School Board Adopts Timeline In Search For Superintendent
A new top administrator for Hawaii’s public schools should be selected by June, according to the plan.
The Board of Education plans to have a new superintendent selected by June under a timeline and search process that聽it approved聽Tuesday.
Throughout the new year, a search committee of three board members will work with a search firm and an advisory group 鈥 made up of parents, teachers, administrators and other stakeholders 鈥 to determine what criteria the new head of the public education system should meet and narrow the candidate list.
The timeline and search process come from by an investigative committee the board formed in November.
Discussions regarding the聽search for a new superintendent began in November after the board announced in October聽that it would look for a replacement for current Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, whose contract expires June 30.
The investigative committee advocated for the use of a search firm, saying it had approached potential donors, including the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, The Learning Coalition and Kamehameha Schools, to help pay聽a firm that will assist the board with conducting a comprehensive local and national superintendent search.
The plan is to adopt a set of desired superintendent characteristics and a job description by the end of February and post the position from February to April. Beginning in March, the search committee, advisory group and search firm work on choosing finalists聽to recommend to the board in May.
The newly formed search committee includes聽BOE Chairman Lance Mizumoto and BOE members Kenneth Uemura and Patricia Bergin.
The schedule calls for the new superintendent to be announced in June.
Members of the investigative committee also encouraged the search committee to seek public input at all stages of the search.
Teachers who submitted urged the board to include teachers in the advisory group as they will be leading the system鈥檚 transition to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which gives more authority to states to decide how they want to test students, evaluate teachers and determine whether schools are successful.
鈥淲e especially urge you to include teachers on the proposed advisory committee to confirm that improving the classroom experience will be a search process priority,鈥 wrote Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, in his testimony.
BOE Vice Chairman Brian De Lima agreed, saying he would urge the advisory committee to include teachers and representatives of other interests, including Hawaiian education, early learning and higher education.
鈥I think everyone values the importance of teachers in the classroom,鈥 De Lima said.
