O’Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo was one of three search firms that did presentations for trustees on how they would go about assisting the district during a previous meeting April 13.
“I feel like they hear our community,” board President Regina Harris said of the firm. “I feel like they were actually a piece of RISD, and [that] is absolutely what we need right now.”
RISD interim Superintendent Tabitha Branum was appointed in December following the resignation of former Superintendent Jeannie Stone. Branum told Community Impact Newspaper earlier this year that she plans to apply for the permanent superintendent position when it is posted.
As part of its presentation, O’Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo assured the board that any new trustees elected in the May 7 general election will have the same input into the selection process for the next superintendent as the existing members, Trustee Megan Timme said.
Harris is unopposed in her re-election bid for the District 4 seat. Three candidates are vying for the single-member District 2 seat, including incumbent Eron Linn, Sherry Clemens and Vanessa Pacheco.
The three candidates running in the single-member District 5 race are Kile Brown, Rachel McGowan and Jan Stell. That seat has been vacant since Sept. 24, when former board President Karen Clardy resigned in a letter to Stone and the other trustees.
