Oak Park Elementary School District 97 has taken another step toward finding a new superintendent: hiring a search firm and setting an ambitious schedule to make a hire by early May.
The School Board has brought on Hazzard Young Attea and Associates, and hopes to have a new superintendent in place by July 1. That’s when Dr. Albert Roberts, who tendered his resignation on Jan. 5, steps down.
“We want to spend the time to tailor the search to the Oak Park District 97 schools,” the search firm’s founding partner William J. Attea said at the School Board meeting Jan. 27. “Your criteria are our marching orders.”
The board expects to conduct public forums 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at Percy Julian Middle School and 7 p.m. Feb. 11 at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School to gather input on criteria from the community.
District 97 also is conducting a survey through Feb. 18 to help identify community priorities. The public can access the survey through the district’s website at http://www.op97.org/suptsearch/.
Hazzard Young Attea will debrief the board on the outcome of the forums and survey at its Feb. 24 meeting.
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The search firm was selected following a public interview by the board with candidate search firms a week earlier.
“We will not only tell you how good they are, we will also tell you what we’ve learned about their weaknesses as well as their strengths,” Attea assured the board.
Though Attea said he favors transparency, the search and interview process itself will be largely closed to the public to attract the best candidates. He said his company has experienced instances in the past when the identities of candidates were released prematurely, which caused problems for sitting superintendents when they returned to their districts.
“Today, board members feel it’s a defection of loyalty if they even look at another job,” he said. “With Twitter and Facebook, you can be in Europe, and it could hurt you.”
However, there are risks to District 97 in conducting a confidential search.
“Because the community feels it’s locked out of the search … It would impact their effectiveness once hired,” Attea said.
Following a national search, Attea said he expects to present the board with up to six candidates to interview the week of April 20 following a six-week to eight-week active search.
“Candidates appreciate seeing all the board members when they come to meet with you,” he said
Internal candidates will be required to go through the same steps as external candidates, the board and Attea agreed.
“Our recommendation is that internal candidates be treated like all other candidates,” Attea said. “They tend to have an advantage because they know the system. They have a disadvantage because no one is perfect, and you tend to know the warts of the person you live with.”
One issue of great concern is that the school board doing the search won’t have the same members as the board who will be working with the new superintendent. Though current Board President Robert Spatz and Board member Jim O’Connor are defending their current seats in the April election, Peter Traczyk and Denise Sacks are leaving the board.
That means at least two of the newcomers vying for their seats would have a limited say in who was selected, since they could possibly be seated on the same day a new superintendent is officially hired.
Board candidate Marcus Croom, who attended the search firm interview with the board and has attended board meetings regularly over the past couple of months, said he’s not sure whether the board is doing enough to deal with that possibility.
“I am indecisive at this point. I need more information about what will actually take place,” he said.
Board candidate Rick Boultinghouse, who has attended board meetings regularly for more than a year and serves on the district’s Committee for Legislative Action, Intervention and Monitoring committee, said he thinks the board is doing what it can.
“I appreciate the fact is that the board is in a very tough situation with the timeline,” he said. “It’s incumbent on me to express me thought a feelings on the process, and I feel I am being given that opportunity.”
Rebecca R. Bibbs is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.