The final two candidates to be the new Peoria Public Schools superintendent are making their pitches to the public this week.
Each candidate has a tie to the school district.
Renee Andrews, assistant principal and 504 coordinator at Peoria Richwoods High School and an adjunct professor at Bradley University, and Jerry Bell, the district's executive director of middle schools from 2015-23, are vying to replace the retiring Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat.
Desmoulin-Kherat is stepping down at the end of the school year after serving as superintendent for 10 years. No date has been set for the PPS School Board to name her replacement.
An hour-long town hall meeting was held Tuesday for Andrews. A town hall for Bell is from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, also in the PPS Board Room in the administration building on North Wisconsin Avenue.
The board room was packed for Andrews' town hall. Each of her answers to questions posed by Walter Milton, CEO of the Texas-based search firm From the Heart International Educational Services, and audience members drew loud applause.
Andrews has been employed by PPS in several roles for 30 years. Her four sons all attended PPS.
"I know this district from every angle," she said. "If I'm selected superintendent, I'm not going to run from tough issues. And I'm going to work hard to make sure that every student has a clear path to success."
Andrews said she'll be an advocate for PPS teachers, parents and students as superintendent, and will be accountable to them and the community.
"I appreciate teachers. I've taught in this district," she said. "We need to a better job of listening to teachers and make sure they have the training to do what we ask them to do. And we need to recruit the best teachers."
As for parents, "we need them," she said. "If a parent is seeking answers, we need to get them. If a parent is irate about something, we have to remember [he or she is] advocating for a child they love.
"Parents are a student's first teacher. So we have to make sure they have the resources they need to fulfill that role."
Several questions were asked about students who are struggling in school, causing disruptions because of discipline issues, or not attending school at all.
Andrews said the keys to solving those problems are to look back and find out, "Where did we fail?" and discover the root cause of the issues.
Discipline is a tricky balance of trying to help a student while having consequences in place for bad behavior, she said.
"A student might be coming to school without eating, dealing with a DCFS [Department of Children and Family Services] visit the previous night, or worrying about the lights in their home being turned off," Andrews said. "These are adult issues they don't know how to deal with, so they act out.
"While these are tough issues, we also need to have strong responses for those who don't meet our expectations."
Andrews said she's been accountable to the community throughout her career at PPS, and that would not change if she's selected the superintendent.
"If you see me at Walmart, in a restaurant drive-through or at church, ask me the tough questions," she said. "That's your responsibility."
On other topics, Andrews said:
• She's not an advocate for "cookie-cutter curriculum" at each school.
• She wants to expand the district's early childhood education program and make sure the same academic programs are offered at all three high schools.
• She wants to create an alternative school with a strong teacher presence.
• She wants to improve the district's special education program.
• She wants to connect Peoria businesses with job openings with students looking for work.
• She wants to have an audit done on the district's finances during her first 100 days as superintendent.
"We need to work together to get all this done," she said. "No superintendent stands alone."
Andrews and Bell are competing to become the superintendent of a district with more than 13,000 students, nearly 3,000 employees and 29 school buildings.
Fourteen people applied for the job. From the Heart eliminated six because they didn't meet the application requirements, then interviewed the remaining eight and screened their references.
Four of the eight were recommended to the school board Dec. 11, and three were interviewed by the board on Dec. 16.
The board selected Andrews and Bell for the next step in the hiring process, which includes a district visit, a town hall and a second board interview.
Andrews' responsibilities as 504 coordinator at Richwoods are to help develop and monitor services for students with disabilities.
Bell left PPS in 2023 to become the deputy chief of student support in Syracuse, N.Y.
