ST. LOUIS — One internal and two out-of-state candidates are vying to become the next superintendent of ºüÀêÊÓƵ Public Schools.
The finalists, picked from a pool of more than four dozen applicants, are:
• , chief academic and accountability officer, Birmingham City Schools since July 2020. Dawson was a finalist in 2021 for superintendent of Hamilton County Schools in Tennessee. He has also worked as a school administrator in Georgia, Florida and Texas. Dawson’s doctorate in education is from Northcentral University.
• , chief academic officer and assistant superintendent of academics, Seattle Public Schools, where she has worked in various positions for 12 years. Last year, Scarlett was a finalist for superintendent of Kent School District in Washington. She holds a doctorate in education from the University of Washington.
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• Nicole Williams, interim superintendent, SLPS. Williams previously served as former Superintendent Kelvin Adams’ chief of staff and as the district’s chief academic officer and deputy superintendent. She has helped manage pandemic relief funds of about $150 million as well as oversee family engagement and equity programs for the district. Her previous roles include superintendent of schools in Poughkeepsie, New York. Williams earned a doctorate in education from Harvard University.
Each candidate will spend a day visiting the district, said school board President Matt Davis.
“We are excited to host these three very impressive career educators and introduce them to our community. On their visits, they will have opportunities to visit classrooms and meet and interact with students and staff members individually and in small groups,†Davis said in a statement.
Recorded interviews of the finalists will be posted on Thursday.
There were 49 applicants to replace Adams, who retired in December after 14 years leading the district.
The SLPS board will choose the superintendent by the end of January, and the successful candidate will start in July.
The new leader will face immediate challenges, including plummeting enrollment that has left too many schools with not enough students to fill them.
During Adams’ tenure, 25 schools were shuttered because of low enrollment. The district dropped from largest in the state to ninth this year, behind Rockwood, Parkway, Fort Zumwalt and Wentzville in the region. Enrollment in kindergarten through 12th grades has fallen by 40%, from 27,500 in 2008 to about 16,500 this year.
The SLPS board is leading a citywide plan for public education, which is expected to wrap up next fall with a strategy to address the changing demographics.
While SLPS has some of the highest-performing magnet schools in the state, the average test scores remain among the lowest, with 13% of students testing proficient in math and 20% in English in spring of 2022.
The district has increasingly tried to address external stressors on students and families, including a majority who live in poverty and 15% who are homeless. Since returning from virtual learning at the start of the pandemic, fewer than half of the students have a 90% or better attendance rate.