Peoria Public Schools superintendent candidate Jerry Bell describes himself as "transparent, honest and blunt."
Those traits were on display Wednesday during an hour-long town hall meeting in the school board room at the district office.
Renee Andrews, the other finalist in the search for a new superintendent to replace the retiring Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, had her own one-hour town hall meeting Tuesday. She's the assistant principal and 504 coordinator at Peoria Richwoods High School.
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 school board to name her replacement.
Bell was the district's executive director of middle schools from 2015-23 — and known for wearing a bow tie to work — before taking a job as deputy chief of student support in Syracuse, N.Y.
"I had no idea I'd be back here," he said at the town hall before answering questions posed by Walter Milton, CEO of the From the Heart International Educational Services search firm.
"What brought me back?" Bell said. "You and your children. That's the reason I'm back."
Bell said the district is facing an educational "epidemic," especially among African-American boys, and the community needs to join with the district to solve the problems causing it.
"We don't have a moment to waste. We need to attack this issue with fierce urgency. We need to save lives," he said.
One area that needs to be examined is curriculum, Bell said.
"Are some of our students bored because they don't see themselves represented in the materials?" he said.
He wants a curriculum audit to be done.
During a discussion about a "one-size-fits-all" curriculum, Bell was asked about an Algebra 1 class in middle school that some students are not prepared to take.
"When I was visiting Sterling Middle School earlier today, I talked to a student in a math class," Bell said. "I asked him if he understood the material, and he said 'no.' You could see the look of dejection on his face.
"I don't want students to feel there's something wrong with them because they can't succeed in something that's forced on them," Bell replied.
The district's low reading scores also need to be addressed, Bell said, because reading is the foundation of education.
"We need to raise our level of expectations when it comes to reading," he said.
In a district with about 75% black and brown students, Bell said, more teachers like that are needed.
"The district will be putting together a new strategic plan in June," he said. "I'd [like] to put [a more diverse faculty] in the plan, codify it. Cultural representation matters."
If he's named the superintendent, Bell said, he'll demand that a forensic audit be done. That's a detailed examination of the district's financial records, including why it's getting just 74% of its recommended evidence-based funding from the state.
The fact that the district has been late the past two years with its audit is "inexcusable," Bell said.
Uniforms in the K-8 schools and the school calendar need examination, he said, as well as the inequity of academic offerings in district schools.
"Every student should have the same access to academic programs," he said. "You can absolutely hold me to this. Maybe we need to form a committee to find out why this is happening."
Bell said he plans to hold many more town halls if he's named superintendent.
"I'm not going to sit up here and pontificate, like I'm doing now," he said. "I want to hear from you."
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 Dec. 16.
The board selected Andrews and Bell for the next step in the hiring process, which included a district visit, a town hall and a second board interview.
Andrews and Bell each has a 30-year career in education which includes time as a teacher.
Andrews' responsibilities as 504 coordinator at Richwoods are to help develop and monitor services for students with disabilities.
