Thursday, June 27, 2013

A Question About IPS Superintendent Finalists

Indianapolis Public Schools announced the three finalists it has chosen to consider for a superintendent to replace outgoing Supt. Eugene White. The three finalists are all from out-of-state and all are black males. Assuming the school board conducted a truly open nationwide search to fill the position, is it even conceivable to believe that an impartial selection process would yield an all-male, all-black group of finalists? Can you imagine the reaction in the minority community if all the finalists were white males? 

Black radio talk show host Amos Brown is raising red flags about one of the finalists, Thomas Darden, the executive director of New York Schools for ASPIRA Inc., a program that runs leadership development programs aimed at Latino youth. According to the IBJ, Darden was a deputy superintendent of the Philadelphia public schools system, where he was in charge of charter schools. Brown tweets, "Questions about business ethics of companies Thomas Darden invested in needs to be vetted by IPS quickly & Darden must address publicly." The other two finalists are Dr. Lewis Ferebee, chief of staff of Durham, North Carolina public schools, and Millard House, COO of Charlotte/Mecklenberg public schools in North Carolina.

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