Scarsdale School Board Seeks Community Input on Superintendent Search

Scarsdale Schools Superintendent Michael McGill announced in June 2013 that he will retire at the end of the school year in June, 2014.  The Scarsdale School Board is beginning a national search for his replacement and here is information on how they will proceed and an invitation to the community to participate in a survey. The Scarsdale School Board is beginning its search for the next Superintendent of Schools. With the guidance of professionals from School Leadership, LLC, a highly experienced school executive search firm, the School Board is launching a nationwide search for qualified candidates. While the profile for the superintendent position will be developed collaboratively with involvement by community, faculty and school group representatives, the Board anticipates seeking an exceptional, experienced, educational leader, with a proven track record for success, who can lead Scarsdale in continuing the strong established tradition of high quality education.

With the advice of the team from School Leadership, LLC, and in recognition of the competitive nature of educational executive searches, the School Board has developed a timeline and outlined steps to ensure a hiring process that allows for significant community feedback and that brings the most highly-qualified pool of candidates to interview in Scarsdale.
One of the first steps is to develop a Superintendent Profile. The Board is seeking community views concerning the qualities that are most important in a new Superintendent. Interested members of the Scarsdale community and school community can complete and submit an online survey, which will be available from September 9 through October 6 by accessing the following link: www.surveymonkey.com/s/scarsdalesearch.

In addition, focus group discussions, including open community meetings with the search consultants will be held on September 30 and October 1. Details concerning the times and locations of these forums will be announced shortly, publicized, and will be posted on the Board's website. The Board is requesting that all community members take the time to provide their thoughts and contribute to the development of criteria for best-fit candidates. This will assist the Board and executive search team in identifying top candidates for the District.
In order to attract the most qualified applicants, many of whom may be currently serving in other school districts, once the profile is developed and active recruiting begins, the search will be a confidential one at least until the selection of a few finalist candidates. This means that the Board alone will be interviewing the initial pool of candidates. However, it is anticipated at this time that once 2-3 finalist candidates have been identified, the Board will appoint a committee of school and community representatives who will have an opportunity to meet the individuals prior to the final decision being made and provide feedback to the Board. The final decision concerning whether to hire a specific candidate will ultimately rest with the Board. The expectation is that the selection process will be completed in March 2014.

Along with the opportunities for community input, the Board will provide regular updates on the progress of the selection process at Board meetings, as well as on the Scarsdale School District website.