A month after Jericho Superintendent Hank Grishman announced his retirement, the board of education began its search for his replacement.
At the Sept. 26 meeting, the board announced that it will have a new superintendent by July 2025.
“The board acknowledges that this may very well be one of the biggest decisions that a board that’s based here in Jericho in the last 30 years, and accordingly, is treating this very seriously,” said Board of Education president Christopher Foresto.
Foresto said that the board will use Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates to aid its search for the next superintendent.
“The board has decided unanimously to retain an executive search firm specializing in searches for educational leaders,” Foresto said.
HYA associates Caryn Shaw and Susan Guiney attended the Sept. 26 board of education meeting to share what the process will look like.
“I truly believe in public education and am passionate about it,” said Caryn Shaw. “This is the most important job on the board of education, so it’s crucial.”
While HYA is a national firm, both Shaw and Guiney are based in New York. Shaw said there is a local team that will be assisting the Jericho schools, which understands the district and community.
“We only do searches in one or two districts at a time so that we can give all of our focus to the communities that we are working in, and that is the personal touch,” Shaw said.
Shaw said that while the search prioritizes local interests, the firm has a wide network of associates and candidates.
“It’s very helpful to have that national reach,” she said.
Guiney said she served as a superintendent for 10 years in upstate New York and now specializes in working with high-performing districts. She said the recruiting process involves three stages.
“The search will consist of three major phases: Engage, Recruit and Select,” Guiney said.
Shaw said that in the engagement phase, the team individually interviews board of education members, administrators, and school faculty.
Students and parents can also attend community engagement forums, as well as an anonymous survey where the community can voice their opinions. The surveys will be available in both English and Mandarin.
In the recruit stage, the team sorts through applications that they receive and uses the community opinion provided in the engagement stage to narrow down applicants, Guiney said.
“When you think of the image of a funnel—so it’s very wide at the top—and we put all of those applications that come in into that funnel, and then we narrow it down,” she said.
Guiney said the HYA team will examine candidates’ credentials, skills and references. Once this is complete, the team will present five to seven candidates to the board of education.
During the selection phase, the board of education will conduct interviews with candidates to determine who is the best fit for the district. This stage of the recruitment process is confidential.
“The board will meet in those interviews with the candidates that we present to them,” Guiney said. “There will be several rounds of interviews.”
“Once they decide on the candidate, there will be contract negotiations,” she said.
While the search process is confidential, Guiney said that the board of education will seek public input and share any information that it can.
“As much information as the board is able to share with the community, they will share,” Guiney said. “Again, keeping in mind that it is going to be a confidential search.”
