Duval County School Board develops superintendent search timeline
10/17/2017
Strong leadership at every level of our public school system is crucial to the success of Duval County students. Today, the Duval County School Board met to develop its plan for selecting a new superintendent. Among the board’s priorities is conducting a succinct search, with the goal of selecting a new superintendent by March 2018.
Board Members Cheryl Grymes and Becki Couch voiced concerns that potential superintendent candidates may be put off by the upcoming school board elections in November 2018 because, if the search runs long, the selected superintendent will quickly be working with up to three new school board members. The board agreed that having a new superintendent in place for the 2018-19 school year and providing an opportunity for him or her to work with interim superintendent Dr. Willis benefits the district.
Based on these considerations, the board formulated the following preliminary timeline:
- Board completes Master Board training on October 30.
- Board holds community meetings on November 6, 8, 13, 16. These will be held at Raines, Terry Parker, Atlantic Coast, and Ed White (TBD on which schools correspond with the dates). The board is seeking input on leadership characteristics and the strategic targets.
- Board finalizes a district leadership profile before the upcoming holidays.
- Board, by Thanksgiving, finalizes the Request for Proposals that will be sent to prospective superintendent search firms.
- Proposals from prospective search firms will come back in early January for the board to review. The board will then conduct search firm interviews.
- Board will hold a special board meeting to select the firm.
- Board will host events for the community to meet superintendent candidates.
- Board will choose a superintendent in March 2018.
We look forward to participating in the November community meetings and other forthcoming engagement opportunities. As developments occur, we will post updates to our Superintendent Search page. In the meantime, learn more about why the choice of superintendent is so vital and how other large districts have selected their superintendents.