Interviews for Leadership

[Bonnie Berry]

Our District is currently interviewing and appointing 2 building principals. The process begins with a committee of stakeholders and a committee of administrators interviewing for the first round. The committees make recommendations to the Superintendent who interviews with the  Asst. Superintendent the candidates brought forward.  The Superintendent then moves candidates on to the Board for their input.  The Superintendent makes the final decision.  We have a new Board member and he is wondering why we do the step of the Board interviewing.  He feels the role of the superintendent is to do this without board input.  The Superintendent appreciates the input from the Board.  The Board only does this interview process for leadership roles.  How do other boards approach the interviewing of leadership positions? 

[Robbin Griffin]

We believe the stakeholders serve the Superintendent best. Stakeholder members are the folks who will directly support their principal. Our board receives an overview from the Superintendent regarding the process and successful candidate.

[Lester Olsson]

This thread is very interesting and a little surprising to me. In our district (which is very small, total of maybe 600 students) the board has the final say on the hiring of both principals and the business administrator. But before a candidate ever comes to us, he or she is first vetted by the superintendent and his/her team. If the superintendent approves, the candidate then is interviewed by a teachers committee, a committee composed of the public, and then finally the board. Although we have final say, we of course put a lot of weight into what the superintendent and his/her team thought and the other committees.

[Bill Grau]

We recently had this discussion because we have never been involved in the process. We sought out a recommendation from NYSSBA which was that the BOE should not be involved in the day to day operation of the District. That has been our policy and will continue to be our policy. We are told who the finalists are prior to interviews and we do ask questions of the Superintendent, but he is the CEO and it is his decision.

[Dr. Mary Ann Costello]

Over the years, our district has and has not brought leadership candidates to the Board for input. It usually depends on what the current superintendent feels is important to the selection process.

[Karen Burka]

Our school board also interviews finalist candidates for administrator roles. We use a prepared list of questions so that its fair to the candidates -- and the Superintendent asks for our feedback. Ultimately, she hires who she wants -- but I've been on the board four years, and she has always hired our agreed-upon preferred candidates for Principal roles and Asst. Sup'ts.

[J. David woodruff]

Our board has one, and only one hire, the superintendent of schools. We trust him/her to build an administrative team to work with. NOT a board member responsibility unless they are asked to help by the superintendent.

[Frank Chiachiere]

We ask that the superintendent, whenever possible, to submit three finalists. The finalists have been vetted by stake holder groups prior to coming to the board.The board interviews each of those finalists. A discussion of each ensues; the board asks the superintendent for their recommendation and then votes. We've used this model successfully for my nearly thirty years of my board service. No board member sits in on stake holder interviews. Great question.

[Tanya Davis]

In our district, board members are always invited to sit in on the final round of interviews for leadership positions. I think it helps to know that the person will fit into the culture of the district, and gives a bit of reassurance to those approving appointments, particularly since the board is charged with approving salary, and in the future, tenure. There was actually an interesting session on this held during the 2020 Virtual NYSSBA Conference, so there might be a recording of it available? I believe it was hosted by a Long Island district and described their recruiting and hiring process.

[Jhoanna Haynes]

Agree with others. The only hire the board is responsible for is the superintendent. We recently went through the hiring process of principal as well, and the board was not part of that. The candidates meet with other stakeholder groups including other admin, building teachers, and parents/community members. The board members were invited to observe but not participate. I think it would create future conflict bc board members don't all have experience in hiring people and deciding what is a good fit for the school.
The board is responsible for the goals and mission and vision; from this the superintendent should have enough insight of what this means for the school and the people that lead it.

[Debbie Kolod]

We do not meet with any candidates, we trust the Superintendent will make the appropriate recommendation to the Board. I think it could create a conflict of interest if a candidate for any position had an association with any of the board members, the process of not interviewing or meeting with the candidates eliminates this potential conflict.