The Board had a preliminary discussion regarding the process and priorities for selecting the District’s next Superintendent.
Tuesday's discussion was about the general process and the Board's priorities for the search, including the desired characteristics and qualifications of the next Superintendent. No final decisions were made.
Some of the discussion questions Board Members touched on are below:
What are we looking for in the next Superintendent?
- Someone who has experience with a similar student and community demographic and who can relate to our students and families
- Someone with prior Superintendent experience would be nice, but someone with administrative experience in a district the size of Urbana or larger would be considered if the person does not have Superintendent experience
- Someone who can take what USD has been working toward, specifically in relation to our CTE programs, and build upon our plans/goals
- A bilingual candidate would be nice for our community
What kind of search do we want to conduct? (Regional, National, or Statewide search)
- We don't want to limit the candidate to just Illinois
What makes a candidate well suited to lead our community?
- Someone who understands who were are; we are a unique district
- Someone doesn't have to be from Urbana to be successful
After the Board narrows the candidates down to the finalists, they would like them to have a community visit, visit our buildings, tour the community and have a better understanding of the area they could be joining.
As the process continues, the plan is to solicit thoughts and feedback from numerous voices, through Focus Groups and surveys:
- Teachers
- Support Staff
- Admin
- Students
- Families
- Community Partners
Search Firms
Interview search firms in open sessions -- over the next couple of regular board meetings. (School Exec Connect, IASB were both named)
The goal is to get something officially posted by early November.
