The Fort Bend ISD board of trustees unanimously approved an updated calendar for its superintendent search during its June 15 meeting.
Under the recently approved timeline, search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates will notify the board of the top five or six candidates Aug. 4. Then, the first round of interviews—which will be conducted virtually—will be held Aug. 9-11.
From there, the board is scheduled to meet for a second round of discussions Aug. 17-20, this time in person, with the top three candidates. In addition to an interview, the second round will include lunch, a driving tour of the district and dinner with each candidate, according to an itinerary presented by HYA.
The FBISD superintendent search will remain confidential, and the names of candidates will not be shared by HYA or the board of trustees.
Peter Flynn, a senior associate with HYA, said following the second round of interviews, a couple members of board will participate in a site visit while others do reference calls. A lone finalist will be named about 10 days after the second round of interviews, Flynn said.
The board voted June 7 to revise the previous superintendent search timeline, which had interviews scheduled for mid-June. At the time of that decision, a majority of the board agreed to postpone the timeline to allow for additional team-building activities with newly elected trustees.
“The process itself is still on track,” board President Dave Rosenthal said. “The thing that’s been delayed obviously is the actual interview process, but the team training that I believe is critical to bring us together to come up with the best candidate that Fort Bend ISD can get is really, really what our goal needs to be right now.”
During the June 7 meeting, several trustees expressed concerns that the district would lose candidates by delaying the search. However, HYA senior associate Rick Berry said this is not the case.
“We have talked to all of the candidates about rescheduling. Not a single one has a problem with that,” Berry said. “All of our candidates understand, you have busy schedules, we have busy schedules, they understand that. We have done searches at all different times of the year. This isn't our first rodeo. It's not the first search we've done in summer. It works, and it won't be a problem in this search.”
