Finalist interviews for the next CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will happen some time next month, and the interviewers won’t just be school board members, the CMSD Board of Education announced Tuesday.
Board Chair Anne Bingham said the board will use a lottery to select multiple panels made up of specific constituent groups: students, teachers, principals and parents and caregivers. The panels will join the board for finalist interviews in mid-to-late April.
People can get into the lottery by nominating themselves or others online on CMSD's website. That application will go live tomorrow, March 15. Bingham said people can also suggest interview questions for the board.
“Community input played a vital role in finalizing the job profile we are using to recruit and screen candidates for the CEO position,” Bingham said in a press release. “Hearing the voices of students, families, educators, neighbors, and partners will be just as important when our interviews with candidates begin this spring. We felt it was important to take a slightly different approach in this interview process to ensure that all members of our community get a chance to weigh in on who will be our next CEO.”
The board has already selected a union leadership panel, and will soon notify the members that have been chosen to serve on a "community partner" panel. The Cleveland Teachers Union has previously expressed concerns about not being allowed enough input in the process of selecting the next CEO.
Portions of the finalist interviews will also be livestreamed, which the district called an "unprecedented practice here locally."
The board will conduct interviews of its initial slate of 12 to 15 candidates within the next few weeks, Bingham said.
Outgoing CEO Eric Gordon announced last September that he would be stepping down.
While numerous people will conduct interviews, the next CEO will be chosen by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and the school board.
