Tom Koehler
Portland Public Schools is an amazing community of schools well-positioned to compete for the best superintendents in our country -- and we should settle for nothing less.
We are a city of people who support and believe in public schools while many cities across the nation our size have abandoned them. We have passionate teachers and staff dedicated to issues of equity and academic success for all of our students -- and families that are equally committed. We also have strong business partners that value the role of public education in creating opportunity for individuals and our city collectively.
These attributes are the foundation for advancing PPS to the next level of excellence, and whom we hire as our next superintendent is the most important decision before the board at this time in PPS history.
It is disappointing that our effort to recruit from the best and brightest from across the country could be jeopardized because of misinformation being presented about the hiring process.
We want to set the record straight.
This process has been transparent and open from the beginning, starting with the public hiring of a professional search firm experienced in recruiting high quality candidates to serve as superintendents in communities across the country.
Robust community engagement was the first order of business. More than 200 individuals in the community were interviewed. We held five community forums. We received more than 3300 responses to our survey to help identify the issues Portlanders care about and inform the defining characteristics of our next superintendent. We also held public meetings to discuss and adopt the best vetting process to recruit the highest quality candidates to serve as our next leader.
The board engaged in a thorough debate about the advantages and challenges of an "open" or a "confidential" hiring process all focused on how to attract the highest caliber of candidates in the field of education from across the nation.
Consistent with best practices for top-level executive searches, and with guidance from the Council of Great City of Schools, the confidentiality of candidates' identities is essential if districts want to attract sitting superintendents to their pool of applicants. This decision is too important to let process limit our choices.
We wanted to attract the largest pool of qualified candidates. So the majority of the board supported the recommendation of the recruitment firm to maintain confidentiality of the applicants.
We also value community input. So the board created an advisory committee comprising students, teachers, parents and representatives of labor unions, non-profits, communities of color, the business community, the city and the county. This committee will meet with the finalists and provide feedback to inform the board in making its final decision.
After a thorough reference check of finalists by representatives from labor groups, the board and others, we will announce our final candidate prior to a vote of the board. This offer will be contingent on a site visit to ensure our finalist is the right choice for PPS.
Many board decisions advance without unanimous consent, because that is the democratic process. It is our responsibility as an elected board to honor the decision by the majority and to constructively execute those decisions together. Our next superintendent can only be as successful as the PPS board allows that person to be.
It is up to us to signal to our candidates that the future at PPS is bright. That we are a district firmly grounded in the values of inclusiveness, equality and respect that are desperately needed at this time in our nation. And that we can put personal differences aside for the common good of our students.
Our students deserve that from us.
Tom Koehler is chair of the Portland School Board. Vice Chair Amy Kohnstamm and board members Julie Esparza Brown, Pam Knowles and Mike Rosen are co-authors of this piece.
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