The Super Meets Her Public

Austin Independent School District board of trustees has its superintendent search finalist. Now the board members must convince the district they made the right choice.

As soon as Education Austin President Louis Malfaro heard her name, he contacted his counterparts at the St. Paul Federa­tion of Teachers. His initial impression? "I hear a lot of good stuff," he said, pointing to her experience in an array of multiethnic districts. He remains somewhat cautious until he has more personal contact, and added: "She's going to come into Austin with new eyes, and that's a mixed thing. ... I've seen people come into Austin and struggle because they didn't have a cultural context."

Much of how the board will gauge the public mood, board President Mark Williams said, involves watching Carstarphen interact with stakeholder groups. With the business community, early signs are positive. When she visited the Feb. 26 board meeting of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, she received a standing ovation. Gene Austin, chamber vice chairman for education and talent development, observed that they have very similar goals. "It's college readiness that we're interested in, not graduation rates, and she's going to bring a tone from the top that's about that," he said. He feels her first job has to be selecting a new permanent chief financial officer (to replace Larry Throm, who recently moved to the Dallas Independent School District), and, he added, the district "is a $900 million business, and we will want to see more transparency."

After a breakfast meeting with the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President/CEO Andy Martinez called her "obviously quite a talent. … I was glad to hear her say that rather than taking superficial data, she goes deep into understanding what the drivers are." He echoed a broadly expressed sentiment that, while there was some dissatisfaction with the selection process (see "Looking for a School Chief," Feb. 27), Carstarphen will be AISD's next superintendent. Calling her anything else, he said, is "kind of a moot point now. She's our finalist, and I think the feeling amongst the chamber is that we need to get behind our superintendent designate and help her get arms around this thing."