Perry County begins process of seeking new school superintendent

Perry County School District's staff and the Perryville, Missouri, community soon will have an opportunity to participate in the district's search for its next superintendent.

Jerry Waddle, a search consultant for the Missouri School Boards' Association, will be conducting two focus-group discussions with the staff and public to gather input on the superintendent search.

The first forum begins at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday for staff, and the second begins at 5:30 p.m. for parents and the community.

Both will take place in the Perryville High School cafeteria.

Each meeting will last about one hour, Waddle said, and will include a description of the search process, followed by time for participants to voice thoughts or concerns.

Superintendent Scott Ireland submitted his resignation to the board last month, with his last day set for the end of his contract June 30.

The decision to resign was difficult, Ireland said in a recent interview. But the school board is divided, he said, and has lost sight of what's important.

The board accepted Ireland's resignation and voted to have the MSBA conduct the superintendent search.

"We offer to the board, when we help with one of these searches, the opportunity to get input from the staff and community, so that they have the community's feelings and the staff's feelings about what they feel are the most important traits or characteristics for the new person to have, some of the greater needs the district has, those sorts of things," Waddle said.

"The hope is to give the board some guidance in what their citizens think and also what their employees think."

Waddle tells board members not to attend the forums so participants won't feel intimidated, he said. The only board member who will be there is board president Nancy Voelker, who will introduce Waddle and then leave. Waddle will take notes, he said, and provide the information to the board.

Waddle said he stresses to the board and community the MSBA is not there to select the next superintendent.

"Our goal is to market the position and collect the applications," he said. "In addition to that, we do the initial screening, and based on checking references and all those kinds of things, we point them toward what we feel are their stronger candidates. Then they choose who they want to interview, and we set up the interviews for them. We're not involved directly in the interview process; the board does that.

"And we have sample questions for the board to pick from, or they can write their own questions. We stress to the board that they should use the same questions for every candidate. Otherwise, they're comparing apples to oranges."

The board also will participate in a mini-training session on interviewing candidates and then will conduct the interviews.

"Then they make the decision," he said. "We just guide them through the process, primarily."

There also will be an opportunity for the staff and public to take an online survey. The results of the survey will be summarized and won't include the participants' names, he said, and a report will be given to the board.

Those who do not attend the meetings can participate in the survey, which will be available on the district's website from Tuesday through Nov. 17. The deadline for applications is Nov. 30, and interviews will be conducted Dec. 8 through 21, according to the school district. The position is expected to be filled by Jan. 8, with duties beginning July 1.

klamb@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3639

Pertinent address:

326 College St., Perryville, Mo.