School board to consider director finalists tomorrow

Email | Print By Amy Griffith Graydon

12-01-2008 3:31 PM —
Nashville’s search for a new director of schools is about to get specific.

Tomorrow, members of the Board of Education will consider several finalists for the job, as identified by hired consultant Bill Attea of search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates Ltd. (HYA).

Board members will learn of the finalists from Attea Tuesday evening. Board members are hoping to interview top candidates this weekend.

The director search is proceeding amidst an increasingly complex dialogue between the board and the Mayor’s Office. Mayor Karl Dean — who is paying for the board’s director search firm with privately raised funds – has publicly stated for months that he believes the board should hire an interim, rather than long-term, director of schools.

At the board’s most recent regular meeting last week, board member Mark North said he plans to make a motion that the board consider hiring legal counsel other than attorneys affiliated with Metro’s Legal Department.

Board members recently learned, as board chair David Fox stated at the meeting, that the board’s Metro attorney has responded to questions from Dean’s office about the legal and legislative processes that might take place to enable a change in governance structure for Nashville’s public schools. The attorney did not, Fox said, “provide a recipe for a takeover of the school board.”

Tomorrow morning, a high-profile researcher who has linked school district success with mayoral control will be in town, speaking at an event hosted by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The researcher is Kenneth Wong, a Brown University education professor and author of The Education Mayor.  

The Education Mayor was the inspiration for school board chair David Fox stating, almost a year ago, that he believed Dean should be given the authority to appoint school board members. Fox has not advocated for this further, and has stated that he simply wanted to open the dialogue.

Janel Lacy, spokesperson for Dean, said Monday that the mayor met with Wong on Sunday to discuss “school issues in general.” However, Dean is currently in New York City to take part in meetings related to public education, she said, and won’t be in town tomorrow for Wong’s presentation — or for the board’s initial consideration of director finalists.

The meeting between the board and Attea is planned for 5 p.m., at the Metro Nashville Public Schools offices, 2601 Bransford Ave.