JAMESTOWN – The effort to find a new superintendent for Jamestown Public Schools is moving along.
Last Month the school board selected Western New York Educational Service Council (WNYESC) as the district’s search consultant. The group will help to assist the Jamestown School Board with candidate recruitment, credential reviews, and on-site consultation in the hiring process.
WRFA talked with school board president Paul Abbott on March 28 about the search effort, and he said things are moving along.
“We’re going to set deadlines for applicants, and as soon as we get those applicants and as soon as we have those applicants in, we’ll start reviewing them and going through the process of narrowing down an initial group of interviews, a group of finalists, and then selecting from that group of finalists,” Abbott said.
As of April 5, the superintendent’s position has yet to be listed on the WNYESC “Superintendent Searches” web page.
Abbott also said that ideally, the board would like to have a new superintendent hired by August – before students return to classes for the new 2017-18 school year, although it could take longer.
“I think that would be the time that we would hope for. I’m not necessarily expecting they will be here by the first of August, I would certainly say that we as a board are driving to have our new superintendent in place by the time school starts in September, but of course, the right candidate is more important than the first candidate,” Abbott said.
The district is in the process of finding a new superintendent following the departure of previous superintendent Tim Mains, who left the district in February after taking a job with the Pine Bush School District on the eastern side of New York State, near the Hudson Valley region. The district has hired Sylvia Root to serve in the interim.
Meanwhile, the board held a meeting Tuesday night to continue to discuss the 2017-18 $83.9 million budget. The tentative spending plan – which is still being discussed and is not final – doesn’t call for any tax increase and officials are considering adding on a total of eight new positions, which include two middle school teachers, two language positions, two paraprofessionals, a music instructor and a school psychologist.
The board will finalize and vote on the budget later this month and it will go to public vote during the board of education elections on May 16.
Leave a Reply