South Brunswick Promises Community Involvement In Superintendent Search

After loud community and teacher protests helped lead to the ouster of the previous superintendent, the South Brunswick Board of Education promised that the community would have ample input into the search for a new one. Intermen Superintendent Dr. Gary McCartney outlined the district’s planned search process and how community voices will be heard during it

“The first leg of [the process] is to seek stakeholder feedback,” McCartney said at Monday’s Board of Education meeting at South Brunswick High School.

Earlier this month, a survey was distributed through the school messenger service and social media, asking so-called stakeholders, such as parents, what they are looking for in a superintendent, as Patch reported. So far, almost 1,000 people have responded, all completing the survey in full.

McCartney announced the intention to hold community forums, which will “provide an opportunity for lots of people in our community to come together to talk about the school district and what they think of it in terms of strengths.” The intention is to work backwards: decide what the school district should look like, and find a superintendent who fits that outlook.

“We will vet candidates in accordance to all the stakeholder feedback,” McCartney said. “In other words, we’re asking people to share with us will be what we use to vet applications and make judgements about who best meets the criteria that South Brunswick School District has set forth to judge their next superintendent.”

Community involvement will go beyond just collecting feedback. Members of the community and staff will be members of the interview committee, participating actively in the first round of interviews, set to take place on January. A January interview round was decided on to accommodate any new school board members, should seats change hands in the upcoming election, and avoid conflicts with the December holiday season.

The second round of interviews and all final decisions will be made by the school board. “We want to involve stakeholders to the extent that we can, but not the extent of taking away a purpose of the school board, their most important purpose to select their leader,” McCartney said.

If all goes according to plan, South Brunswick’s new superintendent will start on the first day of the next contract year: July 1, 2017.

Proposed Superintendent Search Timeline
September: Collect community feedback
October Into November: Advertise the position and begin vetting candidates.
January: First round of interviews will begin.
End of February: A final candidate will be selected for the position.
July 1, 2017: A new superintendent will start on the first day of the new contract year.

Photo: South Brunswick High School