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While Memphis teachers want Interim Superintendent Roderick Richmond to visit more classrooms, the longtime Memphis-Shelby County Schools administrator earned high marks from principals and district staff on a survey about his performance.
This is the first step in an informal evaluation of Richmond’s performance over the past 10 months, board members said in a presentation Tuesday. A formal assessment based on his contract is expected in the next 30 days.
Richmond’s interim role is set to expire at the end of July, but he wants the full-time job. Two MSCS board members expressed strong support Tuesday for appointing Richmond as the full-time superintendent without conducting a formal search, the last of which took almost two years. But board members won’t vote on whether to start a search until next week.
“I could vote tonight, and we all could, because the work is being done,” said board member Keith Williams. “There’s no reason for us to go beyond the walls of this institution looking for someone.”
A timeline for making the new superintendent decision is unclear. But documents on the selection process presented Tuesday suggest that the board could appoint Richmond as the new leader at any time.
Over 2,300 MSCS staff completed the optional December survey about Richmond’s performance, including under one-sixth of the district’s teachers, or 940 in total. Less than half of surveyed educators rated Richmond as “favorable” in leadership and strategic vision, staff relations and capacity, and operations and finance.
Richmond earned the most “unfavorable” ratings from teachers, at 41% of respondents, on whether he was visible at schools for check-ins or other engagement activities. Richmond said that’s because he has responsibilities such as trips to Nashville and building connections with community members.
“Some of those things have prevented me from getting in schools the way I would like to get in schools,” he said Tuesday. “But if teachers want me to be more accessible, I have no problem with that.”
Richmond said he hopes to start sending out biweekly communication to MSCS teachers about evaluations and recruitment and retention. And he wants to have regional meetings where teachers can voice concerns to him directly.
The MSCS board appointed Richmond as temporary leader almost immediately after firing former superintendent Marie Feagins last January. But the decision to keep him on or start a search might not entirely be theirs to make. Tennessee Republicans are pushing forward a plan to establish a state-appointed board of managers to oversee MSCS, including superintendent hiring and firing decisions.
Exactly 50% of the teachers who responded rated Richmond as favorable in student achievement, the fourth category surveyed. By contrast, more than three-fourths of principals and central office staff gave Richmond the top rating across all four categories.
Every MSCS board member but Towanna Murphy responded to the survey because of a technology disruption, she said Tuesday. She expressed support for appointing Richmond as the full-time leader without a search.
“Doing another search is just number one gonna cost us some more money,” she said. “And I think that having another search will just make things even more difficult … We have him, and he’s doing an amazing job.”
Five board members rated Richmond favorably on leadership and strategic vision and board relations. Six approved of his performance in raising student achievement, and four did the same for operations and finance.
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.
