The Michigan State Board of Education selected Glenn Maleyko, Dearborn Schools’ superintendent, to be the state’s top education official, leading the Michigan Department of Education.
The appointment, which is pending contract negotiations, came after a marathon day of interviews of three finalists, who also included a candidate from Virginia and from a rural school district in Michigan. Maleyko will replace Superintendent Michael Rice, who is leaving the post in October after six years.
Glenn Maleyko, superintendent of Dearborn Public Schools, will lead Michigan’s Education Department.
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Maleyko has been Dearborn’s superintendent since Sept. 2015. According to Maleyko’s LinkedIn profile, he began as a substitute teacher in Dearborn, then taught at Salina Elementary School, moving up through the ranks of Dearborn Public Schools, one of the largest districts in the state with more than 19,000 students.
Michigan’s more than 1.4 million public school students will present a new challenge. Maleyko, if he accepts, will assume the post at a demanding time. State test scores have been on the decline, particularly in critical areas like third grade reading. Education advocates widely criticized many of the instructional methods used to teach Michigan’s third graders to read, and lawmakers recently passed reading reform legislation. The next superintendent will oversee how that legislation is implemented in the state’s more than 500 school districts.
In the interview Tuesday with state board members, Maleyko said Dearborn has already implemented many of the provisions of the reading laws prior to passage of the legislation, such as strengthening training for educators in the science of reading.
And, as the state’s voters will choose a new governor in 2026, education has already become a hot topic among potential candidates, as well as advocacy groups calling for reform and a new direction to lead Michigan schools.
Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn Schools superintendent chosen to be state education leader
