MCCSC seeks superintendent, community input

The Monroe County Community School Corporation’s school board was scheduled to meet Tuesday in a private executive session to propose the first round of candidates to fill the school system’s superintendent position.

The meeting had to be postponed until Wednesday due to severe weather.

Interviews with the candidates will be scheduled for mid-February to early March, and finalists will participate in a series of community forums.

After a second round of interviews, a final executive session will be held March 29 to choose a candidate and make a job offer.

At a previous meeting, some members of the board said they welcomed nontraditional candidates who do not necessarily have a superintendent’s license or a background in education.

“I don’t want to close or limit the search in any way,” board member Sue Wanzer said at the Jan. 4 meeting. “I see this as an opportunity to do things differently from what we’ve done in the past two searches. And that’s the beauty of this community group.”
 
The school board proposed a community group to help network within different educational communities to find possible candidates.

The community group will work with a superintendent subcommittee including Wanzer, MCCSC School Board President Jim Muehling and school board member Keith Klein.
 
Members of the community advisory committee are: IU School of Education Dean Gerardo Gonzalez; Martha McCarthy, chancellor’s professor for the School of Education;  and Ivy Tech Community College Chancellor John Whikehart.

Also on the committee is former school board President and Director of IU’s Center on Community Living and Careers Teresa Grossi; Jane St. John of Solution Tree; Co-President of University Elementary School PTO Ross Grimes; and Christy Gillenwater, Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce president and CEO.

The advisory committee was not permitted to speak publicly about the search process, but they were encouraged to listen.