The Hays CISD board of trustees plans to choose a new superintendent by May 1.
At a special meeting of the Hays CISD board of trustees April 9, board members discussed the search that began after former Superintendent Jeremy Lyon was named the lone finalist to lead the Frisco Independent School District.
Board President Willie Tenorio said the process is still on schedule, and the public survey and input sessions provided valuable guidance for the board's search.
"We had 800-and-something surveys turned in," Tenorio said. "The consultant told us that's stellar for a district of our size. That's way above average."
Tenorio said there were a couple of recurring themes throughout the public-input process.
"I think it was pretty clear that the community wants somebody who is a good, strong instructional leader," Tenorio said. "They want someone with a good solid background in student achievement and increasing student achievement."
Tenorio said the other recurring theme of the public input was having a "highly visible" superintendent. Parents, administrators and teachers expressed a desire to have a district leader who would be available at campus events and throughout the regular school day, he said.
Robert Stockwell, a representative of Proact, the firm handling the search process, said the district received 111 applications, and 54 percent of those were from people in Texas.
Proact will whittle down the list of applications to 12–15 for the board members to review. From that pool, they will select 7–9 candidates to interview.
The board will then be faced with a decision of whether to announce a lone finalist or multiple finalists. Candidates who are currently employed by other school districts may not wish to go public with the announcement unless they are sure they have the job.
Under state law, the board cannot offer the lone finalist a contract until 21 days after the announcement is made.
Stockwell said the timeline for the search was scheduled to go as follows:
- April 15: Board creates the final pool of candidates to be interviewed via Skype
- April 17–18: Board interviews final pool of 7–9 candidates
- April 19–26: Proact conducts deep background checks of candidates
- May 1: District makes public announcement of the finalist or finalists
