The search for a new superintendent to lead Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. next year is in its infancy, but the school board president expects the position will be filled well before the end of the school year.
Current Superintendent John Quick announced in late September that he would retire at the end of the school year, and the school board approved his retirement at its Sept. 28 meeting.
Since then, the seven-member board — whose members have never had to replace a superintendent — has been meeting with an advisory council of education leaders from state universities to learn more about the process of finding a new leader.
As a first step, school board President Bob Abrams said he and the other board members held an executive session Friday to finalize the application package.
That package will include information about the school district, expectations for the new superintendent and the actual application, Abrams said.
It likely will be released in the next two weeks.
Because the package is not public yet, there currently are no candidates. However, educators in the state’s school administration network know about the opening, Abrams said, so potential candidates are likely already thinking about applying for the position.
“We want to get out as early as we can to hopefully get excellent candidates before they sign up elsewhere,” Abrams said. “We expect it will be a sought-after position.”
The board also is working to develop a survey to distribute to community members, who will be asked to provide their expectations for the next superintendent. That survey will be released during the holiday season, with the results hopefully coming in around the same time as applications.
The exact interview and selection schedule is still being finalized, Abrams said, but the advisory council told board members that it is possible to have a candidate selected early next year.
“It’s a schedule that is aggressive, and if things slide around a little bit we’ll be OK,” Abrams said. “We’re hoping that it will be quite a bit earlier than the end of the school year when we’re in the position to make a final decision.”
Quick, who is in his 13th year as the district’s superintendent, is paid $156,369 annually.
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The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board is meeting with an advisory council consisting of education professors from Ball State, Indiana, Indiana State and Purdue universities to learn more about the process of hiring a new superintendent to replace John Quick, whose retirement will be effective July 1.
Within the next few weeks, the official application package will be publicly released.
A survey will go out between Thanksgiving and Christmas to get the public’s input on expectations for the next superintendent.
Interviews will likely begin in early 2016, and the board will tentatively make its final decision within the first few months of the year.
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