U-46 Board of Education to Conduct Internal Search for Next Superintendent

Details on process to be outlined on March 20
 
ELGIN - The U-46 Board of Education on Monday evening announced that it will hire an executive search firm to conduct an internal search for its next Superintendent. The District’s previous leader, Dr. Tony Sanders, was appointed the Illinois State Superintendent of Education in February.
 
Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA) will assist the Board of Education with processing applications and conducting community surveys, forums, and focus groups to ensure the voices of staff, students, parents and guardians, and community members are heard. 
 
More details will be provided at the Board meeting on March 20 about the search process and how input will be gathered. Updates will also be posted on the U-46 website at u-46.org/superintendentsearch. 
 
U-46 Board President Sue Kerr issued the following statement during the Board meeting: 
 
“Selecting a superintendent is one of the most important jobs of a school board. The Board is pleased to announce the next step in its search for a permanent superintendent.
 
We will be working with a search firm to evaluate internal candidates who are interested in the position.
 
There are several reasons we decided to review only internal candidates. We are fortunate to have an outstanding group of administrators with superintendent endorsements who have the ability to transition into this position. We also believe that utilizing a ‘grow your own’ strategy – a strategy the District has developed with other staffing positions – will result in a more efficient and successful transition for the District as a whole. Finally, several important initiatives are underway in the District – U-46 Rising, the introduction of a grade 6 through 8 middle school model, and infrastructure considerations, to name just a few – which an internal candidate would be familiar with and offer more effective oversight right from the start.
 
To help guide us in this process, we plan to work with the search firm Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA). The past few months we have reviewed search firm presentations in other districts and particularly liked HYA’s survey instruments and reporting products. They also recently worked with another local district on an internal superintendent search.  
 
The search firm will assist us with processing applications and conducting community surveys, forums, and focus groups. The Board wants community input on what people would like to see in a new superintendent and what they believe are the strengths and weaknesses of the District. HYA will be presenting their search plan at next week’s meeting on March 20.
 
We hope to conclude this process by the end of May, either by selecting an internal candidate or deciding to expand to a larger search.
 
We will provide regular updates on this process at board meetings. We will also have information on the U-46 website.”
 
U-46 Board of Education meetings are held in room 140 at the
Educational Services Center, 355 E. Chicago St., Elgin. They are also streamed live on the District’s YouTube channel.
 
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School District U-46 serves families in 11 communities: Bartlett, Elgin, Hanover Park, South Elgin, Streamwood and Wayne, as well as portions of Carol Stream, Hoffman Estates, St. Charles, Schaumburg, and West Chicago. In total, the District encompasses 90 square miles within the Fox River Valley, approximately 45 minutes west of downtown Chicago, and includes communities within Cook, DuPage and Kane counties. More than 35,000 preschoolers through 12th graders attend the 57 District schools and programs. To learn more, visit the U-46 website, or like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.