By Sylvia Maria Gross
Kansas City, MO – A fifth candidate has joined the pool of finalists for Kansas City Missouri superintendent. Community members met and interviewed all five at a public forum at Paseo Academy last night. KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross reports.
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The new candidate Anthony Amato was most recently Superintendent of New Orleans public schools. He's also run the Hartford Public School district in Connecticut and was a district superintentendent in New York City. At Paseo Academy, a couple hundred parents, teachers and other community members gathered in clusters around the 5 candidates. Edith Hainey-Galvin came to make up her own mind on the school district's leadership and applauded the school board's inclusion of the public.
TAPE: HAINEY-GALVIN: This is the best move they have ever made since they have had a board - they should have included the community a long time ago, since we are the taxpayers.
People submitted questions and each candidate was interviewed for a half hour - the audience occasionally applauded for particular comments. The school board's final interviews are also open to the public; they're being held this morning at the Gem Theater at 18 & Vine (May 26, 8am).