Buffalo's Superintendent James Williams is a finalist for top schools job in Memphis
By Mark Sommer
Updated: 05/07/08 3:37 PM
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- Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent James Williams reportedly is among the finalists for the top schools job in Memphis.
Embattled Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams is one of five finalists for the superintendent's position in Memphis, Tenn.
The five educator finalists from East Coast school districts were unveiled at a meeting of the Memphis Board of Education on Tuesday, and reported today in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.
The board was said to be planning to make a decision as early as May 19.
The base salary for the Memphis superintendent's position is about $260,000, or $55,000 more than what Williams currently earns.
Williams was named Buffalo school superintendent on May 11, 2005, and is under contract through July 2011.
The Buffalo School District has been mired in controversies this year at McKinley High School, School 67 and City Honors School.
A special investigator hired by the Buffalo Board of Education has launched an investigation into a seven-week suspension of a high-school girl and the dismissal of a volunteer basketball coach.
Last month, a chancellor of the State Board of Regents said he was considering possible state intervention, including the dismissal of all Board of Education members.
Williams previously served as superintendent in Dayton, Ohio, from 1991 to 1999, before he was fired by the school board there during a fiscal crisis.
He then served as a deputy superintendent in the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, before working for a firm that manages alternative schools for teenagers.
