KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Lee's Summit Board of Education announced Tuesday that they have narrowed their search for a new superintendent down to four potential people.
The list includes Dr. David Buck who is the superintendent of the Wright City School District, Dr. Emily Miller who is the interim superintendent at Lee's Summit, Dr. Scott Spurgeon who is superintendent of the Riverview Gardens School District and Dr. Jami Jo Thompson who is the superintendent of the Norfolk School District in Nebraska.
Dr. Miller was named the interim superintendent for the school district in August.
The position was vacated by Dennis Carpenter in July. He had been superintendent since January 2017.
The move came after a lengthy and public battle over Carpenter’s attempt to bring diversity and equity training to teachers and staff.
Carpenter, the first black superintendent of the majority white school district, proposed the training after the school district identified an academic achievement gap. The Lee’s Summit School Board initially rejected the plan, prompting Carpenter to suggest the board not renew his contract and instead find someone “they can trust.”
The board later reversed its decision and approved the training in a 6-1 vote in June, after the board and Carpenter engaged in mediation efforts to find a resolution.
Carpenter reportedly received racist threats over the diversity training proposal, and Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte said his department assigned a security detail to the superintendent, though the threats were determined to be unfounded.
The school district did not say when the next superintendent will be selected.
