Dallas ISD trustees say they welcome Mayor Mike Rawlings’ involvement in the DISD superintendent search process but remain mum about his intent to throw money and support behind school board candidates.
In a lengthy Q&A with our Robert Wilonsky yesterday, Rawlings said he’s helped try to find the next Dallas Independent School District superintendent, even going as far as giving the district’s search firm a list of potential candidates he received from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Rawlings said he gave the firm PROACT “four, five names.” Today, DISD board president Lew Blackburn, who welcomes Rawlings’ interest in the district, said he doesn’t know the specific names Rawlings gave to the firm.
But Blackburn made clear: Despite the mayor’s interest in the superintendent search, trustees hold the final say on who becomes the district’s next top administrator.
Trustees Adam Medrano and Bruce Parrott said they appreciate Rawlings wanting to help improve the Dallas school district.
“I want everyone to get involved in the school district,” Parrott said. “We need a lot of cooperation between the city and school district. There are a lot of thigns we can do.”
But Parrott said neither Rawlings nor City Council members have chatted with him about the district.
“It’s not like they are burning up my telephone wanting to have dialogue on where schools are going or wehre the district is going,” he said.
Medrano said that Rawlings has always been upfront about his intention to get involved in the Dallas school district. Shortly after Rawlings became mayor, he met individually with trustees to talk about DISD.
Medrano said he also heard that trustees and City Council members might start meeting occasionally to talk about how the two entities can work together. When Medrano was school board president up until last May, he said he made attempts to set up similar meetings with City Hall, and those requests were denied.
“He said early on that he was going to be more involved in DISD and it’s good,” Medrano said. “That’s great that he’s asking Arne Duncan.”
Trustee Nancy Bingham said she hadn’t read the Q&A with the mayor but found his responses in line with the mayor’s campaign promises to get involved in the district. “He didn’t keep it a secret when he was running for election,” she said.
But in the end, trustees will decide the next superintendent. Next Tuesday, board members
will discuss candidates for the position for the first time. Both Medrano and Parrott said that interim Superintendent Alan King hasn’t applied for the job.
And about Rawlings saying he’ll endorse school board candidates and financially support them? Medrano said, “No comment.” Parrott: “Any citizen can be involved in campaigns.”