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Two remain in search for superintendent

By Clare Jensen

After months of planning, collecting public input and interviewing, Tacoma School Board has narrowed down the next superintendent to two candidates.

Dr. Art Jarvis, current interim superintendent for Tacoma Public Schools and long-time Washington resident, and Alan Ingram, chief accountability officer for Oklahoma City Public Schools and former Air Force chief master sergeant, are the final two to make the cut.

The two were chosen for further consideration after hours of public and private interviews throughout the last month.

The board made its decision April 11 after two full days of interviews for the final four candidates, which included Anna Diaz, associate superintendent for Orange County, Fla., and Alan Nishino, superintendent for Morgan Hill, Calif., in addition to Ingram and Jarvis.

School board member Jim Dugan said the largest part of the decision was weighed on public input. After the interviews, he said he believed any one candidate was qualified to do the job. It was just a matter of “how well these people fit with the people we serve.”

Members of the public were able to submit comments and concerns about each of the candidates they saw interviewed. This resulted in hundreds of pages of community input that the board said they read over before they made their decision.

Many of the statements submitted to the board mirrored their decision. Several actually listed Jarvis and Ingram as their first and second choices, and confidence in general seemed to lie with those two.

“Jarvis and Ingram were most impressive. Diaz and Nishino were unimpressive,” said Lincoln High School Principal Pat Erwin in his response.

While others may not have been so cut-and-dry, many impressions were in the same fashion.

Those who sided with Jarvis did so because they felt his experience in the area, specifically the last year in Tacoma, would be beneficial to the district.

They saw him as a source for stability, a “quiet leader,” a healer, experienced in his career and already familiar with the community.

“There would be no surprises,” one person stated.

Jarvis came into the interim role after the tumultuous year with former Superintendent Charles Milligan. Milligan was chosen because he interviewed well, but once on the job, staff and public were snubbed by his intimidating personality.

“I think we’ve gone a long way since last summer,” Jarvis said during a public interview April 10. He said he has developed a passion for Tacoma while in his interim role. “After 43 years in the business I could certainly quit,” he said, but he believes his work is not yet finished. Jarvis started as a high school teacher in the Waitsburg School District in 1965. Since then he has climbed the educational ladder, most recently serving as chief financial officer for Seattle Public Schools and superintendent for Enumclaw School District before stepping into his interim role.

Ingram comes from a less traditional background than Jarvis. He spent 22 years in the Air Force, retiring as chief master sergeant before starting in education administration.

He has the experience of presiding over a large, diverse, low-income district, which he believes prepares him for the challenges of Tacoma.

As chief accountability officer for the 39,000-student Oklahoma City School District, Ingram said he has increased magnet schools, high school graduation and college access.

He has decreased schools in need of improvement from 29 to 14.

“Everywhere I have ever been I have made things better – measurably better,” Ingram said during an interview April 9.

He said change is something he is “not unfamiliar with,” but assured the public he “has no intention of trying to set the vision for the district by myself.”

Public comments on Ingram revealed their support for Ingram’s leadership and vision. “I believe this is the person to help move us forward in the area of student achievement, and to regain the trust of the community,” an anonymous principal wrote.

“He comes with a confidence and a passion for what he does. He brings an intelligence and wisdom that Tacoma could grow from,” said an anonymous member of the public.

The board will do site visits on each of the two remaining candidates before they make their final decision, something the board did not do when they hired Milligan.

The board expects to meet, deliberate and select a final candidate at its regularly scheduled board meeting at 6 p.m. April 24 in the Central Administration Building, 601 S. 8th St.

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