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Hartford Superintendent Choice Made, Release Of Name Delayed

Vanessa De La Torre

February 16, 2011

The board of education confirmed Tuesday night that it plans to hire a school system employee to succeed Superintendent Steven Adamowski, but delayed identifying that person in order to complete "due diligence."

The next superintendent will be named at a special meeting to be "scheduled in the next seven to 10 days," board Chairman David MacDonald said.

Reading from a short, prepared statement three hours after the start of Tuesday's meeting, MacDonald said the 13-member search committee interviewed internal candidates last week and made its hiring recommendation to the board.

But to some grumbling in the audience, MacDonald, who was appointed chairman earlier in the meeting, said the board still needs to take "numerous steps" before announcing Adamowski's successor, a process that includes "communication with key stakeholders with whom the superintendent will interact with frequently."

Sources have said that the panel, which includes eight board members, has focused on Assistant Superintendent Christina Kishimoto as its recommended successor. Only one other internal candidate, Timothy Sullivan Jr., principal of the Greater Hartford Classical Magnet School, was being considered along with Kishimoto last week, and Sullivan said he was not given a second interview.

Adamowski plans to resign this summer.

Kishimoto, 41, declined to comment on whether the board has offered her the job, citing the ongoing confidentiality of the search process. Kishimoto underwent a second interview with the committee late last week, according to sources.

A policymaker with no classroom teaching experience, Kishimoto developed Hartford's school choice program and has overseen the redesign of low-performing schools into career-oriented academies that have been a feature of Adamowski's reform plans.

Residents at Tuesday's meeting appeared divided over Kishimoto during public comments. While at least one educator touted Kishimoto's credentials at length, a few others in the audience could be heard guffawing.

Sullivan, a city resident, quietly attended the meeting.