Search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) announced the five semi-finalists it’s picked to lead Memphis-Shelby County Schools Friday morning.
The firm picked two previous finalists, one previous candidate, and two newcomers from a pool of 22 applicants for the long-vacant post. The district has been searching for a new superintendent since former superintendent Joris Ray resigned in July 2022.
The finalists include:
Yolonda C. Brown is the Chief Academic Officer of Atlanta Public Schools. She describes her leadership style as a servant leader who values collaboration.
“That style lends itself to building great relationships. People want you to be authentic in who you are, and so I lead with authenticity,” said Brown. “I lead with collaboration because you can not build trust without collaboration.”
Brown told members of the Memphis-Shelby County School Board that she’s worked for Atlanta Public Schools for 30 years and she says this is the first position she’s interviewed for outside of that district. She highlighted her work helping steer academic success in Atlanta Public Schools where students are achieving historic gains in elementary literacy, numeracy, and Algebra 1, along with three years of increasing graduation rates.
“We too have challenges just like any other urban district but we’re making progress and we’re making gains,” said Brown. “Atlanta is a very political place just like Memphis. And so, being there for 30 years I’ve been able to successfully navigate those politics.”
Dr. Cheryl Proctor is the Deputy Superintendent of Instruction and School Communities for Portland Public Schools. She describes her leadership style as being in between a transformational leader and a servant leader.
“I inspire others to hold our core vision to task. I also have high expectations, and with my high expectations I hold people accountable to achieving towards those expectations all the while creating the conditions for success,” said Proctor.
Dr. Proctor highlighted her leadership helping Portland Public Schools implement an educational equity instruction framework that lead to increased achievement in math and increased English language arts proficiency. The Portland education leader also talked about how her personal story will guide her as a leader who understands the challenges children face.
“I came to this country at the age of 5. I was educated here. I was a student that did what was asked of me and I passed and did really well with high marks in school. Yet I found when I was in college and entered college, I was poorly prepared for my college experience,” said Proctor.
Dr. Marie N. Feagins is the Chief of Leadership and High School for Detroit Public Schools. Dr. Feagins applied and was previously considered in the search process. She described her leadership style as one that focuses on conversation.
“I’m incredibly inclusive. I value the individual expertise that people bring to the table and even if I need to take the table to them. That means encouraging all people to get involved in the way that feels comfortable at first and then you can depend on me to stretch you,” said Feagins. “I’ve always been the facilitator of energy for sure and keeping the energy high.”
Dr. Feagins is a native of Alabama and says she grew up living in public housing and benefitted from the Head Start program. She highlighted her work helping improve SAT scores with Detroit Public Schools growth along with increasing the graduation rate by more than 6 percent for the first time in nearly a decade.
“The right leader, at the right place, at the right time changes everything,” said Feagins. “Ultimately I’m responding to a higher calling for a soulful unifying leader who’s ready to rock n’ roll and do whatever it takes to bring about generational change and impact for more than 100 thousand future alumni.”
Dr. Carlton D. Jenkins– retired earlier this year as the Superintendent of the Wisconsin Madison Metropolitan School District. Dr. Jenkins was a previous finalist in the search process. He describes his leadership style as collaborative.
“You may have a title but that’s not how you approach people. You approach em as a human being,” said Jenkins. “There are certain things that I will say that are non-negotiable with individuals as I’m leading them. You don’t play around with our children. You don’t play around with the money. You do your job, we’re all going to be professional.”
Dr. Jenkins says he’s led 16 to 17 educational leaders who eventually became superintendents of their own. He says he’s wanted the Memphis-Shelby Count Superintendent job for more than a decade, as he believes the community represents who he is and where he came from.
“My mother was a 15-year-old kid when she had her first child. Seventeen when she had her second. Nineteen when she had her third. She has a tenth grade education. Vocabulary bigger than mine before she died,” said Jenkins. “My dad, you need to know, had a third grade education, quit school right to go do the farming to support the family. So when I look at the communities that I come from, and I see who kind of moves within the communities, I can tell you those who have a quality education, it really helps.”
Dr. Angela Whitelaw is the Deputy Superintendent of Schools and Academic Support for Memphis Shelby County Schools, Dr. Whitelaw was a previous finalist in the search process. She describes her leadership style as collaborative, data driven, and results driven.
“I believe in connecting and having relationships so that we can have the courageous conversations. A relationship where we leave the table with respect but we’re able to get to those difficult decisions and have those difficult conversations,” said Whitelaw. “Whatever I believe in I model the way for employees, teachers and staff, and the team.”
Dr. Whitelaw called the Memphis-Shelby County Schools her dream job and highlighted her leadership with the district helping achieve state testing gains in math and literacy in grades 3 through 8 along with the district achieving the state’s highest recognition for growth on the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS). Whitelaw also says she’s motivated to improve the lives of children by her own childhood growing up in a small rural Mississippi town with a grandmother who couldn’t read or write.
“I was her advocate at ten. Because when you can’t read or write, oftentimes people treat you a different way because you don’t have access and that’s why I sit here day by day,” said Whitelaw. “No other family, no other child, no other grandmother should feel ashamed about what they can’t do. It is my responsibility. It is my job. I have to be an advocate for those who can not speak about literacy.”
Board members will narrow down the five semi-finalists to three finalists on Tuesday.
This story is breaking and will be updated as new information becomes available.
