Keeping the grass roots growing!!
Matt Wandrie LAPEER — Matt Wandrie, superintendent of Lapeer Community Schools (LCS) since July 2011, is one of three finalists who will interview Monday evening to lead the Grosse Pointe Public Schools System (GPPSS).
Wandrie, 38, was the principle architect behind the district’s consolidation into one high school and launch of a year-round elementary and middle school among a host of other achievements in the county’s largest K-12 district.
“I would leave Lapeer for nothing other than a remarkable opportunity. This would be that. It’s kind of like going back home,” said Wandrie, who grew up on Detroit’s far east side near the GPPSS district.
The LCS Board of Education held a workshop session Thursday evening, though board members sought to reserve comment until after this week’s interviews are conducted.
Wandrie is on the short list for the superintendent’s job at GPPSS along with Dr. Steve Matthews, superintendent of Novi Community Schools and Gary Niehaus of Bloomington, IL. Wandrie was a 2014 nominee for Superintendent of the Year by the Michigan Association of School Administrators.
About a month ago Wandrie received a phone call from a consulting firm hired by GPPSS to conduct a national superintendent search to replace Dr. Thomas Harwood who announced in December that he would not request a contract extension. The search firm screened 31 candidates.
On Monday at 8:30 p.m. Wandrie will be interviewed by the GPPSS Board of Education at Grosse Pointe South High School, only a couple of miles from where he was raised. The other candidate interviews that evening will be held at 5:30 and 7 p.m.
Wandrie is attracted to the challenge of running a much larger school district than LCS in a more diverse community. GPPSS is a district of 8,300 students compared to around 5,500 in LCS. The Grosse Pointe district serves six cities including Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointe Woods and Harper Woods that have a total population of approximately 45,000 residents — the state’s 28th largest school district.
“This is a town that has a generational commitment to support its schools. The people there are extremely engaged in their kids’ education and expect a lot from the schools,” Wandrie said.
In 2013-2014, according to GPPSS, 94 percent of parents participated in parent-teacher conferences. Parent engagement in curricular and extra-curricular interests are high.
The student population is 77 percent white/non-Hispanic, about 17 percent African- American, 3 percent multi-racial, less than 2 percent Asian, and I percent Hispanic. Slightly more than 16 percent of the district’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch services.
GPPSS operates on a $100- plus million budget, operates 15 school buildings and has 870 employees. The district has two high schools (North and South), three middle schools and nine elementary schools. LCS, by comparison, operates on an approximate $53 million annual budget, 12 buildings and has 700 employees.
The next superintendent of GPPSS, according to an extensive survey of district residents, will be someone who will improve technology in the classrooms and across the district as well as improve communication with the public and the school board and return the district to be on an excellence par with premiere districts like Bloomfield, Novi and Okemos.
Prior to coming to LCS, Wandrie served: as director of human resources for Dearborn Public Schools from July 2010-2011; was principal of Waterford High School from August 2008 to July 2010; was assistant principal/athletic director for Waterford School District; served as assistant principal at Fowlerville High School from January 2004-August 2004; and taught social studies at Oxford High School.
Wandrie lives in Oxford Township. His children attend Oxford schools.
It was one of the resident comments left with the superintendent search consultants, said Wandrie, that inspired him to respond to the Grosse Pointe position. The person said under the next superintendent they would like to see Grosse Pointe schools become a hub for education research.
“We’ve done it here,” said Wandrie. “We’ve opened the Center for Innovation, we offer more AP (advanced placement) classes than ever, we have a year-round elementary and middle school and we have a homeschool partnership …Our kids have greater access to more program than they had four years ago.”
Wandrie has recently been approached by four other K-12 school districts looking for a new superintendent. “I wasn’t necessarily looking, but they’ve called me up and wanted to talk. They know what we’ve done here and other districts have taken notice … It’s not about me anymore. We’ve put Lapeer on a path that will continue for years to come. We’ve got an extremely great team here and a fantastic school board.”
Following Monday’s interview of the three finalists, the GPPSS board will meet again on Tuesday (April 21) at which time it will choose two candidates to be interviewed by various community groups the following week.
Wandrie has visited the district several times since being contacted by the search consultants to speak with people in the community and parents.
The Grosse Pointe board plans to appoint its new superintendent and begin contract negotiations the week of May 11. The new superintendent, possibly Wandrie, will begin work July 1.
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