School Board to Lead Superintendent Search

Wyckoff school board members will develop a familiarity with all of the candidates for superintendent, as they have decided to conduct the search themselves.

The Board of Education plans to control each step of the months-long process, rather than spend money to contract with an outside firm. At least two consultants in recent months pitched the board on the benefits of their services, which came with relatively nominal fees.

"While the board definitely wants to conserve money," President Rob Francin said, "we decided it was best to control the process ourselves."

Francin, who was appointed to the board this spring, said the relatively new board members did not think it best to cede much of the control of the process to an outside service, which would have whittled applicants down to a few contenders for the permanent post.

The board's Personnel Committee—Francin, Tom Giamanco and Elizabeth DeGregorio—will soon meet to discuss the topic with the goal of developing guidelines for how the search will proceed. However, no member of the seven-seat body will be without a role in the search; Francin said the entire board will take part in vetting applicants.

The subcommittee likely will advise the full board on scheduling, posting advertisements for candidates and the like. Francin said "the goal is to have a permanent superintendent by April" at the latest.

The process to replace former Superintendent Janet Razze has taken several turns in recent months, after former Eisenhower Middle School Principal Richard Kuder was elevated to the post in an acting capacity. A move to cement Kuder's status as the interim district leader without looking at other candidates initially failed on a split board vote, but Kuder was chosen to fill the role after he was interviewed alongside two other candidates.

Kuder, who has expressed interest in the permanent post, will serve through the end of the 2010-11 school year, unless the board acts to hire someone else before then.

The school board heard pitches from Sousa and Stern Educational Consultants and the New Jersey School Boards Association  in recent months, with services offered at $8,000 and $6,500, respectively.

Both organizations would have handled the logistics of searching for a superintendent: soliciting interest, weeding out undesirable applicants and presenting the board with a shortlist of potential leaders.