Lori Higgins

Detroit Free Press

In its first major decision, the Detroit Public Schools Community District school board voted tonight to enter into contract negotiations with Nikolai Vitti as the district's first permanent superintendent.

Vitti, 40, is superintendent of the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Fla. He is a native of Dearborn Heights and a graduate of Divine Child High School.

He was chosen over Derrick R. Coleman, superintendent of the River Rouge School District.

"We had qualities that were unique to both candidates," said board president Iris Taylor. Both demonstrated an ability to turn around struggling schools, she said.

"That's a gut-wrenching element that I think is required," Taylor said in an interview with the Free Press after the vote.

But ultimately, Vitti was the choice among board members, who initially voted 6-1 to enter into negotiations with Vitti. LaMar Lemmons was the sole "no" vote, but changed his vote in order to present a united front as a board.

The board, whose members took office in January, also approved a motion to work with Vitti so he can start as soon as possible in a consultant role, and to create a transition team that would include Alycia Meriweather, the current interim superintendent.

The district's advertisement for the job posted a salary of $250,000, but added that the final salary "for the successful candidate will be commensurate with experience, qualifications and meeting School Board criteria." Vitti is paid $270,000 as a base salary in Florida, according to his application for the job.

Vitti could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

There were jeers from some in the audience during and after the board voted. Community activist Helen Moore yelled out to the board, "You know we're black?" Vitti is the son of Italian immigrants. About 82% of the district's nearly 46,000 students are African American.

And, a legal challenge was threatened by Robert Davis, an activist who frequently challenges public bodies.

Davis earlier this year filed a lawsuit against the board alleging it has violated state open meetings rules during the search process. He said he expects the entire process to be deemed invalid. He said an attorney for the district told the judge assigned to his lawsuit that the board didn't intend to make a hiring decision for a while.

He said he would file a legal challenge Wednesday asking the judge to halt the board "from proceeding forward with negotiating this contract."

Taylor said she couldn't comment on what Davis said because of the existing legal action. But she said it's the board's understanding that it has done everything according to the rules.

Many in the community, including some teachers and parents, have criticized the board for moving quickly in selecting a superintendent, and for not considering Meriweather as a finalists for the job.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers issued a statement Tuesday night following the vote.

"Last month, we respectfully requested that the board grant Interim Superintendent Alycia Meriweather a formal interview," the statement reads. "That didn't happen, unfortunately. We believe that Meriweather, the first DPSCD superintendent with Detroit classroom experience since Dr. Eddie Green nearly 20 years ago, has provided much-needed stability after an often-volatile period in recent school district history. It is our hope that Meriweather remain an important member of the new superintendent’s executive team. Dr. Vitti should work side by side with Meriweather as Assistant Superintendent.

"With that said, we look forward to working with Dr. Vitti."

Coleman, contacted by phone Tuesday night, called the board's decision a "great hire."

He said a Ray and Associates official — the company hired to conduct a nationwide search for candidates — called him this evening with the news that he didn’t get the job.

“It’s almost a sense of relief. It would have been extremely difficult to leave my current position. I used the process as an opportunity to asses whether or not I wanted to leave. It’s a great outcome because I’m happy at work,” Coleman told the Free Press.

“I wish the best for the children of Detroit. If that was the board’s decision, I just pray it all works out. I have no animosity, no remorse. I absolutely love my current job, and I stressed that throughout the entire the process.

“I wish the district and its employees well. I hope the children benefit from this great hire.”

The board was created last year and its members elected in November after lawmakers in June approved $617-million legislation that resolved the debt of Detroit Public Schools. The old district remains to collect taxes and pay off debt.

Read more:

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Detroit board moves closer to superintendent decision

The board, meeting at Douglass Academy for Young Men, spent more than an hour discussing the two candidates — first Vitti and then Coleman. They talked about their strengths, the interviews of the two men and their visits to the school districts of the finalists.

They had mostly positive things to say about the two, but spent more time talking about Vitti than they did Coleman.

Sonya Mays, for instance, said she was struck by Vitti's claim that he had turned around schools in multiple districts without ever having to close a school.

"I would love to know if we were able to vet that claim," Mays said.

Board members Deborah Hunter-Harvill and LaMar Lemmons, part of the three-member team that visited the districts of the two candidates, said it was indeed true.

Angelique Peterson-Mayberry said Coleman was able to speak more closely to some of questions asked during his interview simply because his lineage with DPS. Coleman had worked in the district as an assistant superintendent.

Board members said they were impressed with Coleman's ability to turn the River Rouge district around financially, how he has been able to market the district and the fact that he is well liked by students and staff.

Lemmons said he was impressed that Vitti had overcome dyslexia and earned a doctorate degree from Harvard University.

Lemmons, Hunter-Harvill and Peterson-Mayberry visited the districts of both men. They noted that Duval County is much like Detroit, and noted they were impressed with a school Vitti created mostly for students with dyslexia, and a school for overage children that provides them a second chance at an education.

"I believe both candidates are highly qualified," Lemmons said. "They both could lead our district."

Delores Alexander, an instructional specialist at A.L. Holmes Academy of Blended Learning, told the board she was disappointed to hear them raving about things they saw in Duval County and River Rouge - such as eighth-graders taking algebra - because, she said, that's already happening in the Detroit district.

"That's our math curriculum at that grade level," she told board members.

"You need to get to know your district," Alexander said. "There are some phenomenal things going on in our schools."

One thing Vitti will have to overcome is the perception that he is too closely aligned with the Broad Leadership Academy, a professional development program for school leaders funded by Eli Broad, a wealthy philanthropist and charter school advocate from Michigan. Some in the community look negatively on the academy because a former emergency manager for the Detroit district and the former chancellor for the Education Achievement Authority were also part of the Broad academy. Broad also helped fund the EAA, a state reform district for some of the worst-performing schools in Detroit that is disbanding June 30.

During his interview, Vitti said he got involved with the Broad Academy for professional development — to learn from what other school leaders are doing.

"I don't agree with everything that the Broad Foundation supports and has done," Vitti said. "If you know anything about me, I am fiercely independent. I'm an independent thinker. No one tells me what to do."

Lemmons said tonight he liked the response, particularly when Vitti said he would take from Broad what is useful and discard what isn't. Lemmons said his wife, Georgia Lemmons — who is also a board member — told him he would have said the same thing.

"He answered it correctly," LaMar Lemmons said.

Meriweather has been the interim superintendent for more than a year. She applied for the job, but didn't make the cut of candidates from which the board chose finalists.

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651 or lhiggins@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @LoriAHiggins. Ann Zaniewski contributed to this report.

Nikolai Vitti

Hometown: Dearborn Heights

Age: 40

Currently: Superintendent Duval County Schools, Jacksonville, Fla.

Enrollment: 130,000 students

Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees from Wake Forest University; a master's degree and a doctorate from the Harvard (University) Graduate School of Education.

Previous experience: Chief academic officer of Miami-Dade County Public Schools; an assistant superintendent for the Miami-Dade district, and a deputy chancellor at the Florida Department of Education.