MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Former Memphis Shelby County School Board president, Tomeka Hart Wigginton, ran a board meeting on Friday.
Members of the MSCS board all had the same goal of finding common ground in the search for a new superintendent.
“We’re going to respect each other, we’re going to work through these tensions,” Wigginton said.
The MSCS School Board has struggled to find common ground for months on the highly debated new hire, so a retreat today was set up to do just that.
Wigginton says the first phase is to figure out the scope of the search and a process for receiving and reviewing applications, which they have already done.
The second phase is identifying additional qualifications before recruiting candidates that meet those qualifications. Wigginton believes the hold-up falls under phase two.
“Money, academics, and charter schools” are the top three issues the system faces in the next four years, Wigginton says, which should be the focus of a much longer discussion when deciding on additional qualifications.
“We’re on a timeline to say we’re going to have a superintendent by x date,” Wigginton said.” “But there’s some tough decisions you’ve got to make to get there.”
Moving forward, the board plans to set up more in-depth conversations to follow these guidelines and make a hire.
