The same firm that turned up Superintendent Jerry Weast will find the next head of Montgomery County Public Schools.
The school board voted unanimously Tuesday morning to award the contract to Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, which has completed more than 800 superintendent searches, new Board President Christopher Barclay said. “They have a proven track record of conducting comprehensive outreach to the public,” Barclay said.
Board member Mike Durso acknowledged that “our school system has the reputation of being sometimes criticized and sometimes applauded on our selection process of personnel,” but that he was “confident” in this hiring decision. “We’re on the right track for what is certainly going to be a difficult but necessary choice for the leadership of this school system before June of 2011.”
Weast plans to retire at the end of this school year, resigning his 12-year post and status as one of the nation’s longest-serving superintendents.
Former board president Patricia O’Neill reminded her peers that although a firm would conduct the search, the board was responsible for choosing Weast’s replacement.
“The buck stops here with us,” O’Neill said.
