The hiring process will include three phases and is expected to last throughout the summer.
Helping coordinate the search will be law firm O’Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo, which was picked by the RISD board of trustees during its April 19 meeting.
“I feel like they hear our community,” board President Regina Harris said of the firm during the April 19 meeting. “I feel like they were actually a piece of RISD, and [that] is absolutely what we need right now.”
Throughout May, the search firm will distribute surveys and conduct focus groups to allow RISD community members to provide input into desirable traits and characteristics to look for in the district's the next superintendent.
Additionally, there will be four town hall meetings held in May to gather input from the public. The first meeting will be held in the J.J. Pearce High School library at 6 p.m. May 12. The next meeting will be in the Richardson High School auditorium at 10 a.m. May 14. Community meetings conducted in Spanish also will take place following the May 12 meeting at 7:30 p.m. and after the May 14 meeting at 11:30 a.m.
The following week, a town hall meeting will be held at Lake Highlands High School at 6 p.m. May 17 with a community meeting conducted in Arabic scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m.
The final town hall meeting will be held at 6 p.m. May 19 at the Berkner High School lecture hall, followed by a community meeting in Vietnamese at 7:30 p.m.
The RISD board will use the community input to develop a candidate profile during its May 31 meeting, according to a district news release.
Applications are expected to be open for candidates June 1-28 with a first round of interviews to be conducted in mid-July. A lone finalist is scheduled to be named during the RISD board's July 18 meeting. Aug. 9 will serve as the new superintendent’s first day of employment in preparation for the 2022-23 school year, which begins Aug. 16.
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.
