Parents and community members said the next Grand Rapids Public Schools superintendent needs to improve test scores and do more to retain star teachers in the first of four public town halls for the superintendent search.
The current superintendent, Dr. Leadriane Roby, will stay in the role through the 2026-27 school year.
Carlos Lopez, a consultant from Ray & Associates, moderated the discussion, the first of four public town halls the district was hosting about the search. Held at Southwest Middle High School, a bilingual Spanish-English school, the forum took place in both English and Spanish, with translation equipment available. About 10 to 20 people attended, including several members of the board.
Lopez asked a series of eight questions and audience members could respond. All responses were collected anonymously and will be compiled into a report for the GRPS board to consider later.
Participants expressed pride in the district, particularly in the teaching staff, who they described as talented and professional. Community members said GRPS’s diversity and inclusive nature had benefitted their children.
They questioned if the district had done enough to retain teaching staff in union negotiations, arguing that other districts were taking some of GRPS’s best talent.
“We are losing great talent,” one participant said.
The size of administrative staff relative to the number of teachers and their distance from parent concerns came up repeatedly. Community members stated that resources going to the number of administrative personnel could be used to improve teacher pay.
“We have way too many people in one building but not enough people being supported in other buildings where the work is being done,” one community member said of the administrative staff at the Franklin Street campus.
Multiple parents said they felt unheard, despite wanting to improve and expand the district, which has seen declining enrollment. Members of the Latino community particularly said they felt ignored by the district.
One community member criticized using improving graduation rates as a metric of success when state testing showed large portions of students not meeting literacy and math skill requirements.
“How are you going to address the literacy and the math gap? Quit lying to communities and say achievement is happening at this district and truly put into place, ” she said.
Roughly 23% of Grand Rapids Public Schools students met the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress benchmarks for English-Language Arts in the 2024-25 school year. Just under 17% of GRPS students met M-STEP benchmarks for mathematics that same year, compared to 36% of Michigan students. The district’s graduation rate was 83%.
Other community members said the next superintendent should build partnerships with local organizations and universities for support. The new superintendent will have to build a good team around him or her, and wanting the next district leader to be comfortable with “cleaning house” came up repeatedly.
“Being open and honest with the current system and being brave enough to clean house,” said that community member about the traits she wanted to see in the next superintendent.
Other participants said the board should ask candidates what they believe the chief problems facing the district are and know how to identify roadblocks to creating a healthy system.
Another participant said the next superintendent will have to reduce the physical footprint of the district to deal with schools that are under capacity.
“Whoever the next superintendent is needs to know we need to close schools,” he said.
Multiple participants expressed concerns about divisions between members of the district: community schools and themed schools; teachers and administrators; and differences between the quadrants of the districts.
“The superintendent really needs to unify the district,” the community member said.
Several parents and community members questioned the efficacy of the theme school model. GRPS has 15 schools listed as theme schools on its website, many of which have waitlists for admission.
The next superintendent will have to reckon with budget deficits. The 2026-27 school year budget is $281 million, and the district projects using $13 million in fund balances to cover the deficits. Several top administrators were also placed on administrative leave under Roby’s tenure.
Other town halls took place on Aug. 12 and Aug. 13. The last public forum for parents and community members will be on Sept. 16 from 6:30–7:30 p.m. at GRPS University.
Write to juliana@grherald.com