Although superintendents are essential to a school system, most people are not educated about the process of finding a new one. Since Superintendent Greg Walker is retiring in December, many people at Paoli are becoming familiar with the process as the search begins for who will take his place.
Walker has been at Paoli since October 1, 2018, and will complete his seventh year when he retires at the end of December.
To help the School Board find a new superintendent, the school has hired an outside group to help.
“The board has hired a group called the University Search Team and they are made up of a professor from each of the big four schools, IU, Indiana State, Ball State, and Purdue. They are the professors who teach the superintendent program,” said Walker.
Walker mentioned four professors who are part of the process, these include: Michele Moore from IU, Terry McDaniel from Indiana State, Marilynn Quick from Ball State, and Alice Johnson from Purdue.
A message on the University Search Team website states: “Each of the four state universities — BSU, IU, ISU, and Purdue — sends a faculty member to provide this service to the state. It is the teams’ goal to understand community needs and, in turn, work with school boards to curate a pool of candidates that best reflects those needs, leading to the eventual hire and placement of a superintendent.”
McDaniel from ISU is part of the University Search Team and has helped the school start the search process.
“Dr. Terry McDaniel from Indiana State, who was my old professor, is helping with the search survey. So the plan is to post in February that they’ve sent out a survey to stakeholders asking them questions, and the school board will use that to help guide their decision,” said Walker.
The intended audience of the Superintendent Search Survey included parents of elementary, middle, or high school students, staff members, administrators, community members, and members of the senior class.
The Superintendent Search Survey was posted on the Paoli Community School website and Facebook on January 20 and removed on January 31. The survey included questions on naming your district’s top three strengths, challenges, and priorities and the two most important personal characteristics and professional skills the next superintendent should possess.
McDaniel sent the Superintendent Search Survey to Walker with the instructions to have it up for roughly two weeks and then run the results and see what the community expects from the new superintendent.
“In my opinion, we have to have somebody strong with school budgeting and school finance curriculum, but we are sending the surveys out to see what people think,” said Walker.
Once the School Board knows what the community hopes to see in a superintendent, it will collect applications.
“The plan is to collect applications and then review those and have first interviews in March,” said Walker.
Once a superintendent has been picked, the start day depends on how experienced or confident the new superintendent is.
“I announced my retirement early to give them plenty of opportunity to do whatever they want to,” said Walker. “If we hire a first-time superintendent, they could start in July, and they can work with me for six months or start January first,” said Walker.