D161 Holds Off on Search Firm to Pick New Superintendent

Some school board members got a tad heated Wednesday night when they broached the subject of how best to search for a new superintendent for .

The debate centered on whether help from an outside agency is needed for the search or if the district should rely on its own in-house resources. An informal board vote ruled in favor of officials holding off on hiring a search firm. Instead, they will continue distributing surveys to various groups of stakeholders.

They also took one more step during Wednesday's regular meeting, which was held at , by scheduling a Dec. 1 public forum in the district office to gather community input in lieu of—at least for now—seeking those outside services. Paying a company to do the search could come with a price tag of between $12,000 and $25,000, depending on its scope and process, Board President Mary Kenny said.

Despite which side of the coin board members were on, they all agreed on one thing: Community input is crucial to filling the shoes of former Superintendent Keith Pain, who unexpectedly retired at the end of May.

Barb Rains has been serving as the interim superintendent for the district since the summertime, while still retaining her role as Summit Hill's human resources and public relations director. She didn't weigh in during Wednesday's discussion on finding someone to permanently take the helm.

Board member Dee Molinare said the expertise of a search firm is an investment for the taxpayers. The district owes it to the community to hire professionals, she added, and a $20,000 cost is a small percentage of its $26 million budget.

"We are hiring our CEO of our school district," she said. "I am willing to admit that I have been out of the hiring arena for a number of years; it's not my area of expertise. … I can do that analysis, I don't have a problem with it. But personally, I think we owe it to our community to do it professionally and spend $20,000. … I would like to entertain that idea."

Board member Sean William Doyle partly agreed. He favored a "hybrid method," in which district officials do some of the legwork and a search firm helps guide the process. Despite which route is chosen, he and Molinare agreed that it doesn't hurt to solicit quotes from firms.

"I don't think anyone disputes that community input is absolutely critical,"  Doyle said. " … I think it's also imperative that we cast as wide a net as possible in our search. Whichever way you go about it … at some point the board has to fish or cut bait on whether to go it alone, if we're going to do a hybrid or we're going to do our own search."

Joy Murphy, the board's vice president, rallied for gathering community input before making the final decision. Despite Molinare's opinion that doing so might be redundant if a search firm is chosen down the line, board members voted in Murphy's favor.

"I would like to wait to see what we get back," Murphy said. "Once we collect all this information, can't we then see? I'm not comfortable. … I really don't want the search firm yet."

Board member George Perros said he could make a case for each of the arguments presented.

"But looking at it from a financial standpoint, before investing $20,000 plus or whatever it costs to do this, I think we need to continue the route we're going," he said, adding that community input can help guide them in the next step. "At that point, (we can) determine what they're looking at and what we're looking at … we'll have a better idea of what everyone is looking for in a new superintendent."

Perros, Murphy, Kenny and Board Secretary Denise Lenz all supported holding off on entertaining the idea of a search firm. Arms folded, Molinaire was clearly displeased with the decision.

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Do you think the board should hire a search firm to look for the new superintendent? What do you think about a town hall meeting to discuss the hiring? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section.