The township school district has been in the market for a new superintendent since Joseph Bollendorf retired in June of 2021 after more than 20 years in the role.
“Once I came onto the board in early 2022, it was decided the best course of action was to go with an outside firm to help with our search,” said Board President Dr. Brian Ellis.
The board started its search in early 2022 and is going through a multi-step process with an outside firm to find candidates. The first step is coming to a close after research was retrieved from district staff, faculty, community members, the Parent Teacher Association and students.
Multiple in-person and virtual meetings were held for the community to address what it would like to see in the new superintendent.
“The way we understood was there would be four stages to the search,” Ellis said of the search process by Hazard Young Attea Associates (HYA), a recruiting network for educators. “Engagement stage is the first: transparency with the community.”
The last meeting on the topic was held on Oct. 20, and the company, along with the board, is gathering all of the information collected over the past few months. According to Ellis, the next step is to create a profile that details the attributes expected of a superintendent.
“The next part is to start recruitment, and we will be meeting with (the firm) at some point in November,” said Ellis. “We will take all of the intel and use it to develop a profile as to what we are looking for in the superintendent. Then we will agree, as a board, to what that profile would look like.”
The most qualified applicants will be recruited from both internal and external sources, and the district is already seeing a wide range of applicants from in and out of the state. According to Ellis, the hiring process will not conclude until late February or early March.
“We are looking at internal and external groups to have the pool become broad and wide,” he explained. “It’s important to find the right candidate; I don’t want to limit our scope or scale.”
For more information about the township superintendent search, visit wtps.org and stay tuned for more updates during upcoming board of education meetings.
