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Pittsburgh Schools' Board Of Directors Appoints New Superintendent

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Pittsburgh School Board of Directors Wednesday evening unanimously approved a five-year contract for incoming school superintendent, Dr. Anthony Hamlet.

His starting salary is $210,000 a year.

Hamlet called himself "a true transformational leader, not by words, but by actions and performance."

He'll replace the retiring Dr. Linda Lane.

Hamlet's background includes short stints with two NFL teams, the Seattle Seahawks and the Indianapolis Colts. He also played arena football.

He was also a teacher in an alternative school setting, a school principal, and most recently, he served as an administrator in a school district in Palm Beach, Florida.

Hamlet was selected from a batch of 24 applicants, including 21 men and three women. That list was narrowed down to three finalists, and then in the end, Hamlet was chosen.

School Board Director Thomas Sumpter, currently the longest serving board member, said the way Pittsburgh picked this new superintendent could be a "model" for similar searches around the country.

Sumpter said, "We had the right criteria, and made certain we had both community and student input in the selection process."

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Hamlet sees his biggest immediate challenges as bringing students back into the district from charter and private schools, closing the achievement gap and increasing the graduation rate.

Hamlet raised a 17-year-old son himself, and after Wednesday's news conference, he was flying back to Florida to attend his son's graduation ceremony on Thursday.

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