The Chicago school board has narrowed its monthslong search for a new superintendent to three finalists, including the current interim CEO Macquline King.
The other two candidates are Meisha Porter, a former New York City schools chief, and Sito Narcisse, the former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools in Louisiana.
Finalists will interview with Mayor Brandon Johnson and a community panel, and later, the school board will vote to pick a new candidate at a special meeting, the board office announced in a press release Friday. The press release did not specify a timeline for interviews or the vote.
The top post in Chicago Public Schools has been vacant since June, following the December 2024 firing without cause of former CEO Pedro Martinez amid a clash over district funding.
The search for his successor has been swept up in controversy. Last month, seven board members accused Johnson and his allies of “running political interference,” after the district and its executive search firm abruptly parted ways.
Earlier, in November, the search had been narrowed down to two out-of-state finalists. But after the candidates’ names were leaked to the Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ and Chalkbeat, the process effectively stalled, and the board began conducting new interviews.
That finalist list included Porter, but notably excluded current interim CEO King — who, at the time, applied but was not selected, board members told the Tribune.
In recent months, however, there have been growing calls for King to remain in her role. The West Side NAACP, along with several elected board members, have argued she should continue leading the district until a fully elected school board takes office in January 2027.
King joined CPS in June from the mayor’s office, where she served as senior director of education policy. This summer, she bucked pressure from Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union to take out a controversial short-term, high-cost loan when the district passed its budget. That decision divided the 21-member school board, which is half mayoral-appointed and half elected.
King previously served as a CPS principal, most recently at Mary E. Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown. Her appointment as interim CEO drew some scrutiny when allegations of negligence surfaced in her employment records, though she was never formally disciplined. Many groups, including the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, have since applauded her leadership. King did not respond to a request for comment.
Initially, the school board did not plan to release the finalists’ names, citing concerns that doing so could jeopardize their current positions. Board members have signed non-disclosure agreements related to the search, but have faced criticism for a perceived lack of transparency.
Narcisse, a son of Haitian immigrants, served as superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools, Louisiana’s second-largest school district, from 2021 to 2024. The school board declined to renew his contract in a narrow vote, following a severe bus driver shortage, according to local media. Board members were also split on a proposal to raise his salary.
Narcisse previously was the chief of secondary schools at the District of Columbia Public Schools. He started his career as a teacher and principal, and currently works at an education consulting group, according to his LinkedIn profile. Narcisse could not be reached for comment.
Porter served as the New York City Public Schools chancellor in 2021, overseeing roughly 1 million students and 1,800 schools in the nation’s largest school district. Over her 10-month tenure, she led the transition back to in-person learning after the pandemic.
The Bronx native was appointed by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, becoming the first Black woman to hold the post, according to her bio on the New York State School Boards Association website. Before her appointment, she spent more than two decades with the city’s Department of Education, rising through the ranks — first as a teacher and principal, and later the Bronx executive superintendent.
She is currently a visiting senior fellow at the Center for Education Innovation, a New York-based nonprofit focused on education reform. Porter could not be reached for comment.
She was recently named a finalist for the position of New York City Public Schools chancellor under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, but did not receive the position.
