Superintendent lays out process to hire principal

Wendt: Fayetteville High School ‘merits the best leader’ in position

FAYETTEVILLE — Superintendent Matthew Wendt announced the process and timeline to hire the next Fayetteville High School principal at last night’s school board meeting.

“The best high school in the state merits the best leader,” Wendt said. “We would like to bring someone on board that takes us to recognition nationally, not just in the state or regionally.”

The position will be posted today. Candidate interviews are scheduled for late January and early February, Wendt said.

The job posting will be distributed to numerous professional organizations, state associations and national high school principal job sites, he said.

Wendt pointed out that Fayetteville High School is larger than most school districts in the state and said he considers this a search for a small school district superintendent.

“It’s the hardest job there is,” board member Bob Maranto said about the job of high school principal. “You have to be really good with people, really good at delegating and really good at hiring, which is really your ability to shape the school.”

This will like no other search before, Wendt said. The hiring process will include four committees. The initial screening committee will meet Jan. 29 and will include teachers, staff and administration, he said.

First-round interviews will take place in early February and will have finalists the week of Feb. 12. Finalist interviews will include a separate committee of teachers and staff from the high school. They will also meet with administrators.

“I think having one out of five teachers involved is

a very, very good thing,” Wendt said.

Finalists will also sit down with a committee of parents and community members and a student committee.

“Having a member of the honor society, having an officer of the student council — all that’s positive. But I expect to see a student on the committee that’s been suspended, a student that’s not doing well, a student that doesn’t have a 3.5 GPA,” he said. “We are going to have as good as a representation as we can.”

Wendt said he expects to recommend the finalist for principal at the Feb. 22 school board meeting.

Information on making application for the high school principal position can be found at www.fayar.net under the “Employment” tab or through a link on the homepage.

Board members also discussed its goals and objectives and its mission statement presented by board

secretary/treasurer Nika Waitsman, though nothing was finalized Thursday.

The board unanimously passed policies on annual school elections, special education, students who are foster children and research guidelines.

The board didn’t discuss anything pertaining to repairs the stone veneer at the high school. Stones have fallen off the building in several

locations, and a temporary wooden wall was put into place over Thanksgiving break in the front of the high school as a safety measure.

This matter is still being investigated, and there should be an update at the January meeting, said Alan Wilbourn, school district spokesman.