The Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education selected Mike Esseily to be the next superintendent for the district May 4. Both sides need to agree to a contract before he is officially hired.
DEARBORN — The Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education on May 4 opted to promote from within and named Mike Esseily as their choice for the next superintendent of the district.
Esseily is currently the district’s executive director of Special Populations, overseeing the department that handles special education, English language learner programs, and mental health initiatives. He has held that position since 2020.
Before that he served three years as the district’s director of Special Education and two years as a special education coordinator. He started with Dearborn Schools in 2007 as a special education teacher, working at Stout Middle and Edsel Ford High schools. He then moved up to become assistant principal at Lowrey Middle School.
While the school board selected Esseily from the two finalists, the board and Esseily need to negotiate a contract that both sides approve before he is officially hired. July 1 is his anticipated start date.
The decision came after the board hired the Michigan Leadership Institute to conduct a national search. Twenty-three candidates applied, and the board selected six people, including two from out of state, for initial interviews. That list was pared to three finalists, but one withdrew, leaving Esseily and Moussa Hamka, assistant superintendent of Human Resources for Grosse Pointe Public Schools.
Dearborn Public Schools is the third largest district in the state, with 20,000 students in preschool through high school. The district has about 2,700 employees.
The district’s former superintendent, Glenn Maleyko, left the district last fall to become State Superintendent overseeing the Michigan Department of Education. He had served 10 years as the district’s superintendent and almost 20 years before that as a Dearborn Public Schools employee.