an executive session. Johnson-Woods said they were still consulting with firms and referring to them on the matter of community involvement in the process. She said, “Hopefully by maybe the second quarter, we will have selected a candidate that can come in and start spending a bit of time with the school district.”
December 2023
Johnson-Woods said the committee had landed on a search firm and would be putting forth the recommendation to Michael Raisor, the district’s emergency manager.
January 2024
Glenn Johnson joined the board as the appointee of the newly elected Mayor Eddie Melton, replacing McCain.
A special board meeting was held and the Illinois-based firm, BWP and Associates, was presented to the public. Debra Hill, director of the firm, and Marcus Alexander, an associate at the firm, spoke in person about their backgrounds, success rates, and explained the five phases of the search process.
BWP and Associates’ timeline identified March or April as when the superintendent would be introduced.
At a regular board meeting that month, Johnson-Woods said that semi-finalists would be brought forward to meet the community.
The firm was hired, and the job listing for superintendent was posted on Jan. 31.
February 2024
An online survey for community members was posted from Feb. 5 to Feb. 25 and was completed by 456 people.
Two community forums, one in-person and one virtual, were held on the evening of Feb. 12.
Ten focus groups that included staff, students, parents, and community leaders were also conducted on Feb. 12.
March 2024
Applications for superintendent closed on March 9, with 38 people applying.
Two special board meetings related to the superintendent search took place on March 4 and March 20. At the first of these meetings, BWP and Associates presented a leadership profile based on responses from the survey, forums, and focus groups. The profile was released in a community engagement report, which can be read here.
BWP and Associates also drafted a final report of the search process, which can be read here.
April 2024
During the April 10 board meeting, Suggs said the search process was “moving well” and expressed excitement about the candidates, several of whom he noted were from Gary. Two executive sessions were held that day about the superintendent search.
May 2024
Johnson-Woods said that of the 38 applicants for the superintendent position, three were screened for further interviews by the board, and two advanced to follow-up meetings.
The two candidates wanted to remain anonymous, Johnson-Woods said, but meetings with “community stakeholders” took place to “further vet them.”
Out of the two, one was selected as a finalist, and contract terms were being negotiated.
“We hope to publish the terms of that contract in the coming days, and move forward as soon as possible to name the district’s next superintendent in early June,” Johnson-Woods said at the May 14 board meeting.