The names of five finalists for the position of superintendent of the Evanston/Skokie District 65 public schools were announced Monday night at the end of the school board meeting by Board President Tracy Quattrocki.
The five, who were whittled down from nearly 60 candidates, are Julie Glazer, Nathan McCann, Paul Goren, Quintin Shepherd, and Marty Smith.
Julie Glazer is assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction, and assessment for Summit, N.J., public schools.
Nathan McCann is superintendent of the Altar Valley Elementary School District in suburban Tucson, AZ.
Paul Goren is senior vice president for programs at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning in Chicago, a former senior adviser on strategy and accountability to the Chicago Public School system, and a former executive director and deputy superintendent for policy and strategic services of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Quintin Shepherd is superintendent of the District 69 school system in Skokie.
Marty Smith is assistant superintendent of Cluster One Fairfax County Public Schools in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.
The district has scheduled public forums next week with each of the five finalists on successive days, beginning Monday, March 17. Each candidate will meet at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Literary and Fine Arts School with the faculty and staff from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. and in a public forum at the same location from 6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
The forums will feature Glazer on Monday, McCann on Tuesday, Goren on Wednesday, Shepherd on Thursday, and Smith on Friday.
Quattrocki said the board is eager to receive comments from the public about the various candidates before they make their final selection, scheduled for April.
The top administrative position in the district became available last August upon the sudden resignation of Hardy Murphy, which triggered a nationwide search for his successor.