Memphis-Shelby County Schools hears from new slate of superintendent finalists

How to tune in to MSCS superintendent finalist news

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board interviewed five finalists for superintendent on Friday, Dec. 15.

You can watch a recording of the interviews on the district’s Facebook page.

The board will convene again on Tuesday, Dec. 19, to select its top three finalists.

That meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The board has not yet set a location. You can check the board agenda online to see the location when it is posted.

It is a public meeting. These are typically livestreamed, too, and can be accessed on Facebook or by visiting the school board’s website and selecting “Board Meeting Live Broadcast” from the menu.

Meet the five finalists for MSCS superintendent

Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members asked finalists six questions, corresponding to a rubric that evaluates candidates on student achievement (30%), business and finance (20%), governance and board relations (20%), staff relations and leadership (15%), and community relations (15%).

Yolonda Brown has spent her 30-year education career in Atlanta Public Schools, beginning as a teacher and climbing the ranks to become the district’s chief academic officer in 2020. In this role, she mapped the district’s academic plan through the pandemic and recovery by focusing on early literacy and extending the school day, she wrote in her application. When the district makes decisions about its school buildings, Brown is at the table, she told board members. The Atlanta district has given her a lesson in navigating the politics of school districts, she said, and her three decades there show “how strident I am about supporting communities for a very, very long time,” she said.

Marie Feagins works in Detroit’s public school district with high school academic programming, and acts as a liaison for the district with the mayor’s office and state education department, she wrote in her application. Feagins pointed to gains in graduation rates and FAFSA completion, plus decreasing dropout rates. Before coming to Detroit, she was a principal in Cleveland, and got her education career started in Alabama. She made the repeated appeal to board members that “the right leader at the right place at the right time changes everything.”

Carlton Jenkins retired as superintendent of Wisconsin’s Madison Metropolitan School District over the summer, where he secured passage of a $350 million referenda and led the district through the pandemic. He became the district’s first Black superintendent in 2020, after two previous superintendent stints at smaller districts in Minnesota and Michigan, according to his application. Jenkins has been eyeing Memphis since its merger a decade ago, he told board members Friday, in an interview where he stressed a need to elevate student performance beyond proficiency. “Growth is important … but let’s not stop there,” he said.

Cheryl Proctor has been a top academic administrator at Portland Public Schools in Oregon for two years, roles she assumed after a five-year administrative career with Philadelphia’s public school system. Before that, she was a school principal in Florida schools, she wrote in her application. Proctor explained ways she has examined existing school programs and then suggested and implemented changes. Her recent experiences also include engaging teachers and the community on key, contentious district decisions, such as a revamp of a historically Black high school. As a leader, Proctor strives to balance inspiration with high expectations, “all the while creating the conditions for success for our staff (and) our students.”

Angela Whitelaw is a career educator and administrator in the Memphis school district who was one of two acting superintendents in summer 2022. She has since returned to her post as deputy superintendent overseeing academics, and touted the district’s academic growth in the wake of the pandemic in her application. In that post, which she has held since 2019, Whitelaw explained how she worked with community groups to more effectively communicate with families about their student’s performance. Whitelaw began her career as a teacher then principal in Memphis schools, and becoming superintendent would be a “dream job,” she said. “I know all the things that we've tried, all of the things we didn't get right, all the things we started, we stopped, we should have continued.”