CPS Board names 3 finalists to lead district: Interim CEO King, former NYC, East Baton Rouge schools chiefs

The Chicago Board of Education announced three finalists to run the school district Friday.

One surprising name on the list: Macquline King, who has been serving as interim leader of Chicago Public Schools since June, after originally being told she was not in the running.

She joins Meisha Porter, the first Black woman to lead New York City’s school system, and Sito Narcisse, a former superintendent of Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge Parish schools and chief of secondary schools in the District of Columbia. Narcisse is the son of Haitian immigrants.

Next week, the finalists will meet with Mayor Brandon Johnson and will be interviewed by a panel of 15 that includes students, parents, teachers and community members.

The announcement comes after a months-long search process that encountered several hiccups.

Originally, school board members did not plan to make the names of the finalists public because the search firm they hired said that would discourage candidates from applying. But in November, Porter and another candidate's name became public, and that candidate dropped out of contention.

At that point, the search was re-opened and board members conducted a new round of interviews.

The fact that King was not a finalist in November became a point of contention. The West Side NAACP and some school board members suggested that she be kept on until at least January 2027 — when the board will go from being partially appointed by the mayor to being fully elected by voters.

King, a former CPS principal who previously served in the mayor’s office, had irked some board members by not going along with the budget plan put forth by the mayor, which included the possibility of borrowing.

But this fall she seemed to gain some respect among board members for getting the district organized to respond to federal immigration enforcement.

Porter was born and raised in New York City and attended public schools there. She graduated from Queens Vocational and Technical High School and went on to receive a bachelor of arts degree in English concentrating in cross cultural literature and Black and Puerto Rican studies at Hunter College.

Porter was the first Black woman to lead New York City’s school system, according to her biography with the New York State School Boards Association.

Narcisse served as the superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools in Louisiana from 2021 through 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He currently works with SJ Apple Group, a company he founded which works with K-12 school districts to develop “data-driven solutions that improve student outcomes and address the unique needs of today’s learners,” according to its website.

Narcisse grew up speaking Creole and French in New York. He went through the public school system there while learning English. He eventually went on to graduate from Kennesaw State University in Georgia with a degree in French and then went on to earn a master’s of education from Vanderbilt University and a doctorate in education administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

In an interview with an education management group, he said public education has “always been my passion” and added that for him “it’s always been about impact, specifically on Black and Brown kids, because I’m a product of that growing up in New York.”