Story posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Superintendent Search Down To Five Candidates
By DWIGHT ESAU Journal &Topics Reporter
Five candidates for the position of superintendent of Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 will be interviewed by the board of education in the next three days.
They have been recommended by the search firm of Hazard Young and Attea, which was hired by the board last fall to assist in finding a replacement for Dr. Sally Pryor, who is retiring June 30 after serving nine years as superintendent and 18 years in the district overall.
The five are among "at least 30" applicants who have applied for the position, according to John Heyde, school board president.
"These five candidates have been pre-interviewed and screened by the search firm, and have been recommended to us for consideration," he said. "We will conduct our initial interviews with them in three separate sessions of the board this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We will narrow our consideration down to one or two finalists, and we will probably interview those again in March. We hope to have an announcement of our new superintendent by the end of March." The selected person will begin work in the district on July 1.
The search process has been carefully scheduled to coincide with development of the district's new strategic plan that was completed recently and received by the board this week, Heyde said. "The board wanted to have a clear understanding of the plan prior to our interviews this week," he said.
The plan's implementation will be one of the new superintendent's top priorities starting this summer, district officials have said.
Speak Out!
Comments are edited first by Journal staff before running in print and appearing online.