May 18, 2005
LANSING - The State Board of Education voted Wednesday night to offer Michael P. Flanagan the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, following a day-long Special Meeting where it interviewed three finalists from a field of 29 applicants.
Flanagan, of Lansing, currently is the Executive Director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators and the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators. He previously served as Superintendent of Farmington/Farmington Hills School District, and Superintendent at Wayne Regional Education Services Agency, which serves more than three dozen school districts in Wayne County.
The other candidates who interviewed were Dr. Nicholas Fischer, currently the Assistant Superintendent of the Fairfax (Va.) County Public Schools; and Dr. Thomas Jandris of Cassopolis, currently the Executive Director of a Chicago-based education technology and development management company.
After an hour-long discussion of the candidates following the interviews, a majority five State Board members voted in favor of offering the job to Flanagan. One Board member voted no and two members abstained.
“We were impressed with all three candidates,” said State Board President Kathleen N. Straus. “They all were very articulate, very sensitive, and very committed to children. But Mike Flanagan knows Michigan. He knows Michigan’s educational issues, its strengths and weaknesses, and he is familiar with the high quality staff at the Department of Education.”
The Board authorized Straus and Board Secretary Carolyn Curtin to begin negotiations of an agreement with Flanagan.
In nominating Flanagan for the position, Board member Eileen Weiser noted his broad vision of quality education for all children in Michigan; knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses in Michigan education; his credibility in the education field; his proven personal and professional commitment to improving Michigan schools; and his ability to implement practical solutions quickly.
Weiser was joined by Straus, John Austin, Curtin, and Reginald Turner in voting for Flanagan. Marianne Yared McGuire voted no, and Board members Elizabeth Bauer and Nancy Danhof abstained.
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