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CHICAGO — Three finalists — including interim CEO Macquline King — are vying to serve as the next chief executive of Chicago Public Schools, the school board announced Friday.
In addition to King, the finalists are Sito Narcisse, former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish School System in Louisiana, and Meisha Porter, former chancellor of New York City schools.
Each of the candidates will interview with Mayor Brandon Johnson and participate in a “candidate community engagement” panel, according to a press release from the board office. After that, the board will hold a special meeting to discuss the finalists and vote.
The release did not clarify whether board members will do additional interviews with the candidates or when the candidates will meet with the mayor and the 15-member community panel.
The school board set out last spring to find a new top leader after a previous board appointed by Johnson fired then CEO Pedro Martinez without cause following a clash over district finances. The search has been bumpy at times: As it neared a planned December completion, one contender, Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero, pulled out after his and Porter’s names were leaked to the press. The district search firm, Alma Consulting Group, parted ways with CPS last month, and a group of school board members released a statement charging Johnson with meddling in the process.
King’s inclusion on the list of candidates is a surprise: The board declined to advance King to a previous pool of finalists last fall.
King, a former principal and City Hall education policy advisor under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Johnson, has led the district since last June, including through a budget fight that put her at odds with the mayor’s office. The principals union has praised her leadership so far.
Some organizations, including the West Side branch of the NAACP, and a group of elected board members who originally voted against hiring her last year, have called for her to remain in her post until a fully elected school board can pick the next Chicago schools chief when it takes office in January 2027.
King began her CPS teaching career in 1994 and eventually became a principal at two schools, most recently at Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown, which involved a difficult merger with another school.
King’s personnel records drew some scrutiny before she was hired as the interim CEO. The records, which did not include any formal discipline, had two memos from district officials about how she should improve her performance. At the time she told Chalkbeat the criticism was fair but that those directives — centered on findings that she had not immediately reported allegations of abuse and failed to conduct a background check for a volunteer — were the result of understaffing at her school. King couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Porter, who was raised in Queens and attended New York City public schools, became the first Black woman to oversee the nation’s largest school system for 10 months in 2021 after her predecessor abruptly resigned. She spent more than two decades rising through the ranks as a teacher, principal, and a high-level administrator who eventually oversaw all schools in the Bronx. She is well-respected in New York City education circles, including by teachers, parents, and administrators.
She served as schools chancellor during the pandemic and as the district was beginning to reopen schools. During her short tenure, she oversaw policy pushes under former Mayor Bill de Blasio to eliminate separate gifted and talented classes and a $200 million universal curriculum for schools. Both initiatives were scrapped by de Blasio’s successor, Mayor Eric Adams. Porter was replaced as de Blasio left office.
After leaving the district, Porter became the president and CEO of the Bronx Community Foundation. The foundation, which was set up to help finance other local nonprofits, failed to distribute most of the money it raised from 2019 to 2023 and spent more on consultants and overhead than charitable giving, according to an investigation by the news organization New York Focus. In 2024, the organization’s board of directors fired Porter.
She most recently was a visiting senior fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation, an organization that works with school leaders and families, according to her LinkedIn. Porter couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Friday.
Narcisse led the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana’s second largest, for three years, until January 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile. The school board voted not to renew his contract at that point, according to local news coverage, though he expressed interest in getting his job back later that year. He has since worked as managing partner of SJ Apple Consulting Group, which consults with school districts on a variety of issues.
He previously served in top school district administrative posts in Washington, D.C., and Nashville. Narcisse couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Friday.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
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