After three long days of interviews and deliberations, it didn't take long for the control board and the school committee to pick who would run the schools.

It's Alan Ingram, the Chief Accountability Officer for the school system in Oklahoma City. To city leaders, his intangibles and his community involvement is what made the retired Air Force chief master sergeant rise above the rest.

"Set the bar high, keep it high for all students, but more importantly we want to work with schools, with teachers, principals and parents to make sure we have all the support there to be successful," Ingram says about his goals.

The work he's looking to do for now is simply the basics, which means keeping students in class. Springfield schools has nearly a 50% dropout rate.

When Dr. Ingram takes over the post at 195 State Street, he'll be faced with more issues. Some include the teacher and principal situations. During his tenure, Dr. Burke switched principals around so many times, 85% of them are at new schools. And 1500 teachers in our schools have less than 5 years experience.

"Attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers is a priority. Personally, I think we need to address the class size issue," says Tim Collins, President of the Springfield Teachers Association.

All are challenges Ingram faced in his 10 years leading up to this position and he's looking forward to tackling in his first one here.

"It's hard work and we will need everyone in the community to do the work that we want to do and have the kind of success we want to have for all students," Ingram adds.

The selection is all but a done deal. The necessary background checks must be done, then Ingram's contract will be finalized.