Who Is Eduardo Galvan?

Milwaukee Public Schools Office of School Administration, 5225 W. Vliet St. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Public Schools.

Eduardo Galvan is the man of the hour.

After the resignation of Milwaukee Public School superintendent Keith Posley, Galvan, the MPS Regional Superintendent for the Southwest Region, was chosen by the school board to fill the vacancy — first as a day-to-day superintendent on June 3, and then to acting superintendent on June 17. The board needed someone with the authority to begin filling vacancies primarily in the central finance positions of the school district. Given the lack of financial expertise left in the district and the pressure by Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction on MPS to get its house in order and file eight months of overdue reports, the district needed a leader who could make decisions on a longer term-basis than day-to-day. The board gave Galvan that authority.

Now Acting Superintendent Galvan will be tested. He has worked for MPS for more than three decades, and school board members, both past and present, give him high marks for his collaborative style, both as a principal and regional superintendent. But he has hard decisions to make even if he is superintendent for only a month or two.

Appointments for unfilled financial positions may move very fast. “Normally all those positions would have to be approved by the board,” says Matthew Chason, Senior Director, Office of Accountability and Efficiency. However, “Part of the corrective action plan from DPI states that they expect the board to revise their own board policies to allow the appointment of people to support the work of the corrective action plan without board approval so that it can move with the urgency that it is expected to move.” A panel would interview candidates and select individuals for those positions without board approval. That could include Chief Financial Officer.

Former school board director Larry Miller has had a long relationship with Galvan. “I first met Eduardo in a cohort at my master’s program at National Louis University out of Chicago. We had both applied for a graduate program to get our license for educational leadership.” That was some 20 years ago. “We just bonded very quickly.”

When Miller became a school board director, Galvan was principal at Vieau when the school was in Miller’s district. “I went to a parent meeting… there was standing room only, massive parent involvement… He spoke and the community was incredibly respectful of him and admired him. He was truly loved by that community.”

Superintendent Posley tried to recruit Galvan for a higher position but he resisted, says Miller. “Eventually he was convinced because the district needed his kind of leadership.” Galvan was appointed southwest regional superintendent in 2018.

“He has a proven record of strong and steady leadership,” says school board director, Missy Zombor. It wasn’t a hard choice to pick Galvin, she says. “More than one person has used the word ‘steady’ when they have talked [about Galvan]. We need, more than anything, stability and strength.”

But some past school board directors offered words of caution, with one noting “he is probably one of the most collaborative people in central office,” but that style might make it harder for him to buck advice from colleagues in MPS and make the tough choices that need to be done in the next few weeks.

Another former director states, “He is a very good man; however, not strong in finance. MPS needs someone with that skill!”

But Zombor notes that “Todd Gray is the finance expert that we brought in, and we need someone in leadership who can help Todd Gray make changes, that can bring in the experts that get the corrective action through. I think Mr. Galvan is more than capable of doing that, of moving quickly and efficiently to see the corrective action plan through.”

Whoever succeeds Galvan as interim superintendent and then permanent superintendent may have to live with some of Galvan’s choices.

That’s right, there’s a three-step process the board is following to replace Posley. While Galvan runs the ship as acting superintendent, the board is considering and narrowing the list of candidates for interim superintendent before conducting interviews. Then there is a process of contacting references and conducting background checks. School board president Marva Herndon suggests it could take “well into July” until an interim superintendent is selected.

Once selected, the interim superintendent would likely serve most of the upcoming school year. During that year, the board will go through the process of picking a long-term superintendent.

Will Galvan be considered for the position?

“I hope he applies,” says Miller.

But school board director Henry Leonard has talked to Galvan and has concluded, “He doesn’t really want to be a superintendent, at this point in time.”

And given that Posley was a local candidate who led MPS into troubled waters, there may be pressure to hire a national candidate.

Either way, Leonard isn’t sure just easy or difficult it will be to find a quality superintendent. “Anybody stepping into this role, under these conditions…”

But Galvan’s appointment gives the board time to conduct a thorough search.

“We are moving as quickly as possible,” says Zombor. “But we have to be realistic that we are not rushing into something.”