Batesville superintendent search in final days
BATESVILLE — The Batesville School Board, along with the consultant firm McPherson & Jacobson, has narrowed its list of possible candidates for the new superintendent to three and has already begun the interview process.
The final three candidates are Jeffrey D. Thake, who serves as superintendent for the Amboy Community Unit School District in Illinois; Michael Hester, the general director of secondary schools for the Topeka Public Schools in Kansas; and Elizabeth Stewart, who is the deputy superintendent for the North Little Rock School District.
Hester was interviewed Monday and Stewart on Tuesday, and Thake will be interviewed this coming Tuesday.
The three were selected from the nearly 25 applicants.
Kieth Williams, one of the main consultants conducting the selection process, said it takes about eight to 10 weeks to conduct a search and
interview the applicants.
“We don’t take away the decision-making,” Williams said. “They tell us what they are looking for and what they need to be successful.
“We take all this information, and we go and find and recruit quality applicants.”
The candidate who is selected will replace Gary Anderson, who is retiring as superintendent to become deputy superintendent July 1. The current deputy superintendent, Harvey Howard, is retiring.
“We presented the board
with five individuals; then the board narrowed it down to three,” Williams said. “The board will ultimately make the decision.”
The board hired McPherson & Jacobson in February.
“We provide what we call a decision-making model,” Williams said. “We do all the ground work; then we provide the board with all of our findings, and they make the decision.”
Williams said one thing his firm is not is a “headhunter group.”
Thake has an Educational Specialist degree from Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois.
Hester received his doctorate from Wichita State University in
Kansas in 2009 and his master’s degree from the University of Central Oklahoma.
Stewart received her doctorate from Harding University in Searcy in 2012.
Williams said an interview with a candidate usually lasts all day.
“Those finalists will come into the school district at 8 a.m., and they won’t finish up till about 8:30 or 9 p.m.,” Williams said. “They have to go through a series of interviews, focus groups and stakeholders.
“They will also visit the high school and the community.”
Williams said the school board considered offering a superintendent’s salary in the
range of $130,000 to $140,000 and is expected to make a decision on that in the coming weeks.