MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — The Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System has a new leader.
At Monday night's meeting, the academy board hired an interim superintendent who'll with the district through the end of their managing firm's contract in June.
Last week, the Michigan Department of Education announced that managing firm New Paradigm for Education will remain with the district through the end of the school year, so teachers can get paid and there's minimal disruption to students.
"Nobody will work harder than me," Rodriguez Broadnax, Interim Superintendent, says.
Broadnax introduced himself to the community at the meeting.
"The situation here that I've seen here in Muskegon (Heights) reminds me of my time in Mississippi where I was called by governor and state board of education to turn around one of the lowest performing school districts in the country, not just in Mississippi," he says.
Broadnax has worked in struggling school districts in Indiana, Nevada, South Dakota and Mississippi.
He says through listening and learning about these districts, he's turned communities around through building relationships.
The board voted unanimously to bring him on through the end of June, which is when their contract with New Paradigm is up. From now until then, they'll all work together to transition the district to new leadership next school year.
"The reason that we're here where we are right now is because we don’t want everything to go out the door. We want to make sure things are in order, and we proceed in an orderly fashion," Dr. Rose Hunt, academy board president, says.
Earlier this month, the board voted to terminate their contract with New Paradigm before the end of this school year. The managing firm had said they were already leaving the district because of unpaid management fees.
At the direction of the state, those fees have been paid and this move to continue working together was met with some opposition from the community during public comment.
"If they know that at the end of the year that they're not going to be here, do you think they really gonna start working? I don't think they're going to work," Pastor Jerry Riley says.
The official agreement on how New Paradigm and the academy board will work together for the rest of the year is still being ironed out. The board also voted Monday night to hire another lawyer to help with that process.
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