VAN HORNE, IA — The Benton Community School District School Board would like to provide an update on the superintendent hiring process. The board recently met with staff at Grundmeyer Leader Services to review the candidate pool.
The position was posted and resulted in 13 candidates, including two from outside the state of Iowa. The pool included 12 male candidates and one candidate who opted not to disclose a gender. Five of the candidates hold a terminal degree (Ed.D. or Ph.D.), while five others hold specialist/six-year degrees.
All 13 candidates were presented to the board in closed session on Jan. 5th. After the review of candidates’ application materials, references, licensure verification, and social media, 6 candidates were selected for screening interviews that will take place on Jan. 19th. The screening process will allow the board to further evaluate the candidates’ qualifications for the position and narrow the process to three finalists.
The search consultants will set up and facilitate the screening interviews and finalists will be publicly named shortly after the screening interviews take place.
The desired qualifications identified by the district—including staff retention and support strategies, approachability and accessibility, and social/emotional training—will continue to drive the hiring process.
Stakeholders will soon be contacted to serve on the formal interview teams. These groups will be composed of students, staff, teachers, administrators and community members. Each person will provide the board feedback on the finalists after the interviews.
The board will conduct formal interviews with the finalists on Tuesday, January 31. The new superintendent will officially begin leading the Benton Community School District on July 1, 2023.