GISD interviewing superintendent candidates next week

GISD interviewing superintendent candidates next week News Staff Fri, 10/04/2024 - 10:21 am

• (ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Doug Williams speaks Thursday, June 13 with the Graham ISD Board of Trustees as a representative of Impact Education Specialists. IES was chosen Monday, June 17 as the search firm for a new superintendent for the district.
• (THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Graham ISD Board of Trustees member Lauren Mahaney provides three reasons why a prospective superintendent should apply to take the position in Graham. The board met with Impact Education Specialists in a special meeting Thursday, Aug. 1 to establish a superintendent profile.

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Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com

After narrowing down the list of potential superintendent candidates, the Graham ISD Board of Trustees is set to conduct interviews next week.

Four special meetings of the GISD board are scheduled next week with the only item in executive session to interview candidates for the superintendent position. The meetings are set for 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7 and at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 8-10 at the Graham ISD administration office at 400 Third St.

The board met Monday, Sept. 16 and Monday, Sept. 23 to conduct a superintendent candidate review and narrow the over 40 applicants pursuing the position. The district is looking to name a lone finalist around Wednesday, Oct. 23 and have a new superintendent in place after Thanksgiving.

The resignation of Superintendent Sonny Cruse was accepted by the board during a special-called meeting Tuesday, May 28, and will be effective at the end of December.

Impact Education Specialists (IES), who were hired as a superintendent search firm by the GISD Board of Trustees in June, provided an update Tuesday, Sept. 10.

The superintendent search firm met with the school board Thursday, Aug. 1 to establish a profile of what they are looking for from potential candidates. During that meeting, Board President Chris Blanton and the other board members said they want a superintendent that can connect with teaching and instruction staff.

“I think that’s really important,” Blanton said. “Our teachers are our largest advocate group, and I think we really need a superintendent that connects with them in some way or another.”

The board members also talked about wanting strong leadership qualities, a classroom focus, good communication and a long-term plan for the district.

The superintendent search firm returned to the district Monday, Aug. 26 for community input sessions with members chosen by the district.

The community input sessions consisted of central office personnel, campus principals, teachers from every campus, parents and community members.

The sessions from the report will be used by IES to develop questions for the board interview process.

Members in the sessions were first asked three questions: What are the strengths of GISD? What are areas that could be improved? What characteristics and skills do they believe the new superintendent should possess? Responses were split into categories and grouped according to similar themes.

“Attendees selected the strengths and areas to improve that they believed to be the most important by sticking a red dot next to the response,” the report states.

The members worked together to identify characteristics and skills required to enhance the district’s strengths and push for improvement.

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