The Ann Arbor school board is interviewing six candidates to become the next superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools this week. AnnArbor.com is profiling each of the candidates after their interviews.

Despite the budget challenges facing school districts in the state of Michigan, Ann Arbor superintendent candidate Shelley Redinger believes the district would keep instituting new programs if she won the job.

She said she has faced budget crises in her current district in Oregon and public school districts must continue to give choices to parents and students to keep them satisfied.

“Even in tough budget times, you have to get more creative and have to have more choice,” Redinger said. “We’re not the only game in town in public education and we have to be aware of that and market ourselves to keep all of our students.”

Redinger was the fourth candidate for the AAPS superintendent position to interview with the school board. Candidate Patricia Green was interviewed Tuesday. The board also interviewed William DeFrance and Manuel Rodriguez Wednesday. Two more candidates will be interviewed Friday, and the board plans to select finalists after that.

Redinger has served as the superintendent of the Oregon Trail School District in Sandy, Ore., since 2007. She has previously been a teacher at the elementary and middle school levels, a principal and an administrator in the district. Oregon Trail schools have an enrollment of about 4,000 students.

She has a bachelor’s degree in arts and a master’s degree in education from Washington State University. She also holds a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in philosophy in educational administration from the University of South Carolina.

Redinger detailed many of her philosophies about working with people during her interview. She told the board she doesn’t communicate through e-mail very often, preferring to set up face-to-face meetings or phone calls to get a better sense of people and how they feel about an issue.

She said her current district works a lot on doing outreach to various stakeholders in the district, which helps encourage multiculturalism in schools. Redinger said she always wants the minority populations in the district to be recognized and understood.

“The worst thing to do is have an event at the school and just say ‘No one came,’” she said. “The most important thing is to say what would you like, what do you need, so they can be more involved.”

Redinger said if she is hired, one of the first things she would do is begin meeting with staff and community members to get their input on the district.

She said she looked forward to getting involved in the district’s strategic planning process as AAPS gets set to review and retool portions of the document in the next year. Redinger said it would be important for her to make sure everyone is on the same page as the district moves forward.

“We have an opportunity here to start with a little bit of a different plan, but we have to make sure it’s something everyone wants to be a part of,” she said.

Redinger said she’s fostered a great relationship with officials in the Oregon Trails schools — so much so that they’ve told her they want to go with her wherever she goes.

She said she looks for administrators who accept that their job improving schools and working for the district does not end at 5 p.m. She said she believes her job is a lifestyle and expects her employees to feel the same way about what they do.

Redinger said she’s helped fostered innovation in her district by improving the high school career and technical programs through working with a local community college. She said she’s actively involved with business leaders in her community and would bring those partnership skills to Ann Arbor.

“As a school system, we can’t wait for people to come to us,” she said. “We have to reach out and go to them and that’s how you form these partnerships.”

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.