Board Of Education Chooses 3 Superintendent Finalists

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/19/2025) The three candidates the State Board of Education interviewed  for the open superintendent post ended up being the three semi-finalists chosen Tuesday to be Michael Rice's successor.

The board voted for Dearborn Superintendent Glenn Maleyko, Harrison Community Schools Superintendent Judy Walton and former Virginia State Superintendent Lisa Coons, all of whom were interviewed in-person by the board during a special meeting.

Republican board members Nikki Snyder and Tom McMillin voted no on the slate of candidates put forward after a rundown of the interviews of the seven semi-final candidates.

Snyder and McMillin backed Dexter Community Schools Superintendent Chris TIMMIS and Huron Valley Schools Superintendent Paul Salah.

A rundown vote was first taken to narrow the candidates, with Coons taking the point total. Maleyko was shortly behind and Walton and Timmis tied, after Snyder and McMillin changed their votes to try to get him into the final round.

Snyder lamented about not being able to get one of the candidates selected by the Republican members to be able to come back for the final interview.

“When we think about ‘all voices at the table,’ we think about all the students in the state of Michigan having representation, and we can’t even get that. It's just not reasonable, but it really hasn’t ever been reasonable,” Snyder said.

The public interviews for the three finalists are scheduled for Aug. 26. The Board could pick the final candidate and offer that person the position at that time.

State Board of Education President Pam Pugh said she would be looking to learn more about the candidates and how they could meet the goals of the state’s education system.

“We’ve heard from an incredible group of educators who are doing amazing work across the state and beyond and also want to congratulate the finalists. We were fortunate to have seven outstanding student-focused candidates to interview,” Pugh said.