With the application deadline right around the corner, Galesburg District 205 school board members are encouraged by the response they’ve received so far in the search for the district’s next superintendent.
“We feel pretty good. We have applicants, so that is a good start,” Board President Courtney Rodriguez told TSPR. “I’m pretty confident in some that we have.”
The school board is leading the search for the next superintendent with John Asplund set to retire next year after leading the district since 2017.
Applications are being accepted until 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3.
From there, Rodriguez said the board hopes to move at a good pace through the process.
“We’re hoping to hold our first-round interviews in September, hopefully early September,” she said. “My ideal is to have a candidate to be presented in October, or no later than November.”
Rodriguez said board members have enough time to hire a search firm if the initial search conducted by the board is not successful. But she said she’s optimistic about the candidates who have applied so far.
The board is not releasing the number of candidates who applied. Rodriguez said protecting applicants’ confidentiality is important. She said interview dates will be announced but the board has not yet decided how much additional information will be released after the first round of interviews.
The board is putting a lot of stock in the responses to a stakeholder survey, Rodriguez said.
Teachers, parents, and community members ranked staffing and retention as the top challenge the district is facing and the top priority for a new superintendent.
Rodriguez said she wasn’t surprised by that.
“It is a real issue that we do have,” she said. “It’s good that the community knows we have that and are working to better it.”
Rodriguez said the board chose to handle the search internally instead of hiring a firm in part because there were a number of superintendent vacancies across the state.
“We can dig deep,” she said. “We have a lot of resources we can vet candidates through.”
More information on the search for Galesburg’s next superintendent is available online.
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