A deeply divided Detroit board of education voted 6 to 4 last week to ask John W. Porter, a former state superintendent of education in Michigan, to become the district’s superintendent.
Mr. Porter, who is currently serving on the staff of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, has not decided whether he will accept the post, a spokesman for the Detroit board said.
Mr. Porter has long been the first choice of a slate of reform candidates who were elected to the board last November, but his selection had been held up by opposition from some of the remaining board members.
Arthur Jefferson, the district’s current superintendent, announced last fall that he would step down this June if a replacement were found. The board was forced to act on the issue after a state official threatened to withhold approval of a desperately needed loan unless a new superintendent was named by May 1.
James R. Oglesby was installed last week as president of the National School Boards Association at the group’s annual convention in Anaheim, Calif.
Mr. Ogelsby is a member of the Columbia, Mo., school board. He previously has served as president-elect, vice president, and secretary-treasurer of the nsba
Also at the convention, the group’s delegate assembly voted 89 to 61 in favor of a resolution supporting intradistrict choice plans allowing parents to select which local school their child will attend.
One opponent of the resolution was Thomas Adams, head of the school-boards group in Minnesota, which will launch an interdistrict choice plan next fall. Mr. Adams said most districts across the country already allow for an internal choice option.
