We have a simple request of Fresno Unified trustees as they go about the all-important work of selecting the district’s next superintendent.

Check your egos, alliances, and prejudices at the door. Put aside any political ambitions you may have.

Focus on one thing: Which candidate is best equipped to lead an academic revolution that results in tens of thousands more students meeting state standards for literacy and math, and exiting the district prepared to succeed in the workplace or college.

It’s Rarely Been About the Students. That Has to Change

At every trustee board meeting, someone prefaces a vote or a policy decision by saying, “It’s about the kids.”

However, in the state’s third-largest school district, it’s rarely — if ever — about the students. That’s not hyperbole. It’s a fact buttressed by many decades of academic decline and Fresno Unified’s status as one of the nation’s worst-performing districts.

As evidence, we offer these dismal statistics: The district is 49.1 points below the state standard in English testing and 78.1 points below the standard in math testing following small gains in 2024. The numbers for students of color are even worse.

Truth be told, this betrayal of our community’s children has never bothered many in the district’s business-as-usual bureaucracy. Following Bob Nelson’s retirement announcement, a majority of trustees wanted to keep the search for the next superintendent in-house — the very definition of insanity.

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Community Demands Better From District

Fortunately, then Board President Susan Wittrup publicly assailed that plan, insisted on a national search, and community members backed her.

The school board then flipped the script. Trustees Claudia Cazares, Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, Keisha Thomas, and Valerie Davis voted with Wittrup to pause the search and start over in hope of attracting highly qualified candidates from across the nation.

Other small victories have ensued. Working closely with interim Superintendent Misty Her, the board adopted a learning plan with ambitious, fast-track goals for student learning.

In addition, the board implemented a policy that states there will be no hiring, promoting, or lateral movement of staff whose performance “does not meet standards.” That was significant in a district where underperforming principals and other administrators often got promoted.

The question is, are all trustees fully committed to this plan as they’re about to hire the next superintendent? Or is it window-dressing to mask a return to the old ways  resulting every year in thousands of students who can’t read or do basic math?

Grading the Candidates

Every trustee has crafted questions for the superintendent finalists, of course. Here are our suggestions for evaluating their answers:

Which candidate is best equipped to make the difficult decisions needed to help students?

Who will infuse the district with new energy and leverage its massive size to accelerate student achievement?

Who has a history of sending more assets into classrooms while meeting the demands of a union workforce?

Who has the savvy to forge partnerships with elected officials and community groups who believe Fresno’s business success hinges on an educated, skilled workforce?

Who has the backbone to hold all accountable for their performance — without favor to special interests or allies?

Who has the communication skills to sell more families on the importance of education and becoming involved in their child’s learning?

Who has the knowledge and experience to finally fix the Special Ed program?

Who has sat in a superintendent’s chair before and produced winning results?

This is Fresno Unified’s last chance to right the ship.

If the next superintendent fails, the community will have no choice but to demand that FUSD be split into smaller districts more attuned to student needs.

— Bill McEwen