By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — The District 7 School Board has scheduled a special meeting at 6 p.m. July 22 to further discuss its superintendent search following the resignation of Supt. Jennifer Mast.
Board President Carrie Harleton said the meeting is for the process and planning of the new superintendent.
“The main purpose of the meeting is to finalize a timeline, including the specific dates for the remaining search activities and to review process from start to finish to make sure members of the board understand what to expect and what to be ready for,” Harleton said.
She said that the Michigan Leadership Institute will be working in partnership with Metro Bureau for D7’s superintendent search. The entire search process could take three to fourth months,
During the July 7 board meeting, the board also had to make decisions relating to a timeline and salary for its interim superintendent position.
Harleton said no internal candidates applied for the interim position and that attorney Jeremy Chisholm is pursuing external candidates.
He had four serious candidates, but three declined and one who submitted a commitment of interest. Harleton told the board that there is a very shallow pool of people willing to take the interim position.
“One took another offer right before he was getting into the process, the second one was a little bit of back and forth — wasn’t sure — and actually decided to enjoy family time, and the third one actually did some digging on social media and was actually deterred from the district because of things they saw on social media,” she said.
The first decision that the board had to make was having the interim superintendent contract be from the starting contract date through December or through June 2022. Harleton said the current lone candidate is open to both. The board decided to have the contract go through December with the possibility to extend.
Another aspect the board agreed on was to offer any interim superintendent candidate the same salary as Mast, which does not include benefits. The other option was a premium salary which would be higher and up to the board to determine.
Harleton said the current candidate was fine with the salary presented to her in Mast’s contract.
The board would now decide to present and talk to the candidate, including bringing her in to the next meeting or reviewing her resume.
In the meantime, Chisholm is still searching for additional interim superintendent candidates.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)