2009.04.22
Board searching for help with superintendent hunt
Here's a more in-depth look at the Montgomery school board's first crack at finding a new superintendent.
Montgomery County has more to offer than just Virginia Tech, school board members say, and they want to find a headhunter willing to promote the whole county to prospective superintendent candidates.
The board could start hearing from those companies soon after deciding at its meeting Tuesday night to send out a request for proposal to find a firm. It’s the first step in hiring someone to replace outgoing Superintendent Tiffany Anderson, whose last day with the district is June 30.
The vote to circulate the proposal was 5-1, with board member Joe Ivers dissenting. Board chairman Wendell Jones was absent from the meeting.
Ivers said he’s worried about what a national firm might cost and that he has already heard complaints for residents about the potential cost of such a search in “tough times.”
In 2004, Iowa-based Ray and Associates, who conducted the search that led to Anderson’s hiring, cost the board about $25,000.
The board’s request for proposals will be placed in local publications, not to exceed a cost of about $100. State law does allow the central office purchasing department to contact firms it’s deal with in the past directly.
Once selected, the company will help craft an advertisement for the superintendent’s job. That ad will be circulated nationally in both education trade publications and local media.
The request for proposals — essentially an ad with specified tasks for a firm, such as arranging candidate visits and suggesting an interview format — is identical to the one used in 2004. Those responses were due 17 days after it was advertised.
Before hiring Ray and Associates, board members looked at several options, including using the Virginia Schools Boards Association’s superintendent search service. However, board members said they didn’t choose the association because it suggested promoting Virginia Tech as the county’s most valuable asset.
Ivers said thinking about local resources is good. The national search for candidates could actually limit the applicant pool, he said.
“What a national search does ... is discourages people in the region to apply who think they won’t do well,” he said.
The rest of the board said that notion is inaccurate, and said they’d be willing to put up local candidates against anyone who applies. Still, they plan to look broadly to help improve the school system, not just keep the status quo.
“The University of North Carolina didn’t building a national championship [basketball] team by recruiting only in the state of North Carolina,” said board member David Dunkenberger.
Ivers defended his position, saying he does want to improve the district, but he wants to look for someone already in the county or Southwest Virginia first.
He suggested the board take its time with the search and name an interim superintendent from within the district.
The board must find a new superintendent within 180 days after Anderson departs. State law says an interim position does not count.
The board hasn’t set a time frame for filling the position, nor has it decided on what it wants in its next schools chief — both pieces of information a search firm would expect to receive when hired. Board members have agreed that they’d like to find someone before school begins, although the time is short.
Anderson’s replacement will be the third schools chief in Montgomery County since 1998.
What would you like to see in a new superintendent?
