Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson spoke publicly for the first time about the district's decision to award Community Standards Initiative with a $375,000 contract.
The contract was awarded to the organization, led by Clarence Hightower and Al Flowers, in an attempt to help address the district's vast achievement gap. But the organization failed to meet its goals and the district canceled the contract, effective Oct. 17.
Johnson and the district have faced intense scrutiny for awarding the contract without a bid.
This is Johnson's full statement, which she gave at Tuesday's school board meeting:
As we move forward, I think it is important that we continue to leverage community partnerships that propel us forward. We have many successful community partnerships helping us meet critical needs and achieve great results for our students, and yet we need to make sure those groups represent our diverse population of students.
