This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Attending tonight’s public engagement forum to hear from superintendent candidate Bill Hite?
Here are links to previous reporting done on five important areas.
1. Education & experience
- Current superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools
- 2005 graduate of Broad Superintendents Academy
- Former middle school and high school principal in Henrico County, Virginia
2. Budgeting background
- Collaborated with heads of other Maryland school districts to pressure Maryland state governor to increase state funding to education.
- Faced a projected budget gap of over $85 million for fiscal year 2012 in Prince George’s County, and proposed the elimination of over 1,000 positions to help close it.
- Piloted student-based budgeting in eight schools in Prince George’s County.
3. Work with district reorganization
- Oversaw a plan to decentralize the Prince George’s County school district into regional school zones.
4. Work to improve school performance
- Has supported the increase of charter schools in Prince George’s County.
- Re-organized high-schools around career themes.
- Extended the school day for middle-school students.
5. Efforts to support principals and teachers
- Prince George’s County received a $12.5 million grant from the Wallace Foundation to “improve the principal pipeline.”
- Oversaw the implementation of the district’s first pay-for-performance program.
Also check out our blogger Timothy Boyle’s crowd-sourced list of questions to ask tonight.