FCPS hires national search firm to help find new superintendent
The district anticipates paying PROACT Search $22,000 to conduct the national search, according to a statement from Fayette County Board of Education Chair John Price.
The board hopes to have a new superintendent in place by July 1, 2015.
Dr. Marlene Helm took over on an interim basis following the resignation of Dr. Tom Shelton, who left in December.
Below is the letter from Board Chairman John Price that was sent Monday evening to school district employees, families and community members:
Your Fayette County Board of Education team voted tonight to negotiate a contract to hire PROACT Search to assist us in the recruitment and hiring of the next Fayette County Schools Superintendent. Our goal is to have a new schools chief in place to start July 1, 2015.
After interviewing two national firms and considering their track records in other districts, we feel confident that PROACT Search will work collaboratively with the board, the screening committee, and our community to find the very best candidate to serve our students, employees and families.
While we still have to finalize details, we anticipate a base contract of $22,000 with PROACT to conduct the search. The other national firm submitted a base bid of $32,000.
PROACT is a national firm that focuses on superintendent searches for school districts of more than 20,000 students. The president of the company will work directly with Fayette County, so we are confident that we will get individualized attention and outstanding service.
Our background research on both national firms revealed that each had experienced notable successes and unanticipated challenges in past searches for other school districts.
We did want to share with you that after our research revealed that PROACT was let go by the Atlanta Board of Education in 2013, we contacted the Atlanta Public Schools directly. We learned that the district was very pleased with the services and quality of candidates they had received from PROACT, but terminated their contract with the firm because the board wished to do their own evaluation of candidates and chose to complete the search independently.
Conducting executive searches like the one we have embarked on is a very time intensive process and requires strategic recruitment to find the best match for a school district. Based on our interviews, and the level of service offered by each firm, the board felt that PROACT was better equipped to provide that personalized focus on the needs of FCPS.
We are about ready to launch our public input efforts, which will include surveys, forums and community-led conversations in order to develop a profile of the characteristics our community values in the next superintendent.
Every voice is important and we hope you will share your input with us and encourage everyone you know to do the same. Look for more details on how to be involved soon.
Thank you for continued support of the Fayette County Public Schools. I encourage each of you to consider hosting a forum to help gather input to inform this effort. If every company, neighborhood, place of worship and community organization came together to make their voices heard, we would send a message to successful superintendents throughout this country that Fayette County is a place they want to be!
Sincerely,
John Price
Fayette County Board of Education Chair
Leave a Reply