After a months-long search and two days in closed-door meetings, the Jefferson County Board of Education and its search committee announced two finalists in the hunt for the next leader of Jefferson County Public Schools: Ben Shuldiner, superintendent of Lansing School District in Michigan and H. Brian Yearwood, former superintendent of Columbia Public Schools in Missouri.
Shuldiner has led the Lansing School District, a school system of 10,000 students and 25 schools, since 2021. According to news reports, Shuldiner was a finalist to lead Clark County School District in Las Vegas earlier this year, but was not selected.
A news release from JCPS spokesperson Mark Hebert touts Shuldiner’s 25 years in education and significant boosts in graduation rates, attendance, enrollment and reading scores in the Lansing School District.
H. Brian Yearwood led Columbia Public Schools, a school system of 19,000 students, from 2021 until he left abruptly at the end of last year. According to local media, Yearwood said he planned to return to Texas to be closer to family. However he has since been announced as a finalist to lead two different school districts, one in Kansas and another in Delaware.
According to a JCPS news release, Columbia Public Schools significantly increased its rating on a state school performance system under Yearwood’s leadership.
The finalists will participate in two live Q&As with the public on Tuesday, May 20, one of which will be livestreamed.
The board aims to vote on the final candidate May 22. Asked about whether the public will have ample opportunity to share feedback in two days, JCBE Chair Corrie Shull said the board is on a “tight timeline.”
Feedback will be collected at the forums themselves, Shull said. He also said the district is trying to create a way for people to “respond digitally” during the forums.
Whoever is selected will replace outgoing JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio. Pollio is retiring at the end of June to become president of Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana’s public community college system. A former JCPS high school principal, Pollio rose through the ranks to the district’s top position in 2018. His departure comes as the district of 94,000 students is facing major challenges, including a dire teacher shortage, a beleaguered transportation system, a federal funding cliff and ongoing tensions with state Republican lawmakers.
Shull called both finalists “exceptional candidates” with a “distinguished track record of leading districts extraordinarily well.”
“They have a vast wealth of experiences that prepare them to lead a district such as the Jefferson County Public Schools district,” Shull told KyCIR Tuesday night.
Shull announced the finalists at the Muhammad Ali Center Tuesday night, where the board and a committee spent two days interviewing six candidates in private.
In April, board members narrowed its list of applicants down to six people, but they wouldn’t say anything about who else was on the list.
District 3 board member James Craig said the board was advised not to share the names or information about them.
“Because most of these candidates have jobs somewhere else in the world … they would be reluctant to apply for such a prominent position if their names were to become public and they weren’t actually a finalist,” Craig told KyCIR Monday.
Craig would not say how many internal candidates or external candidates made the list of six, nor how many came from out of state.
District 2 board member Tricia Lister also said she couldn’t share any information about the candidates, including how many were internal, due to privacy concerns.
The finalists come from a pool of 34 candidates who applied to be the district’s next superintendent, according to presentation materials from HYA, the Illinois-based search firm hired by the board.
As part of its recruitment activities, HYA said it reached out to 30 sitting superintendents in 19 states who had experience leading districts larger than 20,000 students. Ten of those superintendents have led districts with more than 50,000 students.
A map from HYA shows those potential candidates were contacted in states across the nation, including California, Idaho, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Florida, the Carolinas, the mid-Atlantic region and other states.
HYA did not share whether any of those sitting superintendents applied or made the list of six finalists.
The head-hunting firm also said it generated interest through advertisements in education trade publications and by tapping its own “professional network” of more than 70 education leaders.
The six finalists were chosen from among the 34 candidates by the JCBE and the Superintendent Screening Committee, a state-mandated member group that includes one board member, a non-certified staff member, and one parent, two teachers and one principal elected by their own cohorts.
The chair of that committee is Jefferson County Teachers Association President Maddie Shepard.
A separate, larger group of more than 30 parents, staff, teachers and community members and students formed the Superintendent Search Advisory Committee. That committee helped develop the survey and identify ideal qualities used to recruit and vet candidates. The advisory committee, however, will not have a direct say in who the board hires.
According to survey results of about 4,500 respondents, the community’s overall highest priorities are finding a leader who can promote academic achievement across the district, lead as a team and address student behavior, which many educators say has become more difficult to manage since the pandemic.
Forum 1: May 20, 2025 (Will be livestreamed and in-person)
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
JCPS Center for Professional Learning
3903 Atkinson Square Dr.
Louisville, Ky. 40218
Forum 2: May 20, 2025 (In-person only)
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Stopher Elementary
14417 Aiken Rd.
Louisville, Ky. 40245
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the correct enrollment for Columbia Public Schools.
