By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—At a special meeting Wednesday afternoon, the Henry County Schools board of education voted 4-1 to hire the Tennessee School Board Association Superintendent Search Service to oversee its search for a Director of Schools to replace Dr. Brian Norton who earlier announced his pending resignation.
The vote followed a presentation by Randy Bennett of the Superintendent Search Service who provided a tentative timeline and other details on how a superintendent search would work. Bennett provided two plans: Plan 1, which would provide the basic search and cost $6,500, and Plan 2, which would include community type meetings and would cost $11,500.
The board chose Plan 1, with Board Member Josh Frey making the motion to approve the TSBA search, contingent on the money being in the district budget. The lone ‘no’ vote came from Rod Frey, who said his only objection to it is that the search wouldn’t be limited to local people.
Rod Frey said throughout the meeting that he would prefer hiring locally rather than embarking on a statewide or nationwide search. “The problem I have with it is, what if someone from California or New York comes here to be our superintendent? I don’t like that. We have qualified people here. Why not stay local.”
Continuing his objections, he also noted, “We just spent $9M on renovations. I know this is a small number, but this is money we could be spending on our teachers so they didn’t have to get into their own pockets to pay for things. I think this board is smart enough to do it on our own. Nothing against TSBA, but that’s my thinking on it.”
Board Member Tom Beasley said, “We need the best person for Henry Co. that we can find. We want to do what is best for the kids. They’re set up to do this and can do it much quicker than we can.”
Bennett said his service would provide job postings to a national network of organizations, as well as to all superintendents in Tennessee. His service also will provide reference checks for those who apply and interview guides for the board. If the applicant hired leaves before two years are over, Bennett said, his service would help find another superintendent at no charge.
Bennett said a new superintendent could be in place by June 1, as the board wants.
He also stressed that every stage of the search process will be open and is subject to the state’s open meetings laws.
Photo by Shannon McFarlin.
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