Post updated at 8:57 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26:
Lawrence school board members on Monday gave quick, unanimous and enthusiastic approval to hire Jeanice Kerr Swift as the district’s next superintendent.
The selection of Swift comes sooner than the original tentative deadline as the board has unanimously deemed her the “most qualified candidate.”
Swift has served in the interim role since roughly the start of the school year. Board members announced Friday they had chosen her to lead for the long term.
Board President Kelly Jones said Monday that the superintendent search committee had found that Swift “possesses the vision, experience, and dedication necessary to continue advancing the district’s goals. The committee sees no need to further extend the search process at additional expense to the district and community.”
Jones said it was her great honor to say that the committee’s recommendation was that Swift become the next superintendent. A few members of the committee also spoke about their excitement.
“The immediate connection to our school community the first day you arrived was noticed, and the impact in such a short time has been felt across this district,” Kristen Ryan, executive director of human resources for the district, told Swift.
Swift will be the district’s 10th superintendent.
“A veteran educator, Dr. Swift has served as an educational leader and leadership consultant, supporting PreK-12 education leaders, leadership teams, and board trustees,” the meeting agenda says of Swift’s background. “Prior to serving as the interim superintendent of Lawrence Public Schools, she served the Ann Arbor Public Schools as superintendent for over a decade. In Colorado Springs School District 11, she served as assistant superintendent, executive director, principal, assistant principal, teacher coach, and secondary English teacher for 15 years. She also taught secondary English and Spanish during her ten years in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford School District in Texas. Dr. Swift earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Arlington, her master’s at the University of Colorado, and a doctorate in educational leadership at the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.”
The board gave Swift a gift of some books, including one on Indigenous history, one on Lawrence history and Meg Heriford’s “Ladybird, Collected.”
Board member Carole Cadue-Blackwood said she wanted the district’s children to be able to see themselves in leadership, and for Lawrence to “make glass ceilings irrelevant.” Board member Yolanda Franklin said Swift had made an “amazing impression” on her mother, who later told Franklin, “I sure hope she stays.”
And board member Shannon Kimball told Swift, “I am so thrilled that you agreed to take us on.”
Swift told the board she was honored and deeply grateful for the opportunity.
“I’m really grateful for the input and feedback of everyone around us, because the only way we know the way is by having those conversations, and you’ve all been a part of that,” she said.
She also thanked the community for coming out and engaging over the past several months.
“We’re ready to get to work and move forward,” she said.
The agenda did not include a formal contract with Swift — rather, the board would be approving employing her as superintendent for three years, starting July 1, “pending the successful negotiation of a contract.”
In August, the board approved a contract for Swift to serve as the interim superintendent through June 30 at a salary of $194,482 for 10 months — the prorated equivalent of a $235,000 annual salary. The contract offered benefits, including more than six weeks (33 days) of vacation, sick time and personal leave.
Swift fills the position vacated by the departure of Anthony Lewis. Lewis announced in June that he had been selected to lead the school district of Durham, North Carolina.
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Note: A sentence about Swift’s interim contract has been corrected in this post.
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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