MPS Announces Top 5 Finalists Vying to Become the Next Superintendent

Montgomery Public Schools has announced the top 5 finalists that are vying to become the next superintendent.

Of the five candidates, only one is from the state of Alabama.

Dr. James Wright with the Alabama Association of School Boards made the announcement at a special called meeting Tuesday evening.

Below are the finalists for the position:

• Dr. Melvin Brown, who’s the superintendent at Reynoldsburg City Schools in Ohio.
• Dr. Anthony Lewis, the superintendent at Lawrence Public Schools in Kansas. He worked in Montgomery Public Schools for nine years — first as a special education and science teacher, then as a principal. Lewis got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Alabama State University.
• Dr. Marla Sheppard, who’s the Deputy Chief of Academics at KIPP Texas Public Schools, which is a network of charter schools.
• Dr. Donald Warren, the deputy superintendent at Griffin Spalding County Schools in Georgia.
• Dr. Avis Williams who’s been superintendent at Selma City Schools since 2017 and has also worked in the Tuscaloosa, Huntsville and Madison school systems in Alabama. Williams has degrees from Athens State, Jacksonville State, Alabama A&M and the University of Alabama.

MPS says the next step is to hold the interviews for each finalist. Those interviews will be on March 28, March 29, March 31, April 4 and April 5. The interviews are at 6PM each day at Carver High School. They are open to the public.

The new superintendent will replace Dr. Ann Roy Moore, who is retiring at the end of the school year after holding the position since 2018.