Higley USD superintendent search timeline calls for interviews in early 2024
Screen capture from YouTube
Representatives of educational executive search firm Ray and Associates address the Higley USD Governing Board about what kind of timeline the board would like in the district's search for a new superintendent.
The Higley Unified School District will be holding interviews with prospective superintendents in January and February 2024.
The district’s governing board has hammered out a working timeline with its search firm, Ray and Associates, for the search process.
Representatives of the firm, led by Managing Director David Faltys, asked questions related to search parameters and got approval of the timeline from the governing board at its Oct. 11 meeting.
The discussion covered the timeline broken down into stages of the hiring process, including stakeholder involvement, candidate recruitment and interviews.
They also discussed the need for a promotional flyer and online application for potential candidates.
The board agreed to conduct the first round of interviews virtually to save on costs and time. Those interviews with identified top candidates are tentatively scheduled for the week of Jan. 29.
Interviews with the finalists would be conducted in person the week of Feb. 5.
The board was not prepared to answer all of Ray and Associates’ questions, but the need for a salary range for the new superintendent and the importance of transparency in the hiring process also were discussed.
The plan does call for public input early in the process. That includes an online survey this month that would seek input on the most important characteristics wanted by stakeholders for the new superintendent.
The district would hold in-person and virtual meetings with stakeholders Nov. 1-3, also to help develop the profile of what is wanted in candidates.
The new superintendent likely would not start until the new contract year July 1.
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
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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