Only 30% to 40% of District 11 students read, write, add, and subtract at grade level. The downward trajectory is only more distressing. It is even worse when we isolate data for Black and brown students. Any reasonable, concerned person should conclude that our city’s central school system is in crisis. A 60% to 70% failure rate is no longer acceptable.

We can think of only one imminent solution. Bring in bold, visionary, proven, result-driven leadership

To its great credit, the D-11 Board has found 3 outstanding superintendent finalist candidates, all of whom have strong qualifications as educators. All are dedicated to academic reform and understand our schools should be more about serving students than anything else. We had no qualms with any of the finalists.

Among three extraordinary finalists – all of whom gave substantial time to visit with The Gazette – one stands out as a proven reformer with a deep educational background along with private-sector and military leadership credentials. Michael Gaal is a leader, a leader of leaders, and the right choice to be D-11’s next superintendent.

Gaal’s command experience and accomplishments as an Air Force pilot and a private business leader give him the kind of experience one cannot learn by spending a career exclusively in education. Gaal played a significant role in improving academic results in failed districts in Detroit, Oakland, and Washington, D.C. In Washington, Gaal served as a deputy superintendent charged specifically with turning around poor-performing schools.

He delivered. Largely because of his work, Washington schools have some of the highest academic improvement rates in the country.

Gaal has improved urban school performance by establishing coaching teams that help determine what assets teachers need to ensure each child in the classroom, regardless of circumstances, quickly learns to read, write, add and subtract at or exceeding state proficiency levels.

Instead of judging and punishing teachers with low-performing students, he and the teams establish reachable goals and equip teachers to achieve them. It is good for the students, teachers, parents and the community at large.

We need a renaissance at D-11 and Gaal will achieve it. He exudes the style of leadership that drives constructive organizational culture, and we are excited about his ability to reorient and motivate D-11’s teachers to embrace a laser-sharp focus on improving student outcomes.

In our interview, Gaal was direct, to the point, business-like, confident and unrelenting. His take-no-prisoners passion for improving results, and doing so with a sense of urgency, might be off putting to some. He is direct and concise in describing his methods and goals.

It is exactly the leadership D-11 needs. Gaal is an excellent communicator, often using stories to make his points. He will connect well with teachers, students, staff, and the community.

D-11 ranks 159th out of 183 Colorado districts for proficiency among students. So, without question, academics need to be the next superintendent’s primary focus. Yet, we cannot forget that D-11 is a large business with an annual budget approaching $1B. Taxpayers have supported increased spending for decades, uninterrupted, but student performance has gone down.

The explanation is simple. Past administrations and boards have spent too much on central administration, and not enough in classrooms where teachers do the most important work. Gaal will reverse that trend and reprioritize. He will use his private-sector business skills to deploy precious tax dollars where they will do the most to actually improve student learning.

Additionally, Gaal is willing to sign an at-will contract. That means if things don’t work out, and the board fires him, taxpayers won’t fund another mega-dollar buyout. It also tells us Gaal lacks no confidence in his ability to deliver on his promises.

Largely because D-11 is in the bottom 15% of the State’s districts, parents of about 20% of former D-11 students have “choiced out” and enrolled their children elsewhere. The marketplace has spoken – D-11 is not meeting the needs of its customers. It is time to stop the bleeding.

It is time to accept the truth and face reality. It is time to rebuild D-11. Get parents to “choice-in” to D-11, not out. It is time for D-11 to measure up to the expectations that suit the most desirable city in America.

Michael Gaal is the leader who will lead. Gaal brings the whole package. If D-11 board members hire him, they will deliver on promises made to voters. They will do the community and its children the service of reversing an academic crisis.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board