The Higley Unified School District will conduct its own search for its next superintendent.
The HUSD Governing Board unanimously decided Oct. 29 to forgo the use of a search firm and run its own search behind Human Resources Executive Director Karen Johnson as well as Chief Financial Officer Tyler Moore.
“Congratulations?” President Michelle Anderson told Johnson after the board voted, then chuckled, an acknowledgment of the enormity of the task in front of Johnson and district employees in conducting a nationwide search for the district’s next leader.
The decision was made, at least in part, because of the frustrations with last year’s failed search, which was led by the search firm Ray and Associates.
That search led to the selection of Nate Carman from the Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, Texas. However, the board quickly had to withdraw the offer after Socorro placed Carman on administrative leave March 25 as an external forensics audit identified him as having a possible conflict of interest regarding district purchasing decisions.
Instead, the board elevated interim Superintendent Sherry Richards to the full-time superintendent for the year. However, Richards intends to retire at the end of the school year, a decision she postponed when Carman’s contract was rescinded.
In weighing conducting the search themselves or hiring a search firm, board members hinted at frustration with last year’s search that went beyond the outcome.
Board Member Kristina Reese, the senior member of the board who is finishing her third term this year dating back to 2013, said there are pros and cons to each method. Reese’s tenure includes working with four superintendents, and she said the board has conducted both kinds of searches during her time at HUSD.
“I personally prefer the in-house method just because I think that everyone that's talking to these candidates, they have a vested interest in who comes and what happens.” she said. “And we have some control on what our candidates look like, if you will, versus ‘we've vetted these and here these are the ones we believe based on your criteria that are your top ones.’”
Reese said she saw some of the applicants last time who were excluded from the pool presented to the district because they did not “check some box.”
“I know for me, looking through some of them, I didn't understand why it wouldn't have checked a box and thought well that candidate might have been maybe a good candidate,” she said.
She said there also is some slight cost savings with an in-house search.
Board Member Tiffany Shultz said she had been concerned about the time involved and burden on the staff to conduct the search in house, but said she loved Reese’s points.
“We were frustrated with the process previously, and I have the confidence in Mrs. Johnson that she can definitely make this happen,” she said.
Board members discussed not being part of the stakeholder panels that do initial screening interviews as they will do final interviews and the selection.
President Michelle Anderson expressed a concern about the reach of the district to conduct a nationwide search as opposed to a search firm that has preexisting relationships with districts and leaders from around the country.
She also said she was worried about overextending the staff, but Johnson told the board she believed it was feasible for her staff to take it on.
Ultimately, it was Anderson who moved for the search to be conducted by the district with Shultz seconding.
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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