From Vince Schoemehl:

We had great candidates for SLPS superintendent but (and I speak only for myself) the determining factors were:

      
• "Strong dogs have strong pups" — this is a theory I've often used when recruiting people. Find the best practitioner and raid their team as high up the food chain as you can. In Sunday's Post Paul Vallas, the CEO who has been at the national cutting edge of school change in Chicago and Philadelphia speaks glowingly of Creg. The fact that Creg was promoted through the ranks in Chicago and then recruited to Philadelphia by Vallas meant a lot to me.

      

• He knows his material — This was very clear in every session (the Board had three private sessions with each of the finalists plus two public forums) — Creg knows the methodologies necessary to effect academic improvement and I am hopeful that many of the curriculum and organizational changes we have implemented over the past 21 months will fit with his program.

      

• Great spokesperson — He knows the material and he knows his message and he seems capable of communicating in sound bites that have content; an important skill for this position.

      

• His first CEO position — Some see this as a weakness; I see it as strength. While Creg has been trained by the best and while he has had very expansive responsibilities he’s never been THE superintendent. But he’s energetic and he'll be extremely motivated to make St. Louis a screaming success story. Given our continuing budget challenges the troubles at SLPS are a long way from over and I was influenced by the fact that Creg will be highly motivated to make this work.

You can read more about Dr. Creg Williams at http://www.slps.org/

Posted under People by Brian Marston on Sun., Feb 27, 2005 at 11:38 AM