Superintendent Screening Committee holds first meeting

The six individuals tasked with developing a list of possible candidates for the next Superintendent of the McCreary County School System met for the first time Monday evening, starting the process to find the next leader of the District.

The committee, comprised of Board Chairman Brandon Kidd, Principal representative Sharon Privett, parent Jennifer Meadows, Classified Staff representative Timothy Lykins and Teachers Cindy Moore and Angela Loudermilk, were elected by their peers to serve and will review all applicants for the position.

Kentucky School Board Association representative Tim Eaton will guide the committee through the process. The KSBA was chosen to assist the District through the screening process, and has helped with more than 200 Superintendent searches in Kentucky districts over the years.

The McCreary County Board of Education set forth a list of criteria they would like the next Superintendent to have, including: experience with budgeting, school finances, facility planning and a working knowledge of the Kentucky Education System, administrative experience, effective communication skills, strong morals, ethics and integrity and proven leadership skills.

Eaton presented the committee members with information on all applicants to the position who responded to the official advertisement posted last month.

A total of 18 applications were received, but four did not provide all necessary materials, such as resume, criminal background check and proof of Kentucky Superintendent Certification, and will not be considered as viable candidates.

According to Eaton, of the 18 applications, 16 were from men and two from women. Three were current superintendents in other districts, seven were principals, three in school district administration, three retired, one teacher and one from an educational organization.

A dozen of the candidates were from within Kentucky and six from out of state.

The Board opted to disallow out-of-state candidates on the basis that one of the criteria for the position includes knowledge of how the Kentucky Educational System works.

With the incomplete and out of state applications out of consideration, the committee will have between eight and 12 applicants to review over the next month.

The committee will meet at least twice more before presenting a list of up to five potential candidates for the position to the Board in January.

Their next meeting will be held on or around January 5, where they will discuss the list of candidates and narrow down their selections to about five and begin a deeper look into the applicants by beginning to check references.

A week later they will reconvene to finalize their choices and prepare the recommendations for final consideration.

On January 19 the committee will meet for a final time in a joint session with the Board of Education, where they will present their recommendations to the Board.

The Board is not required to accept the committee’s recommendation if they choose not to, and can order them to submit a new list of potential candidates, or opt to interview applicants not chosen by the committee.

From that point the Board takes over the process, arranging interviews with the candidates to take place over the following week.

The plan is to hire a new Superintendent by February 1, 2016.