The Chicago Board of Education announced three finalists to run the school district Friday.One surprising name on the list: Macquline King, who has been serving as interim leader of Chicago Public Schools since June, after originally being told she was not in the running for the permanent position.S he joins Meisha Porter, the first Black woman to lead New York City’s school system, and Sito Narcisse, the son of Haitian immigrants who led Louisiana’s second-largest school district and oversaw secondary schools in the District of Columbia.Next week, the finalists will meet with Mayor Brandon Johnson and will be interviewed by a 15-member panel that includes students, parents, teachers and community members.It’s unclear what role the mayor will play in picking the school district’s permanent leader, but the school board says on its website that the mayor will be part of the “decision making process” and that they will work “closely together to find a leader that can champion our district into its next chapter.”The Chicago Teachers Union, which is allied with Johnson, believes that until there’s a fully elected board, state law gives the mayor authority to appoint CPS’ leader. CTU Vice President Jackson Potter argued that’s a good thing, given Johnson’s teaching experience.“For so long, we've had these people chosen by the Broad Foundation and billionaires, like the Waltons and the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, people who were more responsible for financial oversight, such as Pedro Martinez, than learning and instruction,” Potter said. “So having someone who understands the education world granularly is really an advantage.”Norma Rios-Sierra, a board member who represents the North Side, said the finalists were leaders who had all worked in large cities, like Chicago.“We wanted someone who understood the city and understood the challenges and could really jump in and do the work,” she said. She said she is looking forward to having someone in place who can create the type of stability CPS needs.The announcement comes after a months-long search process that encountered several hiccups.Originally, school board members did not plan to make the names of the finalists public because the search firm they hired said that would discourage candidates from applying. In November, Porter and another candidate’s name became public, and that candidate dropped out of contention.At that point, the search was re-opened and board members conducted a new round of interviews.King makes a comeback as a candidateThe fact that King was not a finalist in November became a point of contention. The West Side NAACP and some school board members suggested that she be kept on until at least January 2027 — when the board will go from being partially appointed by the mayor to being fully elected by voters.King, a former CPS principal who previously served in the mayor’s office, had irked some board members during last summer's contentious budget discussions. Though the mayor’s appointees put her in the role, she presented a budget that did not include borrowing, which the mayor’s office wanted to shore up any potential shortfalls.This past fall she had the challenging task of figuring out how the school district should address the aggressive immigration enforcement that sent waves of fear through communities. Though some community activists have complained that the school district was slow to respond, CPS eventually stood up a 24-hour command center to help schools.At one board meeting, King became emotional as she talked about having to support families who were directly impacted by immigration enforcement.School board member Jitu Brown, who represents a West Side district, said the last few months have been an “on the job interview” for King. He points to the way she has handled the closings of privately managed public schools. He said she has been attentive to parents and teachers at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, which the district is taking over, and Aspira Charter Schools, which is abruptly closing two high schools mid-year.“You just saw her dealing with crisis situations, being responsive in a way that was different,” he said.Notable absence of Latino candidates in finalist poolAlmost half of CPS students are Latino and many community members wanted to see a Latino candidate for CEO. But there are none among the finalists.Chalkbeat Chicago reported that a fourth finalist dropped out. Board members would not say whether that person was Latino. They tell WBEZ and the Sun-Times that they were focused on finding someone who represented their values.When former CEO Pedro Martinez and Mayor Brandon Johnson clashed in 2024 — ultimately leading to Martinez's ouster — Latino organizations, elected officials and civic leaders came to Martinez’s defense. Among them was Juan Rangel, a former charter school operator who is now CEO of The Urban Center, a nonprofit that advocates for quality schools.On Friday, Rangel said it was “unfortunate” that no Latinos were among the final list of candidates and said it showed that the community continues to be an “afterthought” for CPS.“It's about having leaders that look like the communities that they serve,” Rangel said. “Apparently not at CPS.”Porter was born and raised in New York City and attended public schools there. She holds a degree in English from Hunter College, where she concentrated on cross-cultural literature and Black and Puerto Rican studies.Porter worked for the New York City school system for more than 20 years, rising from teacher to principal to executive superintendent of schools in the Bronx, New York City’s largest borough. She was named the first Black woman chancellor of New York City schools in February 2021, but her term was short. She was replaced by newly elected Mayor Eric Adams in January 2022.She did a short stint as the leader of a community foundation in New York and is currently a fellow for The Center for Educational Innovation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on “building high performing schools in underserved communities.”Narcisse served as the superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools in Louisiana from 2021 through 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’s also held leadership roles in Metro Nashville Public Schools and Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland.He currently works with SJ Apple Group, a consulting agency that helps K-12 school districts develop “data-driven solutions that improve student outcomes.” The consulting group lists him as its founder.Narcisse grew up speaking Creole and French in New York. He went through the public school system there while learning English. He graduated from Kennesaw State University in Georgia with a degree in French and went on to earn a master’s of education from Vanderbilt University and a doctorate in education administration from the University of Pittsburgh.In an interview with an education management group, he said that to him, public education has “always been about impact, specifically on Black and Brown kids, because I’m a product of that growing up in New York.” ...read more read less