For immediate release
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 Contact: Jacqueline Reis 781-338-3115
Finalists Chosen for Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education
MALDEN – Three finalists were chosen to interview for the position of commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, a preliminary screening committee charged with selecting candidates announced today.
The three finalists are: Angélica Infante-Green, deputy commissioner of the Office of Instructional Support P-12 in New York State Education Department; Jeffrey C. Riley, superintendent/receiver of the Lawrence Public Schools; and Penny Schwinn, chief deputy commissioner of academics at the Texas Education Agency. They were picked from a pool of 18 applicants from around the country and will be publicly interviewed later this month by the entire Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in the final round of interviews before the Board votes to recommend one candidate for the position. (The last time the Board conducted a search for a new commissioner, in 2007, there were 16 applicants.)
The Preliminary Screening Committee, which includes five Board members who are voting members of the committee and 10 non-voting members from the public, selected the finalists after meeting in December and January to review applications and interview candidates.
"Massachusetts leads the nation in public education, and the excellence of our system attracted a very strong field of candidates from the across the country," said Paul Sagan, chairman of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. "I am very pleased with this group of finalists and confident that whoever is ultimately selected to serve as our next commissioner will be extremely qualified to build on our track record of educational excellence and address the need to close the achievement gaps that remain among our most urgent challenges."
Education Secretary James Peyser, who, like Chair Sagan, served on the Preliminary Screening Committee, said, "I would like to thank all the members of the screening committee for sharing their time and expertise. This process benefited greatly from their contributions and helped to ensure that our search will result in the selection of an excellent new commissioner."
Ms. Infante-Green has overseen and directed all programmatic and administrative activities of the Office of Instructional Support P-12 for the New York State Education Department since 2015. Prior to that, she was associate commissioner of the New York State Education Department's Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages. Before her leadership roles at the state level, she was assistant superintendent/executive director of the New York City Department of Education’s Office of English Language Learners. She began her career as a teacher and administrator in New York City public schools.
Mr. Riley has overseen the functioning and improvement of 35 schools serving more than 14,000 students as the Lawrence Public Schools superintendent/receiver since 2012. Prior to that, he worked for Boston Public Schools as academic superintendent/chief innovation officer. Mr. Riley has worked in urban and suburban educational systems as a teacher in Baltimore, Md., administrator at High Tech Academy @ Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston and principal of Tyngsboro Middle School and Boston's Edwards Middle School.
Dr. Schwinn has been responsible for providing resources and supports to effectively improve quality, access and opportunity for over 5.3 million PK-12 students as chief deputy commissioner of academics for the Texas Education Agency since 2016. Prior to that, she was associate secretary of education in the Delaware Department of Education. After beginning her career as a teacher in Baltimore, Md., she founded Capitol Collegiate Academy in Sacramento, Calif. and served as assistant superintendent of performance management and strategic initiatives for the Sacramento City Unified School District.
The Board will interview the finalists at a public meeting on January 26, 2018 at the Omni Parker House in Boston. The meeting will also be streamed live at https://livestream.com/accounts/22459134. Representatives from stakeholder groups are being invited to suggest interview questions for the candidates, and these stakeholders are being invited to attend the January 26 meeting and submit written comments to the Board after the interviews conclude.
The Board is anticipating that it will meet again in public session on January 29 in Malden to select one candidate from among the three finalists to recommend to Secretary Peyser for appointment as the state's next commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. Under state law, the recommendation requires a two-thirds majority vote of all members (Secretary Peyser has a vote as a member of the Board), and the secretary decides whether to appoint the recommended candidate or ask the Board to submit another candidate for consideration.
The Department's last commissioner, Dr. Mitchell Chester, passed away unexpectedly in June 2017 while being treated for cancer. Since then, the agency has been led by Acting Commissioner Jeff Wulfson, who did not apply for the permanent position.
The members of the Preliminary Screening Committee were:
Voting members: Chair Sagan, Secretary Peyser, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Vice Chair James Morton and Board members Katherine Craven and Margaret McKenna.
Non-voting members:
former Board member Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción;
Sydney Chaffee, 2017 National Teacher of the Year, humanities teacher at Codman Academy Charter Public School;
Alex Cortez, managing partner of the Reimagine School Systems Fund at New Profit, and board member of Match Education and Innovate Public Schools;
Paul Dakin, former Revere Public Schools superintendent, retired;
Marcia Faucher, adjunct professor at Roger Williams University and former principal in the New Bedford Public Schools;
Robert Gittens, executive director of Cambridge Family & Children's Service, former Boston School Committee member and former vice president for public affairs at Northeastern University;
Sheila Harrity, superintendent-director of the Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School District, vice chair of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and former principal of Worcester Technical High School;
Matt Hills, Newton School Committee member;
Linda Noonan, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education; and
Mary Walachy, executive director of the Davis Foundation and member of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care.
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