CISD to consider interim superintendent

Clarendon school trustees will meet this week to consider naming an interim superintendent as they prepare for the expected January departure of Superintendent Monty Hysinger.

The board plans to meet Thursday, November 20, in a called session at 7 p.m. The agenda includes possible action to hire an Interim Superintendent of Schools and consideration of Superintendent Search Services, Process, and Timelines.

Trustees met in regular session last Thursday, November 13, and listened to a presentation by Region 16 Education Service Center Executive Director John Bass, who discussed processes for hiring a superintendent.

Bass, a former superintendent himself, said he thinks this is a good time for Clarendon to search for a superintendent.

“I think you’ll get a lot of good applicants,” Bass said, noting CISD’s record of administrative stability, its testing scores, and its finances. “There are about 55 openings across the state right now.”

Bass reviewed the legal requirements for filling the school’s top job and discussed the pros and cons of different search methods.

Whatever method the school board chooses, CISD must name a finalist or finalists 21 days before the board acts to hire someone.

Trustee Reneé Mott asked Bass for clarification on that point.

“So we could name two or three finalists,” Mott asked.

Bass said the district can name more than one finalist but said that it is not often that a district names more than a “lone finalist.”

“[An applicant’s] star loses some of its luster at home when people find out they’re looking,” Bass said.

Most districts in Region 16 do the search themselves, Bass said. Consultants’ prices can vary with a search conducted by the Texas Association of School Boards costing in the neighborhood of $7,000 to $8,000.

“This is the biggest job that a school board does, hiring a superintendent,” he said.

The board then met in closed session with Bass for more than an hour to discuss names of possible interim candidates before returning to open session and adjourning.