The East Windsor Regional Board of Education now has a firm looking the district’s next chief school administrator.
By: David Pescatore
HIGHTSTOWN The East Windsor Regional Board of Education on Tuesday approved McPherson & Jacobson L.L.C. to lead the search for the district’s new chief school administrator.
The board voted 5-3 with one abstention to pay the Nebraska-based company $16,500 plus expenses to find a permanent replacement for Interim Chief School Administrator James Sheerin, who has been serving the district since February.
Last week, the board narrowed prospective search firms down to McPherson and the second finalist, Hazard Young Attea & Associates Ltd. Board Secretary David Shafter performed reference checks for both firms and reported that nothing found during the process could eliminate either company.
Board member Stu Dolgon made the motion to hire McPherson, saying, based on last week’s presentations, "It was their job to lose, which they did not."
Board members Robert Laverty and Susan Lloyd led the opposition to the McPherson hiring.
Mr. Laverty was impressed with HYA associate Judith Ferguson. He said that it was important to have a contact person with experience as an educator, something that McPherson representative Beatrice Gordon does not.
"If we were going to fly in an airplane, a pilot would probably be the best one to select a pilot for us," he said.
Board member Bonnie Fayer disagreed.
"It doesn’t take an educator to ask what we want. We need a good listener," she said.
Board member Alice Weisman favored McPherson.
"We want to get HYA to do what McPherson does," she said, referring to numerous board requests that they negotiate with HYA to perform services offered by McPherson, such as establishing performance criteria for the new administrator.
Board President Bruce Ettman, Vice President Ricardo Perez, Mr. Dolgon, Ms. Fayer, and Ms. Weisman voted in favor of McPherson.
Mr. Laverty, Ms. Lloyd, and Suzann Fallon voted against McPherson. Board member James Hauck abstained.
"There is a saying that a consultant is someone that you pay $100 to look at your watch and tell you what time it is," Mr. Hauck said, questioning the need for an executive search firm.
"I was not at the last meeting (when the firms made their pitches) and this was underway before I got here," said Mr. Hauck, who was elected last month. "I could not make an informed decision and I did not want to stand in the way of something that the board had already started, so I abstained."
McPherson now will be contacted and a contract signed as soon as possible.
The firm has estimated that the search will take two to three months, meaning that the district could have a new leader by the start of the 2003-04 school year.

