The NISD board of trustees announced that it chose David Hicks, the current Sherman ISD superintendent, as the finalist for the district’s new superintendent at a special meeting March 29.
The search for a new superintendent began in November after Superintendent Ryder Warren announced in September he would be retiring at the end of the 2021-22 school year. Warren’s last contract day is June 30. NISD’s search process for a new superintendent put a priority on experience in fast-growing districts as well as student achievement. The board reviewed dozens of candidates and interviewed six of them, according to NISD Board President Anne Davis-Simpson.
“We believe we’ve come away with a leader who is a great fit with the qualities our community desires,” Davis-Simpson said in a March 29 NISD press release. “Dr. Hicks is a leader who puts kids first, which is our top priority.”
But as Hicks takes the helm, he is inheriting the fastest-growing school district in North Texas, according to the school district and Greg Smith, Fast Growth School Coalition executive director.
“There are several challenges associated with fast-growing districts, including building facilities to meet the needs of rapid student growth, building the capacity within a community to determine if there is a need for additional facilities, conducting and passing school bond elections, and maintaining a balanced budget while staffing conservatively,” Smith said.
The board held 17 stakeholder meetings to gather feedback on the search process throughout December and January, according to NISD’s superintendent search timeline. Stakeholders included campus principals, district leadership, community members, city officials, district committees, the faculty advisory council, the Northwest ISD Retired Teachers Association and others.
The board’s decision was based on survey data from the NISD community in addition to feedback from the stakeholder meetings, which helped the board create a candidate profile, according to the release.
The candidate had to meet four main criteria: dealt with fast growth and changing demographics; demonstrated success in student achievement across all school-related aspects; proven excellent communication skills to navigate the district’s 14 municipalities across three counties; and shown themselves to be fiscally responsible to ensure the financial stability of the district, the release states.
Now that Hicks has been named the finalist, a state-mandated 21-day waiting period must take place before he can be officially hired, according to the timeline. The board will vote to officially hire Hicks on April 19, and the new superintendent is set to begin his role May 2. However, both dates are tentative and may be subject to change.
“I believe everyone will be very impressed with how deeply the board ingrained the leadership profile that was developed from all of those stakeholder meetings,” Warren said. “And I believe everyone will be very impressed with [Hicks].”
Serving the district
In general, the role of the superintendent is to lead a school district and work with the board of trustees to create policies that guide the district, said Deborah Cron, who is the GoLead11 Superintendent Program specialist at Education Service Center Region 11, which covers Northwest ISD in addition to 76 other school districts throughout Cooke, Denton, Wise, Palo Pinto, Parker, Tarrant, Erath, Hood, Somervell and Johnson counties.
“In truth, the buck stops at the superintendent’s desk for all areas of the district,” Cron said. “The single most important job of the superintendent is to keep students safe and to ensure that they are learning what they need to know to be successful and productive citizens.”
The superintendent must always look to put students’ needs first, she said. However, the Texas public school finance system is complex, and districts must live within the constraints of that system.
Superintendents must also prioritize what is most important for their district and ensure that these needs are addressed in the budget, Cron said. At NISD, the superintendent oversees a roughly $243 million budget, according to NISD Executive Communications Director Anthony Tosie.
“There are many, many concerns and needs that seek to grab a superintendent’s attention, and some of those will require the superintendent’s time,’’ Cron said. “However, the first and foremost work of the superintendent should be on student learning for every child.”
One of the many “hats” a superintendent wears is developing a strong relationship with the board of trustees, Cron said.
The superintendent and the seven-member board of trustees are collectively known as a district’s team of eight, former Richardson ISD trustee Kim Caston said. After her 14-year tenure with the RISD board ended in June, the Texas Education Agency authorized Caston to provide team-of-eight training for districts statewide.
“The team of eight is really most effective when the board and superintendent lead and manage the district within their respective roles,” Caston said.
Hiring challenges
The Texas Association of School Administrators offers learning opportunities and advocacy efforts for state superintendents and other school administrators. Kevin Brown, the association’s executive director, said superintendents throughout the state are finding it difficult to satisfy everyone with just about any decision.
“The divisive nature of politics today makes it very difficult to really focus on the children because the adults are taking so much of the oxygen out of the space,” Brown said. “Once you’re deprived of being able to focus on your students [and] focus on serving your community, then you don’t feel like you’re fulfilling your mission. That’s why you’re seeing so many superintendents [resign].”
Cron agreed, noting there are greater numbers of superintendent openings this year. In North Texas, for example, there are superintendent openings in Richardson, Dallas and Fort Worth ISDs as of April 1. Plano and Lewisville ISDs recently filled their open superintendent positions.
One reason for the turnover, Cron noted, is that the last of the baby boomer generation is getting ready to retire. The other reason is COVID-19.
“This pandemic has resulted in a somewhat divided community—over the wearing of masks, quarantining and vaccines,” she said.
Finding a superintendent
Hicks has led Sherman ISD as superintendent for six years during a time of “unprecedented growth,” according to the March 29 press release from NISD.
In a March 29 announcement posted on YouTube, Hicks explained that his reason for leaving SISD to serve as NISD superintendent was because “it’s a wonderful opportunity” for his family.“My decision to move was not made lightly,” Hicks said in the video. “But this move will allow me to serve in the school district where my son and his family live, and where my new granddaughter will one day attend school.”
Before he became SISD’s superintendent, Hicks was area superintendent of secondary programs in Denton ISD, where he supervised middle and high school academics, athletics and fine arts, the release states. Overall, Hicks has had 33 years of experience in education.
Hicks said his first priority as superintendent is to meet people to find out what the district needs.
“I want to listen and learn, and really understand parents, students, teachers and other community leaders’ perspectives,” Hicks said to Community Impact Newspaper. “And then, [I can] determine from that how I can best support our teachers in the classroom and make a positive difference.”
As far as inheriting the fastest-growing school district in North Texas, Hicks said he is prepared from his years of experience in various “large and fast-growing” school districts.
He said the most important things to focus on are the district’s finances, maximizing resources and fostering partnerships with developers on where to place new schools. Hicks said his hope for the future of the district is for “every child to dream big” and for “teachers and parents to partner together to make every dream come true.”
“I get up every day seeking ways to make a difference; helping others and providing support is core to who I am,” he said.
William C. Wadsack contributed to this report.
