Superintendent candidates meet with the public

Pair vie to replace departed Johnson

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The former head of an Alabama school system and an eastern Pennsylvania superintendent with a corporate background are vying to become the next superintendent of the Woodland Hills School District.

Kelley Castlin-Gacutan, former Birmingham City Schools superintendent, and James P. Harris Jr., head of the Daniel Boone Area School District just outside of Reading, met with community members Monday night at the administration’s central office in Braddock.

As the meeting began, school board president Jamie Glasser described Ms. Castlin-Gacutan and Mr. Harris as finalists for the job.

The school board is looking to replace former superintendent Alan Johnson, who stepped down at the end of last month after seven years as an administrator in the district.

Mr. Johnson resigned after a turbulent stretch for the district, which found itself at the center of several controversies, including altercations involving employees and students.

“It’s been a very difficult 18 months or so in Woodland Hills,” Mr. Johnson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette when he announced he was resigning. “I’ve worked very hard to get our district back on track and moving into the future the way it needs to go. But it’s certainly taken a toll on me.”’

The school board is pursuing reforms following those incidents.

A community panel has presented a wide range of possiblepolicy initiatives for the board to consider, including implicit-bias training, increased minority hiring and possibly getting rid of school resource officers.

The district has also faced a spate of student deaths in recent years. Two students have been killed this summer, including Antwon Rose II, whose shooting death has resulted in weeks of protests and criminal homicide charges against East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael Rosfeld.

During the sessions Monday night, both candidates went over their qualifications and took questions from community members.

Ms. Castlin-Gacutan said that a key to her approach, if hired, would be to venture into the neighb o r h o o d s the district serves to get a sense of the needs and feelings of families.

“People in the community are really hurting, and I can understand that on multiple levels,” she said.

Woodland Hills, which has about 4,000 students, was formed in 1981 by a court-mandated merger of Edgewood, General Braddock, Swissvale, Churchill and Turtle Creek school districts.

In the schools, Ms. Castl i n - G a c u t a n said, she would ask teachers about their needs and recommend policies to the board that would address those concerns.

Mr. Harris, who worked in marketing before switching to education, said he would bring a business-like approach to the district to address its ills.

“It wasn’t broken overnight, and it won’t be fixed overnight,” he said.

No timeline has been publicly announced for hiring a superintendent.

The board last week appointed Bart Rocco as interim superintendent. Mr. Rocco recently retired as superintendent of the Elizabeth Forward School District.