Officials with the Metro Nashville Public Schools took the first step in finding the district's next director of schools when its Search Advisory Committee met for the first time Friday night.
The new search started on the heels of another that ended in July when top candidate Dr. Mike Looney decided not to accept the position and stay on as director of Williamson County Schools.
The Search Advisory Committee met for the first time Friday. The committee is co-chaired by the Nashville Public Education Foundation and Mayor Megan Barry’s office. It consisted of 17 community members with various backgrounds.
“We have a lot of different parts of the equation represented in those 17 members,” said Shannon Hunt, President of the Nashville Public Education Foundation and Co-chair of the Search Advisory Committee. “You want this to be an effort not just of a handful of people but a group that is truly representative of the community.”
Hunt said the committee’s goals included determining what type of leader the district needs, and how the city can help attract a great candidate.
“Our ‘it city’ status is in jeopardy if we don’t have tremendous public schools,” said Hunt. “I think everyone feels like this is a really important turning point for the city.”
Mayor Megan Barry said during a press conference Thursday that the Metro School Board will make the final decision on position, but community input is important.
“I think everyone in this town wants us to be able to put someone in that seat as quickly as possible who we can all get behind,” said Mayor Barry. “We want to move our education conversation forward.”
The Search Advisory Committee will meet again in January, and make recommendations to the Metro Board of Education by the end of the month. The school board will then decide the next step in the search. The goal is to hire someone by Spring.
Metro Schools have been looking for a permanent superintendent ever since Director of Schools Jesse Register left June 30.
