Wayne County schools changing way principals, assistant principals are hired
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 28, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Justin Bruyer, new assistant principal at Greenwood Middle School, started his job this year. Wayne County Public Schools has started using a new hiring process for principals and assistants under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Mike Dunsmore.
Wayne County Public Schools has a new way of hiring principals and assistant principals, officials say.
Superintendent Dr. Mike Dunsmore, who took over the office July 1, and the leadership team are carving out a way to hire the best and brightest, Yvette Smith, assistant superintendent for human resources, told the school board at its recent meeting.
"The superintendent believes that parents and staff members should have input into the selection process," she said.
The goal, she said, is to have the best-qualified person who will create a positive learning environment in the school.
Several steps will be in place for the process, Ms. Smith said, starting with the posting of all positions and vacancies.
Previously, she said, the decision was left up to the superintendent.
"But at this point in time, we're going to post all vacancy announcements on the WCPS website and we are going to continue to have that job announcement open until (someone is) hired or have an ending date so you will see where to go and post or put in for a job, be it assistant principal or principal," Ms. Smith said.
The next step will be to convene a "characteristics meeting," she said, with present administration at the school inviting staff members and others to provide input on the type of leader they would like at the school.
"We will start together, receive input from our community to be a part of this selection process and have input from our PTA president, teachers, staff, secretaries, custodians and the like," Ms. Smith said. "Information from this will help us determine what kind of questions we will ask during our interview and then it will be up to me to lead that with a slate of candidates from that interview pool and from that vacancy announcement."
Candidates for the job may come from within the district, current principals desiring to change locations, assistant principals prepared to advance or from outside Wayne County, she said.
Interviews will be strictly confidential until the announcement is made, Ms. Smith said. A panel of stakeholders will rank responses to the questions, with that information forwarded to the superintendent.
"Two or three candidates are then brought up to the superintendent," Ms. Smith said. "The superintendent makes the final decision and informs the school board, and then the new principal officially begins immediately after a final decision, all paperwork has been fulfilled and approval from the board as well."
The process for the assistant principal hiring is similar, although more concise. The most important aspect is the principal's involvement in who the co-principal will be for that school.
"We think that this is very vital because this is a person that you'll be working with seven days a week," Ms. Smith said. "You definitely want to have a great team approach into the building leadership of that school."
Dunsmore said the new process will be advantageous for him in evaluating the best candidates, while including others in the decision-making process.
"If I have somebody picked out, I also want to measure them against what else is out there," he said. "And it's a good checks and balance. I think it's the most equitable way to give everybody an opportunity, and I also think it's good for folks that aspire to those administrative positions to go through a process and be able to think in how they answer those questions in front of a group of folks that are going to challenge their ideals and what their aspirations are."
Board member Dwight Cannon called the new model an admirable one.
"I really like that. And it's inclusive," he said. "I think it's an awesome idea."
Board member Rick Pridgen had a question about the order of things.
"Are you going to hire somebody or are you going to post it? We've already had a problem with that this year. A job position was posted and it was trying to be filled prior to the deadline," he said. "So my question is, are the hires going to take place before the deadline or after the deadline?"
"The vacancy announcement may say 'open until filled,'" Ms. Smith said. "The vacancy could have a a deadline. So we would post the vacancy. There may be a deadline, and then we'll go through the interview process so we're working toward hiring that person."
Board members Eddie Radford and Arnold Flowers also said they were in favor of the new practice.
Flowers said he believed it would eliminate situations, whether real or perceived, of favoritism, while Radford said it would be a big improvement over the previous method.
"What I like about it is the principal is now going to have input on who comes to his school and assists him because they have to work so close together," Radford said.