Education
Ottawa’s McPhee could ‘redefine’ education adviser role
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By JOSH THALL
Capital News Service
LANSING — Ottawa Area Intermediate School District Superintendent Karen McPhee could “redefine” the role of the governor’s senior education policy adviser when she takes the job in April, coworkers say. McPhee will retire as superintendent, a position she has held for 11 years, at the end of the month to begin working for Gov. Rick Snyder. “Karen is an innovator that likes to challenge the status quo,” said Kyle Mayer, an assistant superintendent for instructional services at the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District in Holland. “She is an extremely intelligent, out-of-the-box thinker, and at the same time, she is passionate about public education for students and she always leads with a student-first mentality.”
In her new job, McPhee will advise the governor on all aspects of K-12 and college education throughout Michigan, according to Dave Murray, Snyder’s deputy press secretary. “She is the policy adviser for all things education,” Murray said.