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After a failed attempt to hire a superintendent this spring, Portland Public Schools board voted unanimously today to hire its first Latino superintendent.
Guadalupe Guerrero currently serves as a deputy superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District.
Portland Public Schools has been without a permanent superintendent since Carole Smith resigned in July of last year after a scandal over the district's handling of lead in its water.
In March, the board announced their previous sole finalist, Donyall Dickey, who was then the chief academic officer for the Atlanta public school system, but the board failed to complete a background check before that announcement—a mistake they didn't repeat with Guerrero.
Guerrero's offer is contingent solely on him obtaining a superintendent's license in Oregon.
Dickey withdrew from consideration in May after a background check completed turned up an arrest for writing a bad check while in college, the Portland Tribune reported. (Dickey said he withdrew over a dispute about his compensation.
Board member Amy Kohnstamm introduced Guerrero as someone who grew up in the Bay Area and learned to speak English at school. He became bilingual, an "accomplished musician and athlete" thanks to schools, Kohnstamm said. "He has a tremendous love of learning."
He worked as a para-educator, teacher and principal. In 2015, he applied to applied to be superintendent of Boston in 2015, but was not hired there.