ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Public School District announced Monday its final three candidates for superintendent.
The school district's three finalists are Dr. Jermaine Dawson, chief academic and accountability officer at Birmingham City Schools; Dr. Keisha Scarlett, chief academic officer and assistant superintendent of academics at Seattle Public Schools; and Dr. Nicole Williams, interim superintendent at St. Louis Public Schools.
Williams, who currently leads the district, took the place of former superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams when he retired on Dec. 31.
Each candidate will spend a day in the district to meet the community, visit classrooms and interact with students and staff members, according to St. Louis Public School Board President Matt Davis.
Then, the candidates will record and brief introduction and interview for the public. The videos will be posted Thursday to the SLPS YouTube channel.
"We are excited to host these three very impressive career educators and introduce them to our community," Davis said in a statement.
The search began with employment agency Ray & Associates, Inc. reaching out to over 1,700 leaders from across the country about the position. From an applicant pool of about 50 educators, the candidates were narrowed down to three by the employment agency based on experience, academic background and based on how they matched the results of community engagement focus groups and surveys done in September.
"The earlier community focus groups and surveys gave us a clear idea of what students, teachers and families wanted in a new superintendent," Davis said. "We created a solid profile of what kind of leader we were looking for and are thrilled that we received such a tremendous response from educators locally and across the country."
The school board will select its next superintendent on Jan. 31. That person will then assume the role in July.
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