GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (GRPS) – The Grand Rapids Board of Education voted Monday to advance two finalists in its search for the next superintendent of Grand Rapids Public Schools.
The finalists are:
- Kelly Greene, Chief Area Instructional Leader, Grand Rapids Public Schools
- Allison Tingwall, Executive Director of Principal Quality, Chicago Public Schools
Both finalists will be in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, Oct. 28, to tour the district, meet with key stakeholders, and be interviewed by the Board of Education. The board interviews will begin at 5 p.m. at GRPS University (1400 Fuller Ave. NE). The interviews are open to the public and will also stream live at live.grps.org.
“Our board believes both finalists align closely with the qualities and leadership characteristics our community identified as priorities in the next superintendent,” said Board of Education President José Rodriguez. “We are confident that both candidates would be exceptional leaders for GRPS.”
The superintendent search began in February when the Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Leadriane Roby announced that her contract would be extended for one additional year through June 2027. Since then, the district has sought extensive community input to help guide the search. Throughout August and September, GRPS hosted 20 focus groups, four in-person town halls, one virtual town hall, and an online survey to gather feedback from scholars, staff, families, and community members about the qualities and leadership characteristics they want to see in the district’s next superintendent.
The board’s search firm, Ray & Associates, conducted a nationwide search, reaching 2,315 individuals across all 50 states.
Kelly Greene
Kelly Greene, Ed.S., brings more than 20 years of public education experience and a commitment to helping every scholar succeed. As Chief Area Instructional Leader for Grand Rapids Public Schools, she supports 14 northwest and northeast quadrant schools and serves as the Executive Director of the Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education Department and the Early Childhood Department. Her career spans classroom teaching, elementary and secondary school administration, Two-Way Spanish Immersion administration, International Baccalaureate Coordination, and district leadership, including service in Muskegon Public Schools and Mona Shores Public Schools. She also prepares future educators as an adjunct professor at Grand Valley State University. Greene holds an Education Specialist degree from Western Michigan University, two master’s degrees in educational leadership and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL).
Greene’s approach to leadership brings together high expectations, strong relationships, and a belief that listening must lead to action. Her experience includes helping a school move off the state’s lowest-performing schools list, implementing free after-school care for families, and securing training and resources to help educators strengthen classroom learning. At GRPS, she spends time in schools, works alongside principals and teachers, and partners with families to address concerns and remove barriers to scholar success. She believes the district’s diversity is a strength and that every scholar deserves to feel known, challenged, and supported. Her commitment to the Grand Rapids community is to lead with care and accountability, develop strong leaders, and ensure that the decisions made in central office translate into better experiences and greater opportunities in classrooms.
Allison Tingwall
Allison Tingwall is a proud product of Michigan public education systems whose 20-year career as a student-centered educator and a strategic instructional leader has been rooted in the belief that all children deserve access to a rigorous and robust public education. She is currently the Executive Director of Principal Quality for Chicago Public Schools (CPS), setting the vision for and leading the execution of the district’s strategies to identify, develop, and retain strong school leaders across all 520+ schools. In her prior role, Allison served as the Principal of Curie Metropolitan High School, a neighborhood and magnet school of about 3,000 students on the Southwest Side of Chicago. There, she demonstrated a systemic and distributive approach to building the capacity of school teams and teacher leaders in order to generate a culture of continuous improvement which transformed the school’s culture and climate, reducing student disciplinary infractions, increasing freshmen on-track and college enrollment rates, and nearly doubling the number of students taking Advanced Placement classes. She began her career in education as a literacy tutor in elementary schools in Pilsen, then taught Spanish and math at North Lawndale College Prep, and has also developed aspiring teachers as an adjunct lecturer in the College of Education at the University of Illinois Chicago.
After attending Dearborn Public Schools and Novi Community School District, Allison went on to earn her bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan. She completed both her master’s degree in instructional leadership and her doctorate in urban education leadership at the University of Illinois Chicago. Allison has been recognized as a Cambiar Catalyst Fellow and an Emerging Leader Fellow with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She and her wife are the joyful parents of two children who are Chicago Public Schools students.
