The Cherry Hill Board of Education held a public meeting and then went into executive session Monday to discuss applicants for the district's vacant superintendent position.
The hunt goes on in Cherry Hill for a new superintendent: School board members met Monday evening with a national search firm that specializes in finding candidates for leadership positions at schools and districts that have grades 12 and under, as well as at higher education institutions.
Hazard, Young, Attea Associates (HYA), based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, briefed board members on candidates in a closed executive session.
HYA's website says the first step of the search process is to work with a district's stakeholders and develop a leadership profile and selection criteria. The last step is the district appointing a new superintendent.
Superintendents vetted by HYA have been named in Pennsylvania districts in Lower Merion and Phoenixville, according to HYA's site.Â
A job description for the Cherry Hill Public School District Superintendent on HYA's website included the need for an "innovative/engaging leader who is committed to providing a high-quality education, values open-minded thinking, and strives to produce well-prepared, inspired graduates."
The job description also indicated the successful candidate would be an "experienced leader, relationship builder, and transparent communicator" and be offered a multi-year contract and an annual salary of around $260,000.
"We cannot discuss anything (about the candidates)," School Board President Miriam Stern responded when asked by 70and73.com about potential choices for the position.
Monday's meeting was part of a special meeting the board held to accept public comment.
No official action was taken during either the public or the closed parts of the meeting, according to school board members and administrators at the meeting.
Speaking during public comment, Cherry Hill resident Josh Horowitz said choosing someone with experience working with the Cherry Hill school board should be one of the board’s top considerations when choosing the new superintendent.Â
Also during public comment, Cherry Hill resident Ilana Yares said parents with children attending Joyce Kilmer Elementary School and Clara Barton Elementary School hoped the board, as it looks for a new superintendent, considers that those schools do not offer any special education classes.
"That means that students that live on the west side of town…cannot go to their home school if they require special education services," Yares said. "They then need to switch back to their home schools when they have already made friends in their school that they have been in for the special-ed classes."
No one else from the public commented during the meeting.
Kwame R. Morton was named acting superintendent of Cherry Hill Public Schools in July after Joseph Meloche, the district’s previous superintendent, resigned to become superintendent of a suburban Philadelphia school district in Pennsylvania. Morton, who was the district’s assistant superintendent for Pre-K through 12 curriculum and instruction when he assumed the acting superintendent position, did not attend Monday's meeting.
The school board will hold another special meeting consisting of a public comment session and an executive session to hold interviews with the superintendent candidates on January 27, according to a legal notice.Â
