NS BOARD BEGINS DISCUSSING PROCESS FOR SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH
 Schools Superintendent Dr. Edward Melnick
October 28, 2015 -- At its October 22 meeting, the North Shore School Board began discussing the process it will use to find a replacement for Schools Superintendent Dr. Edward Melnick who will be retiring at the end of the 2016-17 school year. The discussion focused on how the Board would go about obtaining a head hunting firm to conduct the search for candidates.
Four companies, Dr. Melnick said, had responded to inquiries from the district indicating that they would be interested in providing the service. Dr. Melnick suggested that he and Business Assistant Superintendent Olivia Buatsi develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from the firms, and that the board begin interviewing them this February. Those interviews, he said, must take place at a public meeting. Dr. Melnick continued that when it comes to choosing a firm, the board ought to consider the timeline the firm lays out for the conducting the search; how they will go about recruiting candidates; and who will be involved in offering input. He suggested that faculty, administrators, students and the community be involved. Board President Dr. Herman Berliner said that during his tenure as Provost at Hofstra, the University had used search firms and advised that the board select a firm that will be as transparent as possible with the district - in particular with regard to providing information concerning the entire pool of candidates it looks at and not just the finalists. It's important to know "who they didn't bring to you," he said. Many search companies deal with multiple districts, he continued, and it's important to know how "the firm determines which districts get what candidates." "They need to assure us that they are not doing a similar search for a district in the area or in a school we're in competition with," he explained. "I don't want information withheld. I want to know where we stand with regard to other districts." Dr. Berliner said that he believed the board ought to as a group develop questions for when they conduct interviews this February. BACK TO WEEKLY |
