Some attendees impressed, others hesitant after superintendent community forum

UPDATE: Dr. Jennifer Cheatham has been offered the position of Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent.

After an hour spent answering audience questions Thursday, Feb. 7, the sole candidate for superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District gained some of her audience’s confidence but left other audience members with a desire for more details.

Moderator Andy Choi

Teachers, parents, students, administrators, and school board members arrived at Monona Terrace to hear Jennifer Cheatham, an administrator for the Chicago Public Schools, explain how she would handle some of the most pressing issues facing Madison’s K-12 education system.

The Madison School Board met immediately after the forum, but has yet to select Cheatham for the position or reopen the search for other candidates.

Moderator Andy Choi of Channel 3000 read audience questions submitted before the candidate took the stage.

As her audience filed out afterward, many expressed confidence in her knowledge of public education.

“It seems like she’s put in probably some long hours studying what we’re about and the challenges that we face and some of the policies and initiatives that we have under way. I definitely give her credit for that,” said Samuel Tai, a bilingual resource teacher at Sandburg Elementary School.

For Tai, one of the most important issues is meeting the need of Madison’s diverse student body. He also said supporting the district’s teachers, staff, and administrators through training and accurate assessments of student growth and teacher performance are important to him.

Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, said he got a good sense of her leadership abilities and knowledge of education. He added Cheatham came across as poised and confident as she addressed her audience. And although she did not touch on budget issues, which he described as an “elephant in the room,” he said he was impressed with her discussion of the achievement gap and emphasis on collaboration between the community, schools, parents, and students.

Other audience members also left with some lingering questions.

Alison Craig, whose children are in fourth and second grades, said she would like to know more about Cheatham’s plans for the future if she becomes superintendent.

“I thought that she was very professional and knowledgeable,” Craig said. “I think the difficulties are that the devil’s in the detail, and there’s a lot that’s still left unsaid that I would like to hear more about.”

Some of Craig’s questions surround Cheatham’s statement that she would include some assessment of student progress in teacher evaluations.

“I do think that there should be some part of the teacher evaluation system that should be based on student growth,” Cheatham said. “I know from having so many relationships with teachers that that’s what we’re all after. We want our students to get positive results. We want them to learn. I think the hard part is how do you measure [student growth], and we haven’t quite figured that out yet.”

Figuring this kind of data into evaluations could be problematic, Craig said.

Still, she felt that Cheatham understands the importance of the student-teacher relationships, though this is another area where Craig would like more specifics.

“I would like to hear more about how you support teachers and how you encourage talent to stay in the district,” she said.

And although questions lingered after the meeting officially ended, for some like Ald. Clear, it’s acceptable to not have all the answers right now.

“I thought she struck a good balance between not having all the answers but not coming in as a blank slate and just saying, ‘Tell me what you want,’” he said.