Mayors Appointing Non-Educator Managers as Superintendents, Part 1
Many readers probably never heard of Benjamin Demps, Jr.
He is the son of a laborer who grew up in Manhattan and joined the Air Force after high school in 1951. He eventually worked as an air traffic controller becoming a manager of operations. As a married man with two daughters, he returned to school and got a bachelor’s degree at the age of 32 and a law degree at the age of 48. He served as a high-ranking federal civil aviation official for six years. After leaving the FAA, he served as Oklahoma’s secretary of health and human services. In 1999, he was appointed superintendent of the Kansas City (MO) public schools and walked into a firestorm of criticism about failing city schools.
“Some people are skeptical because I’m not from Kansas City…. Who is this guy? [ they ask. He had never
