Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Teresa Weatherall-Neal will be stepping down after what will be 8 years at the helm of the school district.
At a press conference held at The Gerald R. Ford Academic Center Monday morning, Weatherall-Neal said it’s the very same building that she stepped into as a Kindergartener back in 1963, bringing her story full circle.
“Grand Rapids Public Schools has been part of my life for 55 years,” Weatherall-Neal said. “It truly is a remarkable story, one that I could never have imagined.”
Weatherall-Neal will largely be remembered for implementing the Grand Rapids Public School’s Transformation Plan. According to the district, over the past seven years as superintendent, graduation rates rose 50 percent, enrollment stabilized, while suspensions and the number of safety and security incidents dropped.
Grand Rapids City Commissioner Senita Lenear, who served on the School Board that hired Weatherall-Neal seven years ago, praised the Superintendent for a job well done.
“Teresa Weatherall-Neal has been the superintendent extraordinaire,” Lenear said. “She was the perfect person for the perfect time, and we will be forever impacted because she was our superintendent.”
Attention now shifts to finding Weatherall-Neal’s replacement. One district official said that over the years, Weatherall-Neal had assembled such a talented supporting staff around her that the next superintendent could likely come from within, enabling the school district to continue on its current path.