Here Are The 6 Candidates For Dearborn Public Schools Superintendent

DEARBORN, MI — Dearborn school officials have narrowed their search for the district's next superintendent to six candidates.

Two are internal candidates, two from the Detroit region and two from out of state. They are:

• Thomas Ahart, former Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, Iowa
• Mike Esseily, Executive Director of Special Populations, Dearborn Public Schools
• Fatme Faraj, Executive Director of Student Achievement, Dearborn Public Schools
• Ali Hamka, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
• Moussa Hamka, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Grosse Pointe Public Schools
• Tracy Reed, Superintendent, Reynoldsburg City Schools, Ohio

Board members praised the quality of the candidates who applied for the job. Board President Jamal Aljahmi also assured the public that the board has not made any decisions yet about the appointment.

"Our goal is to pick the best candidate possible, and it will be a fair process," Aljahmi said.

Trustees will interview the candidates next Tuesday through Thursday at 6 p.m. each night. They are planning to do two interviews each night with up to 90 minutes for each candidate.

The public will have a chance to offer input on the candidates. Those attending the interviews or watching them live on YouTube will be able to use a QR code to pull up a short survey. The questions will ask what the viewer likes about the candidate, what concerns they have and what questions they would like to ask the applicant if they are selected as a finalist.

Trustees will review those responses before selecting finalists during a special meeting on Saturday, April 18.

The finalists will then visit the district on April 22 and 23, with final interviews starting at 6 p.m. on April 23.

During the visits to the district, finalists will visit some schools and meet with stakeholder groups. They will also participate in public meet and greets.

Trustees are still targeting May 4 to make their final selection.

All the board meetings are open to the public and will be shown live on the district’s YouTube channel. The initial interviews on April 14 to 16 will be removed after the interviews, so they are not available for candidates interviewing later to watch. Those meetings will be reposted once the three evenings of interviews are concluded.