The Princeton Public Schools Board of Education’s superintendent search committee held its first meeting with the consultant that has been charged with helping to find a new superintendent of school.
“We are all very excited to get this process under way,” school board member Betsey Baglio told the school board at its Aug. 25 meeting. The search committee met with consultant Kevin O’Mara of School Exec Connect earlier in the day, she said.
School Exec Connect was awarded a $32,900 contract to find a replacement for former Superintendent of Schools Steve Cochrane, who retired June 30. The search firm is based in Oak Park, Illinois.
Cochrane announced his retirement from the Princeton Public Schools in February. He had led the district since January 2014. He came to the school district from the Upper Freehold Regional School District, where he was the assistant superintendent.
The school board hired Barry Galasso, a retired superintendent of schools and an adjunct professor at Gwynedd Mercy University in Pennsylvania, to serve as the interim superintendent. He is being paid $220,000 for a one-year contract that started July 1 and will end June 30, 2021.
Meanwhile, to gain stakeholders’ input, school district officials are going to create a section on the district’s website at www.princetonk12.org that will be devoted to the superintendent search, Baglio said. There are plans to hold focus groups and open forums to obtain feedback.
A survey will be launched around the first day of school, which is Sept.14, Baglio said. The goal is to determine the characteristics and qualities that the school board is seeking in its next superintendent of schools.
“We really do look for feedback from all of you [in the community] to create a superintendent profile for what we are looking for in the Princeton Public Schools,” Baglio said.
The search firm understands that the school board is seeking to launch a national search to identify a diverse group of candidates, she said. The board is looking for an innovative leader to help it to sustain the district’s mission.
After reviewing the applications from potential superintendents, School Exec Connect will present two slates of candidates to the school board – a slate of seven or eight semi-finalists, and then a final list of three candidates. The school board wants to have a new superintendent in place by July 1, 2021.
Since its founding in 2004, School Exec Connect has conducted more than 400 searches nationwide. Women, minorities or both accounted for more than 60% of the vacancies that School Exec Connect helped to fill last year, the firm said.