Final Kansas City superintendent candidate will be named

The Kansas City school board on Wednesday is expected to whittle down its superintendent search to a single candidate.

Board officials will choose a preferred candidate from the two finalists who visited the city last week. The name of the final candidate is expected to be announced on Wednesday.

The superintendent selection process still requires the candidate and the district to agree to the terms of employment, said board president Jon Hile.

Ron Taylor, superintendent at a suburban New Jersey district just outside Philadelphia, and Mark Bedell, an assistant superintendent of a large urban district in Baltimore County, Md., are vying for the job left vacant when Steve Green left last summer to lead the DeKalb County School District outside Atlanta.

Both Kansas City candidates toured schools, met community leaders and participated in a public question-and-answer session last week.

The finalists were selected from among five candidates recommended by Ray and Associates, the search firm hired by Kansas City school leaders to find Green’s replacement.

Taylor, a Detroit native, has a career in public K-12 education that spans more than 20 years, during which he has been a teacher, assistant principal, principal, regional superintendent and superintendent. Taylor has worked in the Washington, D.C., Boston and Newark, N.J., public schools.

Bedell, a native of Rochester, N.Y., worked for 12 years in the Houston Independent School District as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and school improvement officer.

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Final Kansas City superintendent candidate will be named."