On March 20, 2024, the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education named Jazz Parks, previously the interim superintendent, as the new superintendent of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Following the $25 million budget cut, the board voted on whether to continue the superintendent search or immediately elect Parks. This decision was voted on 4-3 with trustees Torchio Feaster, Susan Baskett, Krystal DuPree and Susan Ward Schmidt voting in favor and trustees Ernesto Querijero, Rima Mohammad and Jeff Gaynor opposed the decision.
Initially, 23 candidates applied for the position. The Board called seven people back for interviews. However, one of the candidates withdrew, and another was unable to attend the interview day. After excluding the second candidate, the Board chose to interview five candidates: Thomas Ahart, Ed.D., William Bradford, Ed.D., Arcelius Brickhouse, Jazz Parks and Antoine Reed, Ed.D.. The sixth candidate, Matthew Dunbar, remains listed as one of the superintendent search candidates on the Ann Arbor Public School website.
“There was some support for Dr. Bradford and some support for Mr. Dunbar, some support for Dr. Reed, but it was kind of all over the place,” Board president Torchio Feaster said. “But everyone supported Ms. Parks. The majority of the board decided it was time to close the search, appoint Ms. Parks, and begin to focus on our other crisis.”
Feaster, voting to elect Parks immediately, thought that was the financially smart decision.
“The money that we would have spent to fly those candidates into the district, to fly us out to their districts, it could have been tens of thousands of dollars,” Feaster said. “And although that doesn’t sound like a lot of money, when you’re talking about the possibility of people losing their jobs, I don’t think you want to waste money when we all had Ms. Parks on our shortlist and the majority of the board had her as number one.”
Board Secretary Jeff Gaynor voted against appointing a superintendent right away because it would require an abandonment of the search process.
“My personal thought is that community engagement is really important,” Gaynor said. “Ms. Parks, although she’s been in the district, wasn’t well known to the trustees. And in any case, any final Superintendent deserves to be heard from and hear from the community. I thought the extra time we would have would only add to our information to make an informed decision, and I didn’t think there were any risks to [going forward with the search for a superintendent].”
Parks has been in the district for 16 years. She started as assistant principal at Tappan Middle School in 2007, becoming principal in 2009. She became an executive director for the Middle and K-8 schools in the district in 2016. In 2020, she became assistant superintendent of the district. She was appointed interim superintendent in November 2023 following the exiting of the previous superintendent, Jeanice Swift, from the district.
Parks’ first order of business was at the March 20 board meeting approving layoffs of the ASCSA Coordinators and Supervisors Bargaining Unit if needed.
“This Board vote was a painful yet necessary step toward addressing multi-year budget shortfalls due to a number of factors including a decline in student enrollment over the last several years coupled with increases to our staff and well-deserved compensation increases for our amazing team of world-class educators,” Feaster wrote in a communication to the AAPS community on March 21.
The Board is continuing to work towards taking actions that benefit the community.
“We listen to your concerns,” Feaster said. “I read all the emails I get. Even the ones that curse me out. And I understand that people are upset, and I’m upset too. I have kids in this district, too. I want their district to be great.”
The next Board of Education meeting is on Thursday, April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Earhart Road building at 3700 Earhart Road.
The Superintendent was unable to comment at the time of publishing.
