Board selects financial chief Al Tunis as interim superintendent of Kansas City schools

The Kansas City school board has promoted chief financial officer Al Tunis to interim superintendent, opting for continuity while it begins a nationwide search for its next superintendent.

Tunis was one of the first hires Kansas City superintendent Steve Green made when he took over the soon-to-be-unaccredited district in 2011.

“He started in the darkest days,” school board president Jon Hile said Thursday.

And the majority of the board decided that Tunis is the best choice to continue progress that has brought the district back to provisional status and nearing full accreditation, he said.

“This will bring stability and continuity for the parents, students and stakeholders in the district,” Hile said.

The vote was not unanimous, but it was “substantially in favor” of Tunis, Hile said.

Green announced last month that he is leaving the district to take the superintendent post at DeKalb County Schools in suburban Atlanta, taking Green close to family.

Green remains superintendent in Kansas City through June, and Tunis declined to talk about his promotion until after he takes office.

Tunis has served as the stand-in for Green in the superintendent chair at times when Green has been out of the district. When Green announced he was leaving, Hile said at the time that the board would be looking in-house first for an interim leader.

This will be Tunis’ first experience as a superintendent. Before coming to the Kansas City school district, Tunis served as vice chancellor for administrative services at Metropolitan Community College.

A district whose audits had long showed consistent struggles to manage its operations and finances had begun improving under then superintendent John Covington. Tunis took over the finances under Green as the district produced a string of good, clean reports from its independent auditors.

The district noted that the Standard & Poor’s rating service upgraded the district credit status from A to A+ Stable during Tunis’ time as CFO.

Tunis’ earliest roots were as a public school teacher and principal — a background that Hile said the board thinks will help him as interim superintendent.

Tunis, who began his education career in Rochester, Mich., served the Park Hill school district from 1978 to 1999 as a teacher and then as an elementary school principal before he was promoted to Park Hill’s assistant superintendent for business services.

“That was a key point for us — his long experience in education,” Hile said.

Mayor Sly James issued a statement endorsing the choice, saying, “He will carry on the great momentum put in place by Dr. Green.”

The board also announced it has hired the Iowa firm Ray and Associates to lead its search for a new superintendent, hoping it can make its choice by late spring 2016.

The consultants’ first task will be to organize a community effort to develop a job description and the profile of the kind of superintendent the district needs going forward.

By August, the board wants the consultants to be ready to begin seeking out appropriate candidates and gather applications to screen and review.

The board hopes to have narrowed its choices to a small number of finalists in March 2016 who would be introduced to the community before the board makes its choice.

This story was originally published June 11, 2015 at 9:27 AM.