Chandler schools starts superintendent replacement process

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Chandler Unified’s school superintendent is retiring next year. The CUSD Governing Board is, in the words of one member, already behind in the process of hiring his replacement.

Or is it?

That was one point of contention at the CUSD meeting in which the board unanimously decided to issue a request for quotes for an external executive search firm to search for Superintendent Frank Narducci’s replacement.

Board member Kurt Rohrs said he believes there wouldn’t be enough time and regular meeting dates available to complete a search, screening, interview and process for the only employee hired directly by the board for that process to be completed by December.

The district’s general counsel disagreed.

“I just think we’re getting in, a little late in the process,” Rohrs told the board. “I just don’t want to be squeezed on this.”

“This is not late in the process,” Denise Lowell-Britt, the general counsel for CUSD, countered. “You’re early to start the process.”

The board voted, in its June 25 public meeting, to issue a request for quotes for the hiring of a superintendent search firm. Two days later, the board met in a planned closed session to get legal advice on exact wording of the request for quotes and other aspects of the superintendent search process.

A staff report states the request for quotes is to solicit competitive quotess and information from qualified search firms that have experience in pre-K-12 leadership recruitment, particularly within Arizona and similar K-12 systems.

CUSD chief financial officer Lana Berry said the request for quotes will include board and staff input and the board will get to view potential vendor responses before interviewing and deciding on a search firm.

Lowell-Britt said, at the June 25 meeting, one goal is to get competitive bids back from potential search firms relatively quickly. Once a firm is chosen, the board can work closely on timelines, deadlines and other elements of the search process.

Lowell-Britt said the timeline will likely be determined largely around doing candidate interviews in either February or March of next year, as the start of the second semester is typically when potential superintendents will be looking for and applying for new jobs.

That will allow the board to hire, announce and start transitioning toward the superintendent who will replace Narducci for the start of the 2026-27 school year on July 1 of next year.

Rohrs told the Chandler Independent that the request for quotes for the search firm did go out as scheduled on July 8. He said the plan now is to have a search firm selected and announced at the board’s Sept. 10 meeting.

Rohrs said he wants to move faster than the timeline Lowell-Britt referenced, in order to pull in top candidates and allow time for on-the-job training of a hired superintendent next spring.

“It is my position that we have a new Superintendent chosen and announced at the Dec. 10 board meeting, before the winter break, and ahead of other districts also seeking new superintendents,” Rohrs told the Independent. “Getting out later in the process risks that premium candidates may have already accepted other positions before CUSD can have a chance to consider them. We would not want to be in a position of being last in line and having to choose from ‘leftover’ candidates not deemed worthy enough for other districts.”

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.   Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.