Ollie S. Tyler has been hired by the Orleans Parish, La., school board to be the New Orleans school district’s interim superintendent. Ms. Tyler, 57, began her new role last month. She succeeds Superintendent Alphonse G. Davis, who resigned from the 74,000-student district in June after three years at the helm. Ms. Tyler previously served as the district’s chief academic officer and deputy superintendent.
The school board has named a 27-member committee to conduct a search for a new superintendent. Ms. Tyler will remain the district chief at an annual salary of $135,000 until that search is completed.
The Compact for Learning and Citizenship, a Denver-based group affiliated with the Education Commission of the States, has elected Randall H. Collins as its new chairman.
Mr. Collins will continue to serve as the superintendent of the 3,000-student Waterford, Conn., school district during his two-year term. He succeeds California state Superintendent Delaine Eastin.
The compact is a 150-member group of state school chiefs and district superintendents that works to raise student achievement through service learning.
Eileen Roper Ast was recently appointed the executive director of the American Montessori Society. Ms. Ast formerly served as the president of the New York Women in Communications Foundation, which helps women who want to advance their careers in the communications industry. She succeeds Michael Eanes, who has stepped down to pursue other opportunities in education.
The AMS, founded in 1960, is a nonprofit group based in New York City that promotes the use of Montessori teaching methods in public and private schools. It has about 12,000 members, including teachers, administrators, and parents.
—Marianne D. Hurst
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