Wake schools set timeline for hiring new superintendent
The search for a new superintendent in the Wake County Public School System opens to applicants in three days.
The Wake County Board of Education will post a two-page job advertisement Monday for its new superintendent on several education websites.
The board is listing learning recovery and equity issues as top priorities for a new superintendent to tackle. They’re listing numerous other qualities they’re looking for, including “visionary” leadership, curriculum and instructional expertise, successful goal-setting for student achievement, and strong relationships with the community outside of the school system, among other things.
The board on Friday approved the job posting, several websites to post it and a timeline for when it hopes to hire a new superintendent.
A new superintendent would oversee 198 schools, a budget of about $2 billion and a student population of about 159,000 — North Carolina’s largest and the nation’s 15th largest.
They’ll need to contend with ongoing staffing shortages, particularly among bus drivers; school assignment challenges; continuing safety reviews and concerns; expiring COVID-19 stimulus funds; and expanding pandemic learning recovery programs, among other things.
It’s a big job for the school system and also one experts have said is likely to be attractive nationwide.
On Tuesday, the board hired the North Carolina School Boards Association to conduct the search, for a fee of $21,500.
Applications will be accepted until April 24.
The school board plans to evaluate candidates using their applications and feedback from the public and employees on what they’d like to see in a new superintendent. After that, the board would meet to decide whom to invite for interviews and which questions to ask. Candidates would be interviewed, then whittled down for a final interview round.
Community and employee surveys will go out at a later date.
Per state law, candidates have a right to keep their name private before they are hired.
The board hopes to hire a superintendent by June 30 but would appoint an interim superintendent if it takes longer than that time. Education administrators are often on contracts that require 60 days or more of notice before quitting their jobs, so the district may not be able to employ their pick — if they are an external pick — before Moore retires July 1.
