May 2017
Relentlessly local coverage of Gilbert and our neighboring communities
Let’s Dance
Joselyn Gonzalez, 11, prepares for her show on the Gilbert Global Village Festival stage.
Town to open new portal to share data with residents
GPS superintendent may leave for Hawaii position
BY SRIANTHI PERERA
BY SRIANTHI PERERA
Following on the heels of Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale and Glendale, Gilbert has been selected for a new national initiative that would help the town better share information, disperse data, inform local decision making and engage residents. Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities Initiative, established by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is designed to accelerate cities’ use of data and evidence to improve people’s lives. Gilbert, along with nine other cities across the country, was recently added
Gilbert Public Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto is one of two finalists being considered for a top education position in Hawaii. Hawaii’s Board of Education confirmed that Kishimoto is in the running to become the next superintendent of the state’s public school system, which has 256 schools on six islands, more than 175,000 students and 22,000 permanent employees and an annual operating budget of about $1.9 billion. As a comparison, GPS has a student page 8
to the list of mid-size cities to partner with the initiative. What Works will limit itself to 100 cities, and the count now stands at 77. There’s no cost for a city to participate. The Government Performance Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School, Sunlight Foundation (a Washingtonbased nonprofit that advocates open government), Johns Hopkins University, and Results for America are some of its partners. see
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enrollment of 36,500 and an annual budget of $305 million. The position pays in the range of $240,000 and the new appointee would assume the position on July 1. Current Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi’s job ends June 30. Kishimoto and the other finalist, Linda Chen, who served as chief academic officer for Baltimore City Public Schools in Maryland from 2014 to 2016 and now see
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