ECS continues search for next superintendent

Published 9:29 am Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The Elizabethton Board of Education continued their discussion about the search for the next superintendent of schools during a workshop Monday night.

Board members were given an update from administrative assistant Clara Perkins on the search process.

Perkins told the board the position had been advertised in several places, including local newspapers and the Tennessee School Board Association website. She said some applications have already been received, including one from interim Superintendent Corey Gardenhour and one from an applicant who also applied to be interim superintendent but did not have the proper state qualifications.

Perkins said the plan for the application process is to post the opening locally and assess the response before expanding to a national scale.

This will help control the cost associated with the search, she said, especially during the final phase when the system has to bring the applicants in for interviews.

“We had talked about starting local to see what we get,” she said. “If we need to expand the search then we can. I think we will get a good selection of applicants to consider from this search.”

The school system will be accepting applications until March 31. Board members agreed that if a suitable number of applications have not been received in the next two weeks, then the search would be expanded.

Board chairwoman Rita Booher said she has spoken with the school principals about attending the next staff meeting to get teacher feedback on what they would like to see in the next superintendent. Booher said the principals were on board with the idea and welcomed board members to attend the next staff meeting.

“If one or two of us can attend these meetings, that would be great,” Booher said. “We just need to go in and explain what we are looking for and then let them get back to their meeting.”

The board will be holding an additional workshop on Feb. 23to allow for other school system staff and the public to offer their input on the search.

After gaining input from school system staff and the public, the board will then start working on gathering members for the input committee that screen the applicants using a blind score card. The resumes will have all identifying information blacked out and the committee members will score each applicant based on their experience and qualifications.