PW School Board to begin interviews for superintendent
District’s personnel committee narrows list of 18 candidates for board to meet
The Palestine-Wheatley School Board plans to begin interviewing superintendent candidates this evening.
The board plans to interview Andy Barrett, of Jonesboro, at K.J. Construction Company in Palestine at 7 p.m.
PW School Board President Derrick Boileau said the board will be interviewing the top six candidates that were recommended to the board by a screening committee of school employees. Eighteen people applied for the position.
"We had a group of candidates who were recommended to us by the personnel committee and we will be interviewing the top six candidates for the superintendent position," explained Boileau. "Our candidates are Andy Barrett of Jonesboro, Carla Jean Singleton Narlesky of Blevins, Corey Throckmorton of Jonesboro, Zane Vanderpool of Horatio, Ryan Halbert of Palestine, and I cannot remember the last name on our list."
Boileau said interim Superintendent Danny Sample, who was hired after the board fired superintendent Jon Estes, has been extremely helpful to the school district and that he wishes the district could keep him on longer.
"Mr. Sample will stay on until the end of the year, but has said he would make himself available to whoever we hire as superintendent," said Boileau. "He was a godsend for us. He has been great. I wish he had five or six more years in him. He is just a super person. He knows his stuff. He is an old-school type of superintendent who expects the principals to be principals. He has spoiled us in the few months he has been here."
According to Boileau, the board decided to hold the interviews at the construction company to ensure a more private location for the interview process.
"We decided to hold these interviews at board member Jared Parker’s shop," said Boileau. "We made this decision because it seems that if I go to see Mr. Sample in his office, everything that was said in that office makes its way to Facebook by the time I walk out of the door. We feel that it will be a more secure interview that will not violate any of the interviewee's rights. This way, we can go in there with confidence that nobody will be eavesdropping on us. We spoke with our attorney and he stated that it doesn't matter. He told us we could fly to Washington D.C., to hold the interviews if we wanted to. We will not be 250 feet from the school campus, and the whole meeting will be in executive session.
"Our goal is to hold these interviews and break that down into a top three. Then we will bring those three back for a second interview," continued Boileau. "During these upcoming special meetings to hold the interviews, we have no intention of hiring anyone and will not be hiring anyone. These meetings are solely for interview processes."
Boileau said the district is looking for a superintendent who will allow the staff to do their jobs while they take care of their own position in the district.
"The person we do hire will be required to live in district housing," said Boileau. "We are looking for someone to be our superintendent. We do not want them to be principals, or the baseball coach, or the basketball coach. We want them to be the superintendent. We want him to allow our principals to do their jobs and if they can't do their job, then they are to find someone who can. The superintendent job, I have learned over the last several months, you don't have time to do anything else. You have time to be superintendent. You don't
have time to go out here and tell the baseball coach who to put into the lineup or anything like that."
According to Boileau, whoever is selected as the district’s next superintendent will begin the job on July 1.
"We hope to have someone hired in February," said Boileau. "That is what we are shooting for. The guy at Horatio is under contract until June 30. Anybody we hire would start on July 1, theoretically. We are looking forward to holding these interviews and finding the next superintendent for the PalestineWheatley School District.”