Interim Superintendent Jazz Parks declined to comment for this article because contract negotiations with the school board are ongoing.
The Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education voted 4-3 to recommend Interim Superintendent Jazz Parks for the permanent superintendent position at its March 20 meeting, effectively shortening the search process. The motion was divisive among board members, with board members Ernesto Kelijero, Rima Mohamad, and Jeff Gaynor opposing the decision, arguing that it was important to continue the standard investigative process. I cast my vote. Those who supported the vote cited AAPS's financial crisis as a reason to speed up the hiring process.
The search process for a new superintendent was expected to begin in the fall of 2023 and be completed at the end of April. The BOE selected consulting firm Hazard Young Attea & Associates to assist with the investigation. The process was narrowed down to her seven candidates in early March, who were invited to participate in Zoom interviews. Five of the seven completed interviews with the BOE on March 15th.
Parks has been serving as AAPS interim superintendent since October, replacing Dr. Genice Swift, who reached a voluntary settlement and resignation agreement with the BOE. The resignation comes after a lawsuit was filed against the school district for inaction when a special education student was assaulted by a school bus aide in 2021. Mr. Parks has worked in the school district for 16 years in various positions including teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent. .
Voting in support of the decision were Trustees Susan Ward Schmidt, Susan Baskett, Torchio Feaster and Krystle Dupree. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Dupree cited Parks' familiarity with the community, his experience with Ann Arbor's school system and the budget crisis as factors in his decision.
“I think that was important because she already had such strong experience in this district,” Dupree said. “And the fact that she has such close ties to the people who work in the district, our teachers, our administrators, she cares about them and has built this trusting relationship with them. I am.”
In an interview with the Daily, Gaynor said Parks' experience has its pros and cons.
“She had no experience as a superintendent,” Gaynor said. “It was very disappointing that the two candidates we selected did not advance to this round because they have many years of experience (as superintendents) in large districts. I know. She held several different positions, including assistant superintendent, who was in charge of all positions.”
Feaster said offering Parks the position will allow both her and the BOE to focus on the district's ongoing financial crisis.
“I think the majority of the board members believed that we had some competing interests,” Feaster said. Find ways to close budget loopholes as efficiently as possible. I believe the board felt that by hiring Mr. Parks, they would be able to hire the best candidate and work directly to fix the deficiencies. ”
Feaster added that the decision allows the district to focus on filling additional open positions and ensuring that Parks is not selected during the selection process.
“We forget that we have two or three different assistant superintendents,” Feaster said. “I was also concerned that Ms. Parks might be recruited from a distance away from our district. We need her during this time of crisis and the district I didn’t want to lose another person.”
The district will cover travel expenses for candidates to attend in-person interviews and airfare for board members' on-site visits. At the March 20 BOE meeting, some board members cited concerns about paying for these costs during a budget crisis. Mr. Schmidt said these costs were unnecessary given the support provided to Mr. Parks.
“From my perspective, it's a waste of time and money to continue to hire candidates who don't quite meet the needs of the moment,” Schmidt said.
Other board members, including Mohammad and Querillero, said they felt candidates' flight and travel expenses would be minimal, given the district is millions of dollars short in the budget crisis. Querillero said those costs should not have been a focus of the decision given the long-term impact of selecting a superintendent.
“We are not making decisions solely based on current issues,” Querihero said. “Hopefully we're making it. I thought it was kind of a vision for the future. But it seemed to me to be a somewhat short-sighted decision.”
Mohammad said she felt it was important to continue the search process to have an opportunity to engage the Ann Arbor community with the superintendent candidate.
“I don't feel it's the right thing to do to avoid it,” Mohammad said. “It impacts transparency. We have been advocating for more transparency about everything that is going on and for a complete halt to a process that many community members were excited about… Avoiding it completely was unacceptable.”
Some trustees noted that HYA conducted outreach through surveys and public forums at the beginning of the investigation process. However, Ms Mohamad said she felt this process was not appropriate as it took place before the final candidates were chosen and the community did not have the opportunity to express their preference for a particular candidate.
“We owe it to the community to go through the process and allow them to provide input,” Mohamad said.
Querillero also said he felt more cooperation from the community was needed, given the limited participation in early relief efforts.
“When (HYA) came back to the board to report what the community wanted, they actually acknowledged that the response rate was very low,” Querillero said. “We have 17,000 or 18,000 students in our district, but I think the total number of students in attendance was less than 200. I think it's a bit difficult to call it data.”
Mohammad said that while he disagrees with the board's decision, he believes it is important to continue moving forward.
“Despite three of us being against it, the board approved this move,” Mohammad said. “So, that's the way it is and my approach is we need to keep looking forward and moving forward rather than harping on what happened in the past. …I'm going to keep moving forward.” .”
Parks is currently negotiating a contract with the BOE's general counsel. Once negotiations are complete, trustees will vote on whether to approve the deal at a later date.
Daily Staff Reporter Amanda Venklovaite Pilani can be reached at: amandavp@umich.edu.
