As far as Riverside School District 96 Board of Education President Wesley Muiheid is concerned, the district’s ongoing search for a new superintendent comes down to a few key things.
“Somebody who can come in and simultaneously keep the cohesion we have and build on the cohesion,” Muirheid said. “I’ll speak for myself. Just making sure we can keep doing the good work we have been doing. Continue stability and make progress without a step back.”
This will be current superintendent Dr. Martha Ryan-Toye’s final school year as superintendent, after more than a decade at the helm. Muirheid, David Barsotti, the chair of the board’s personnel committee and the rest of that body are working with BWP & Associates, Ltd., to identify, interview and hire Ryan-Toye’s replacement, ideally by this January.
“We knew that Martha is retiring and so we started talking about this a year ago,” Barsotti said. “You can’t start the search too soon. What we learned is somebody is not looking for a job two years in advance.
“We started the search for the search firm in the November timeframe of last year.”
The board interviewed five candidate organizations, settling on BWP, based in Libertyville. Its president, Mark Friedman, is heading the search for the district’s new superintendent.
“We do a lot of these,” Friedman said. “Part of this comes from experience. We did basically 30 last year. A person that might stand out in one search might be a fit in another search. We do this by building a leadership profile.”
The process is intensive. BWP has conducted one-on-one interviews with each board member. Applications will start rolling in in mid-August. Community and district-wide surveys will be distributed after Labor Day, with similar in-person focus groups at that time. Following that, Barsotti said, will be candidate screening by BWP, with up to six candidates presented to the board, which will winnow it down to likely two finalists.
Friedman said the “board should be able to hire their person late November or early December.
“We’re off to an early start,” he said. “David [Barsotti] wanted to make sure we got the board members early and the administration early. We’re not in any rush. We knew this is going to be an attractive place.
“Many people have said, ‘When you’re ready to accept applications, let me know.’ We don’t just have a list and pick from that list. We start all over.”
An important component of the process is credentials. A candidate could be a seated superintendent who seeks a change, or it could be an assistant superintendent with aspirations to become a superintendent.
As far as what Barsotti is looking for in the ideal candidate, it’s similar to Muirheid. Obviously, the chosen candidate needs the right qualifications and demonstrated leadership and the ability to execute the district’s recently completed five-year strategic plan. But there’s much more.
“Someone that embraces the values of our community … Riverside, Brookfield, North Riverside and Lyons,” he said. “I want to make sure that the candidate reflects the values of our community. That person will carry the district forward to help our kids become leaders.”
But though Ryan-Toye has almost a year left on the job, ultimately, she will be missed.
“We’re grateful for what Martha has done,” Barsotti said. “When she came in, it was bumpy. She has done a lot to right the ship. She is a great leader. She is someone we will sorely miss.
“She was definitely the right candidate.”