Oakland Schools didn’t take long to choose a successor to retiring Superintendent Wanda Cook-Robinson.
Cook-Robinson announced her retirement from the Oakland Intermediate School District in a letter to staff and the school board on Tuesday, April 2. On Wednesday, April 3, Deputy Superintendent Kenneth Gutman was named to succeed her.
Cook-Robinson’s retirement is effective Aug. 30; Gutman will officially take over on Aug. 31.
“I am honored to have been entrusted with this opportunity to serve as the next Superintendent of Oakland Schools,” said Gutman. “I look forward to collaborating with the Oakland Schools Board of Education, supporting our local districts, and upholding the esteemed legacy of student achievement that Dr. Cook-Robinson has tirelessly championed.”
Gutman has 28 years of educational experience serving in leadership roles in three Oakland County school districts and was named deputy superintendent in July 2022.
He joined Walled Lake Consolidated School District in November of 2010 as superintendent. He has also been a superintendent, assistant superintendent of human resources, principal and teacher in two other districts.
In 2016, Gutman was named Region 9 Superintendent of the Year by the Michigan Association of School Administrators. Region 9 covers school districts in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
In 2019, the 13,000 student district passed a $319 million bond for Building, Infrastructure, and Equity—the second-largest bond ever in the state at the time.
Cook-Robinson was hired as superintendent by the Oakland County school board in June 2015, taking over for Vicki Markavitch, who is serving as the current interim superintendent at Oxford schools.
