Community offered opportunity to speak on new superintendent characteristics

By Amanda Duncan
news@wood.cm
Posted 10/9/19

The Mineola ISD board of trustees approved a general timeline for the new superintendent search last Tuesday.

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Community offered opportunity to speak on new superintendent characteristics

Posted

The Mineola ISD board of trustees approved a general timeline for the new superintendent search last Tuesday.

Interim Superintendent Randy Hancock asked the board to begin the process of developing a profile of characteristics they would like to see in the next superintendent at the regular MISD board meeting Oct. 21. 

Hancock will also be gathering information from school staff and community members on their desired superintendent characteristics and their thoughts at a meeting the community will be invited to attend. The public meeting will be held Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the administration building from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

The superintendent vacancy has been posted on Texas ISD and Mineola ISD websites, with the deadline for applications Nov. 13.

The MISD board will meet to review applications and select the candidates they wish to interview on Nov. 18 or 19. Thirty to forty applications are expected. 

The first round of interviews, usually of 5-6 candidates, will be during the week of Dec 2-6. The second round of interviews of the top 2-3 candidates chosen will be held the week of Dec 9-13. The lone finalist will be named on the last night of interviews. 

The superintendent process is a closed process by law. To protect their anonymity in their current district, candidates names can not be released to the public by anyone associated with the school.

After announcing the lone finalist, a 21-day period begins where anyone can do research on the finalist before they’re hired. 

“It’s a time to check references and get into, is this person really who they say they are,” said Hancock.

After 21 days, a vote to hire and approve the contract of the new superintendent will be taken by the board. 

“You lose the right to know all along who they’re thinking about, but when it comes down to the end, you’ve got three weeks to see if they are who they say they are,” said Hancock, speaking to the group of parents at the meeting. 

Before approving the timeline, Hancock urged the board to check their calendars for conflicting dates.

“On interview nights, it is critical that you all be here every interview night because if you miss one, you really need to miss them all. That’s the plain honest truth. You can’t possibly compare candidates if you haven’t heard them all.”

The vote to hire will be Jan. 3. Start date of the new superintendent will be on or before Feb 3.