After an unscheduled vote during the Board of Education's meeting Monday night, Cincinnati Public Schools appointed Shauna Murphy as its next superintendent.
Murphy has served as interim superintendent at CPS since May following the sudden resignation of former superintendent Iranetta Wright.
As a longtime CPS employee, Murphy says she knows the district well and is prepared to lead, even though she didn't expect to be appointed to the permanent role so soon.
"I had absolutely no idea that was what was going to happen at the end of that board meeting," Murphy told reporters Tuesday. "I'm very excited about the decision. This is what I'm born to do."
RELATED: CPS names Shauna Murphy next superintendent in split board vote
Murphy's appointment was celebrated by some, including Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Julie Sellers, who had been asking the Board to make Murphy the district's permanent leader since she accepted the interim role. Others were disappointed by the selection.
During a discussion about the search process for the next superintendent Monday night, Board member Jim Crosset proposed the Board vote to appoint Murphy to the top job without searching for, interviewing, or considering other candidates.
Board members voted 4-3 to approve her appointment, but the unplanned vote left some members, like Ben Lindy, questioning whether his colleagues made the right decision for the district.
"What I do think we owe the public is some real transparency and some kind of process," Lindy told WVXU. "We should be clear when we're taking applications; make it open to anyone that wants to apply; we should be clear about what some of our criteria are."
Lindy says his objection to the appointment doesn't have anything to do with Murphy's qualifications. He says Murphy has done well in an interim role, but wanted to see the school Board include more public input before choosing a new leader.
RELATED: CPS considers changes to restructuring plan for next school year
Still, as CPS mulls over a sweeping district restructuring plan set to be voted on next month and prepares to enter contract negotiations with its employee unions, other board members say they made the right call.
"If your priority is process, you should be mad as hell. If your priority is results, we did what we needed to do last night," Board President Eve Bolton told WVXU.
With the superintendent role secured, Murphy says she's ready to move forward with the district's restricting plan and mend any lingering issues with Board members who haven't yet put their full support behind her.
"If all of the people who may be upset about how this decision was made would keep in mind my motto of being here for kids, I believe they too will come back to the table and continue to work with us," she said.
The school Board is expected to vote on Murphy's proposed restructuring plan Dec. 9.
