During a special meeting on April 9, 2026, the Board of Education selected six candidates to interview to possibly become the next superintendent of Dearborn Public Schools. Two are internal candidates, two from the region, and two from out of state.
Interviews for the candidates are slated for Tuesday through Thursday, April 14 to 16, starting at 6 p.m. each evening. Visit the district’s Superintendent search page for the latest information.
Twenty three applications were received for the superintendent’s position. Those selected for interviews and their interview dates include:
- Thomas Ahart, former Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, Iowa, Wednesday, April 15
- Mike Esseily, Executive Director of Special Populations, Dearborn Public Schools, Tuesday, April 14
- Fatme Faraj, Executive Director of Student Achievement, Dearborn Public Schools, Thursday, April 16
- Ali Hamka, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, Thursday, April 16
- Moussa Hamka, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Grosse Pointe Public Schools, Tuesday, April 14
- Tracy Reed, Superintendent, Reynoldsburg City Schools, Ohio, Wednesday, April 15.
On April 14 to 16, the board is planning to do two interviews each night with up to 90 minutes for each candidate. Trustees will then hold a special meeting on Saturday, April 18 to select finalists.
The public will have a chance to offer input on the candidates. Those attending the interviews or watching them live on YouTube will be able to use a QR code to pull up a short survey. The questions will ask what the viewer likes about the candidate, what concerns they have, and what questions they would like to ask the applicant if they are selected as a finalist. Trustees will be able to review the responses before selecting finalists.
Board members praised the quality of the candidates who applied for the job. Board President Jamal Aljahmi also assured the public that the board has not made any decisions yet about the appointment.
“Our goal is to pick the best candidate possible, and it will be a fair process,” President Aljahmi said.
Trustees opened Thursday night’s meeting and then went into closed session for more than two hours to review all of the applications. The board also made one change to the tentative search schedule.
Finalists are now expected to visit the district on April 22 and 23, with final interviews starting at 6 p.m. on April 23, instead of April 24. During the visits to the district, finalists will visit some schools and meet with stakeholder groups. Public meet and greets will also be held. Having finalists in the district at the same time will allow stakeholder groups to meet the finalists back to back instead of coming in on different days. The public will also have a chance to offer feedback on the finalists.
May 4 is still set as the meeting for the board to make its final decision. Trustees discussed trying to move the meeting to the week before but could not find a date that would work.
All of the board meetings are open to the public and will be shown live on the district’s YouTube channel. The initial interviews on April 14 to 16 will be removed after the interviews, so they are not available for candidates interviewing later to watch. Those meetings will be reposted once the three evenings of interviews are concluded.
Updated superintendent search timeline graphic
