Wayne-Westland board advances three superintendent finalists and sets two-day interview schedule

The Wayne-Westland Community School District board on Thursday voted to advance three candidates — Ma'Shawn (Michonne) Jackson, Dr. Catherine Kost and Dr. Alex Ofili — to a second round of interviews and stakeholder events.

Board President Miss May opened the discussion on the superintendent search and turned the process over to the district’s consultant team from MLI, which explained that board members would individually name whom they wanted to advance and that the consultants would tally support. After members explained their choices and reasons, the board voted to invite Jackson, Kost and Ofili back for additional meetings and interviews.

The board motion to advance those three candidates passed on a roll call vote, with a majority supporting bringing all three back for more in-depth interviews and stakeholder engagement. Earlier in the meeting MLI reported the tally of initial support: five board members named Ma'Shawn Jackson, four named Alex Ofili, and three named Catherine Kost.

MLI proposed compressing second-round activities into two consecutive days. The district will host school tours in the morning, segmented stakeholder question-and-answer sessions (administrators, staff, and parents/community) in the afternoon and a meet-and-greet the following late afternoon. Board members approved a plan to hold the formal interviews in the evening with staggered interview slots and short breaks between each, and staff indicated the interviews will be posted afterwards with a QR code so stakeholders can review recordings and submit feedback.

The board also voted to include students in district tours. By motion, each finalist’s tour will include two students accompanied by a staff member to escort candidates at each building; transportation logistics (district vans/drivers) remain to be finalized.

For the finalists’ 20-minute presentations, the board adopted a focused prompt: finalists should present a plan for how to grow the district with particular emphasis on fully utilizing the district’s career-technical center (CTC). Board members said the CTC could be a near-term enrollment and workforce development strategy while also asking candidates to touch on K–12 continuity (K–5, 6–8, and 9–12) as part of a growth plan.

MLI said it will collect interview questions from each board member (3–5 suggestions per member), pare redundancies, and deliver two questions per board member for the interviews; the consultants asked members to submit questions to the president by the weekend to allow time to prepare interview materials.

Next steps: the district and MLI will finalize logistics (venues and transportation), collect board questions, post a public schedule and QR-enabled recordings of the second-round interviews, and the board will reconvene after spring break to make a final hiring decision.