The details
Trustees voted 5-2 in favor of naming Brown as the finalist for the position at the board’s Dec. 17 special-called meeting. Trustees Robert Sitton and Martina Lemond Dixon cast the dissenting votes.
The move is coming less than a month after trustees voted to terminate former Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen’s contract and roughly two weeks after district officials posted the position for superintendent of schools on Dec. 2.
Career history
Brown, who has worked for HISD since 2014, had served as acting superintendent since Fagen was placed on administrative leave in May. He was named interim superintendent at the board’s Nov. 26 meeting after trustees voted to terminate Fagen’s contract.
Brown was initially hired to serve as the district’s associate superintendent of support services before being named deputy superintendent in 2017. Before joining HISD, Brown spent 30 years as an educator and administrator at school districts in Oklahoma.
While Fagen’s initial appeal of the board’s decision to terminate her contract was unsuccessful, she is now appealing the matter directly to Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath.
What they’re saying
While Sitton praised Brown’s character and the leadership he displayed as acting superintendent, he questioned both the timing and length of the search process that resulted in only eight applicants.
“If you put out a 10-day window [for a job listing] right before Christmas, you’re not going to get quality applications, let alone a lot of applications,” Sitton said. “Take the time [to] do a search, include the community, and find the right person. And again, it may be [Brown].”
Lemond Dixon echoed Sitton’s sentiment, noting she believed Brown was potentially the right person for the job. However, she also felt the search process could have been more thorough.
“I learned tonight that we had eight applicants for this role,” Lemond Dixon said. “It lacks professionalism, in my opinion, to have a process that is lacking in this way.”
Trustee Robert Scarfo said he believed Brown’s tenure as acting superintendent essentially served as an extended, on-the-job interview.
“He’s had an eight-month interview, and I’m pleased with the results,” Scarfo said. “He is someone who is engaged, committed and invested in moving us in the right direction.”
Trustee Mike Grabowski agreed.
“If we do a search, what will that convince me of?” Grabowski said. “There’s not a person in the world that’s going to impress Mike Grabowski more than Dr. Brown’s eight months of experience.”
What’s next
HISD Chief Communications Officer Jamie Mount said the board will now need to wait at least 21 days before trustees can vote to formally appoint Brown as the district’s new superintendent.
