Schools

Search for Next Rockwood Superintendent Will Take Months, Cost Money

The Rockwood School Board received tips on what they can expect during the process at a meeting last week.

The search for the next superintendent of the Rockwood School District is a process that could take months and cost around $10,000-20,000.

That was part of the message delivered to the school board by Don Senti, Executive Director of the Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis, who spoke to the board during a meeting April 18. The district’s current Superintendent Bruce Borches has accepted a contract to helm a district in Tennessee and his last day will be June 7.

Chief Communications Officer Kim Cranston said the board invited Senti to provide them tips on how to move forward on hiring a new leader for the district and what they can expect in the months to come.

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“The board asked him to come in and just talk with them about next steps, what is involved in selecting an interim superintendent and what is involved in selecting a permanent replacement,” she said.

Senti is former superintendent himself with the Clayton and Parkway School districts and offered the advice free of charge, according to an article in the St. Louis Suburban Journals about last week’s meeting.

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The first step will be for the district to appoint an interim superintendent, preferably an experienced, retired administrator who would be willing to take on the assignment in a temporary capacity, Senti advised.

Senti then laid out a timeline, the paper reported, involving hiring a search firm by the end of September with the goal of having someone in place by February 2014. He estimated the cost of such services to be $10,000-20,000 but necessary in order to find the best candidates.

Once the search is underway, the district would have to a choice in whether they perform a process that is open, closed or some hybrid of the two. As its name implies, the open process would mean that the names of potential candidates would be released to the public while a closed one would keep any names confidential until a contract is signed.

Read related articles:

  • Rockwood Superintendent Bruce Borchers Accepts Tennessee School District Offer
  • Rockwood Superintendent Bruce Borchers Offered Contract in Tennessee District
  • Rockwood's Superintendent Borchers Looks South for Potential New Job


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