TPS chooses Hilton as next superintendent

The excitement and relief were palpable Tuesday night as Matt Hilton accepted the school board’s offer for the position of superintendent of Tecumseh Public Schools at a special meeting in the high school media center.

Following second interviews for Hilton and Stephen Doerr, superintendent of East Jackson Schools since 2016, the board deliberated and discussed the candidates before voting unanimously for Hilton. Dr. Rodney Green of the Michigan Association of School Boards, who assisted with the search, called Hilton to present the offer.

“I am thrilled and I am honored and excited, and I absolutely accept the position,” Hilton said.

Hilton has been the executive director for elementary education in Ann Arbor since 2021. Previously, he was assistant principal and principal at Mitchell Elementary in Ann Arbor from 2014-2021, was a reading specialist and Title One teacher for Ann Arbor from 2005-14, a K-3 literacy coach from 2003-05 and classroom teacher from 2000-03 for Holland Public Schools.

A field of 23 applicants had been narrowed down to four, who were interviewed Saturday, March 16. Those candidates included Doerr, who has also been a school improvement and data consultant for the Jackson ISD, a high school classroom teacher, athletic coach, science department chair, academic coach, and school improvement leader, all at East Jackson Schools since 1994. The other two candidates were Aaron Shinn, high school principal in Milan since 2016 with 24 years of experience as a principal, chief operations officer, athletic director, and math and history teacher at Milan, Lapeer, Waverly and Niles schools; and Kimberly Irish, Tecumseh High School principal since 2022. Irish was previously middle and high school principal in Morenci from 2013-22 and taught math and science in Morenci from 1998-2013.

The board asked both candidates a series of questions regarding their top three priorities, their leadership style, how they would deal with staff discipline, how they would make a strong community connection, ways to market the district to attract more students, opportunities to help students in special education achieve in the least restrictive learning environment, their weaknesses and strengths as a potential superintendent, how they would prepare students  to use artificial intelligence, and more.

Each candidate was tasked with presenting their 90-day entry plan. Hilton’s included his core beliefs in the importance of having authentic, empathetic, and transparent leadership and communication; in a focus on safe, welcoming, and caring learning environments for all students; that parents and community members are key members of the district’s teams; and in continuous improvement and growth bult on collaboration and input.

He spoke about the importance of the culture of the learning environment and said his goal would be to visit schools frequently and make sure people know him by name.

“Learning environment/culture is a passion of mine,” he said, stating that he wants to connect with students, teachers, staff and parents. “The best that I can is to be in the spaces with kids and teachers and parents and understand what’s going on there and get teacher and student and parent input.”

When asked what one word was most important in a school district, Hilton said “culture.”

Hilton said he would reach out to other leaders in the community as well as work on building excitement about what’s going on in the district and then sharing those stories.

His top three priorities were to address enrollment trends, to get a handle on student outcome data and support teachers on collaboration that needs to occur, and the school culture – understanding how the district feels including how happy the students and teachers are.

When asked for the main reason for his success in his current position, Hilton said, “I have a genuine desire and belief that the answers that we seek are actually already in our schools. I have a skillset where I can build rapport with people, create trust, and then garner a collaborative environment where people are giving their input into our plan to go achieve the goals that we have.”

Hilton, who lives in the Tecumseh area with his wife, Sara, has a son who will graduate from Tecumseh High School this year and a daughter who is a 2022 THS alumnus. “I live in this community. I want to be here,” he said. “I am in and around the community… People knowing me by name – that’s the goal.”

In his closing statement, he said, “We love this town, we love the people of this town… I would be thrilled to have the opportunity to be your next superintendent.”

Doerr emphasized his experience, sincerity, and reliability, but admitted he didn’t know enough about Tecumseh and would have to learn more to be able to be able to understand the challenges and solutions for the district.

In discussion after the interviews, board members noted Doerr’s experience but several of them mentioned that he used some of the same answers for some of the questions, or did not address a question. Their comments on Hilton were positive regarding his answers, and despite his lack of experience as a superintendent, his role overseeing 20 elementary buildings and 7,000 students was deemed more than adequate experience.

“It would be fabulous for him to grow with us,” said Trustee Becky Brooks.

“His answers were extremely well thought out, extremely detailed,” said Trustee Greg Lewis. “I talked to the superintendent and assistant superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools, and I’ve never heard a recommendation so strongly for a person.”

Once the contract is negotiated and approved at the April 8 board meeting, Hilton is set to start in his new position on May 20 so he can work on the transition with current superintendent Rick Hilderley. He will receive a total salary of $160,000.