Ushering in the new year, four big-city school districts begin 2024 with new school system leaders.

Minneapolis Names New Superintendent

Veteran educator Lisa Sayles-Adams was recently named superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. She has served as superintendent of Eastern Carver County Schools in Minnesota since 2020.

Sayles-Adams is no stranger to the Minneapolis school district, having served in various roles, including teacher, coordinator, principal, and assistant superintendent.

“This is a full-circle moment for me,” said Sayles-Adams in a press release. “I began my career in education working as a teacher in North Minneapolis and that’s where I learned that strong schools make a strong community. I am honored and thank the School Board for their vote of confidence in my commitment to serve as the next superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools.”

Three Districts Stay the Course

Instead of embarking on a national search for a leader, three big-city school districts decided to look no further than their interim superintendents.

Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Fla., named interim leader Van Ayres as its superintendent. Ayres was named interim leader of the 220,000-student school district in July 2023.

A graduate of the Hillsborough school system, Ayres began his teaching career in the district and eventually was promoted to deputy superintendent where he was integral in improving the district’s graduation rate by 12.2 percent over a five-year span.

“I am honored to be named superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools,” said Ayres in a news statement. “…This has been my second home for my entire life, and I thank the School Board for putting their trust in my leadership.”

Texas’ Austin Independent School District recently announced Matias Segura as the lone finalist for the position of superintendent. Segura has served as interim leader of the 73,384-student school system since January 2023.

A graduate of the school district, Segura has worked for the school district since 2017, serving as chief of operations before he became interim superintendent.

Texas law requires a waiting period of at least 21 days before a lone finalist for superintendent may enter into an employment contract with a Texas school system. 

In a letter to the community, the district’s Board of Trustees praised Segura for working collaboratively with the board to increase staff hiring and retention, exploring data-driven approaches for improving and monitoring student outcomes, and strengthening partnerships with local organizations and local governments.

And Oklahoma’s Tulsa Public Schools has also named a former graduate of the school district to lead its 34,000-student school system. Ebony Johnson, who has been serving as interim leader since September 2023, was named superintendent, becoming the first black woman to lead Oklahoma’s largest school district on a permanent basis.

Johnson started her career in the Tulsa school system as a classroom teacher and held a variety of positions, including executive director overseeing the district’s student and family support services and chief academic officer.

“I'm humbled,” Johnson said in an article in the Tulsa World. “I'm grateful. I'm honored. There have been other superintendents before me that I hold in so much high regard, and I'm standing on their shoulders.”

Segura and Johnson are both graduates of the first cohort of the Council of the Great City Schools’ Michael Casserly Urban Executive Leadership Institute for Superintendents designed to develop and train the next generation of urban school superintendents.

Portland and Washoe Leaders Step Down 

After six years at the helm, Oregon’s Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero has announced that he is stepping down in February. Guerrero has led Oregon’s largest school district, with more than 42,000 students, since 2017.

The first Latino superintendent in district history, under Guerrero’s leadership the district established a K-12 climate justice curriculum, expanded arts education, increased restorative justice programs and trainings in schools, and secured a $1.2-billion school modernization bond to improve the health, safety, and infrastructure of the district’s school buildings.

He also played a national role in education, serving as chair of the Council of the Great City Schools’ Board of Directors since July.  

Sandy Husk, a former leader of Salem-Keizer Public Schools, the second largest district in Oregon, was named interim superintendent.

Also stepping down is Susan Enfield, superintendent of the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada. She is leaving in February after taking the reins of the school district in July 2022.

During her tenure, Enfield led the adoption of a three-year strategic plan that focused on the academic success and social-emotional wellbeing of students, made increases to staff compensation, and improved working conditions to reduce the district’s staff vacancy rate.

Kristin McNeill, who led the district from 2020-2022, was recently named interim superintendent.