To: Eric Cowan, President, Miguel Solis, 1st Vice President, Lew Blackburn, 2nd Vice President, Nancy Bingham, Secretary, Bernadette Nutall, Edwin Flores, Mike Morath, Dan Micciche, and Joye Foreman
Bring new leadership to Dallas schools
Include the voices of all stakeholders—parents, teachers and school employees, and community—in a transparent, inclusive and independent search for a new school superintendent in Dallas.
We need collaboration—not confrontation—to ensure that Dallas has safe, welcoming neighborhood public schools where students are inspired and educators are well-supported.
Why is this important?
Our school district has an opportunity to make the fresh start that we need and our students deserve.
The news broke recently that Superintendent Mike Miles is resigning his post. As the Trustees begin the search for a replacement, we need them to hear the voices of all stakeholders.
We need a superintendent who is committed to working with all stakeholders—parents, teachers and school employees, and members of our community.
We need collaboration—not confrontation--to ensure that Dallas has safe, welcoming neighborhood public schools where students are inspired and educators are well-supported. The process for identifying and hiring a new superintendent must include the voices of those stakeholders.
I urge you to take a moment to let your voice be heard. Please contact the Trustees and urge them to consider the following three points in the search for a new superintendent to lead our school district forward:
1) The process must be inclusive and transparent. Schools work best when all stakeholders are involved. The Dallas ISD Board should take the time and create space to get input from parents, educators and members of our community.
2) An independent search firm should be engaged. Efforts to identify a new superintendent should be broad and deliberate.
3) A broad-based Stakeholder Advisory Committee should participate in the search and interview finalists with the Trustees. The new superintendent should be someone who can build relationships with the full Dallas community. One good way to lay that foundation is to include an array of stakeholders and constituents in the selection process. At a minimum, the committee should have a place for educators, parents, business leaders, faith leaders and representatives of civic organizations. One model for how this works is already familiar to Dallas ISD; whenever a new principal is hired, a campus-wide committee is involved in the selection and interviewing of candidates.
A fresh start for Dallas ISD means giving community stakeholders a seat at the table where our new superintendent is selected.