SCHOOL SEARCH NARROWS; SUPERINTENDENT DEADLINE IS TODAY

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Today marks the application deadline for Cape Girardeau superintendent candidates.

The Board of Education will meet Tuesday in closed session to begin the actual work of selecting a new superintendent.

"We're really going to jump into it starting Tuesday," said Dr. Pat Ruopp, who is chairman of the search process. "This will be our first introduction to the candidates. No school board member has seen any of the applications. Our consultant has been handling things up until now.

"But I think we will have a good number of applicants to choose from," Ruopp said.

The board did not renew the contract of Dr. Arthur Turner, current superintendent. His contract expires at the end of June.

Dr. W. Deane Wiley, the consultant coordinating the search, said of the Tuesday meeting, "It will be quite an extensive meeting.

"I will go through all the candidates one by one and explain to them (the board) everything I have been able to find out. I will have checked references and talked with people I happen to know around their school districts."

The goal for Tuesday's meeting is to come up with between four and six semi-finalists, Wiley said.

The names of these semi-finalists will be kept secret.

On March 1-3 the board will be in St. Louis to conduct interviews with the semi-finalists, Ruopp said.

"We will fly these people in to interview them," Ruopp said.

"We will undergo a pretty serious interview process with each of these candidates," Wiley said.

"At the end of those interviews, we will have about three candidates," he said. "I want to publicize who these people are."

These three or so finalists will be brought to Cape Girardeau to meet with the community. "We will probably try to schedule a full day, bring them in to talk with administrators, teachers and the public."

Wiley said public meetings will be scheduled with each of the finalists.

"We will not be asking people to vote on them, but we will be asking for written comments on cards we will provide," he said. "And we will be asking for questions in writing for the candidates."

He said board members will attend each of these sessions "to see how the candidates perform in public and under pressure."

Wiley said, "I believe superintendents have to be very public people. If they don't like that, they ought not go for the job.

"When we entrust the minds of all the children in a community to one person, the processes ought to be as open as possible."

But he said the application process must be kept private. "Not everyone who applies will be selected," he said. "We have a responsibility to protect the anonymity of candidates who won't get the job."

Wiley said after the candidates visit Cape Girardeau, board members will visit the home towns of the finalists that are still in the running.

Ruopp said: "We want to have a really good idea that this is exactly the person we want."

Wiley said: "We will visit with their board members if they are superintendents, or with the people they work with. They (board members) will try to find out everything they can. Shortly after that, the board will announce its choice.

"If everything goes smoothly and according to plan," Wiley said, "by April 1 they should have the new superintendent."

Wiley said he was pleased with the applications. "We have a wide array of candidates, including more than 20 current superintendents and a wide variety of other people who have long and good histories in education."

Wiley said the candidates come from several states, including South Dakota, Texas, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri.

"The response to the position has been very good, which speaks very highly for Cape Girardeau," he said. "I felt this was a choice place to be a superintendent and felt the school administrators would feel the same way."

Wiley said prior to today's deadline that he conducted over 200 interviews with Cape Girardeau individuals.

"This information from the community was used in private communications to the board," Wiley said. He said the information has been kept secret to protect the identity of those making comments.

"Page after page of direct quotes and information about what the community is looking for has been given to the board," he said.

After the new superintendent is selected, Wiley said, the list will be made public. "I would hold it up as a standard over the next few years to judge the performance of the new superintendent."