The Levelland ISD Board of Trustees have started their superintendent search beginning with announcing David Foote as interim superintendent.
Levelland ISD Board of Trustee President Carrie Ellis shared that the Board was wanting to go through a full process in determining an internal or external candidate for the interim position.
“You essentially work backwards, we wanted to find the next Superintendent and if we really want the best in that process then we believe that you cannot have the interim be the superintendent,” explained Ellis. “It makes things much more complicated, and it can also limit the applicant pool.”
As a result, the Board chose to separate the two after discussion about what direction the group wanted to go.
Following the recent departure of former Superintendent Rebecca McCutchen, Foote began his tenure on May 27 and will lead the district while the search continues.
Levelland ISD opened the application process on May 22 and will close the search on June 23.
Beginning the search for an interim, the first step began with determining if there were internal candidates who would be willing to serve in the interim. Not having any internal candidates who were willing to take the position, the Board began their external search with the aid of the Region 17 Education Service Center (Region 17ESC).
Providing several candidates, the Board began their interviewing process, “We spent quite a bit of time in the interviewing process, and he [Foote] is a great fit with a ton of experience, so we are excited to have him.”
Foote retired as Superintendent of Dalhart ISD following time in the same role in Smyer and Whiteface.
Looking ahead to the superintendent search, Ellis shared that experience is something the Board would like to see in their candidate pool.
“We are a 4A district with 2,500 students and have a lot of moving parts,” said Ellis. Having some experience is helpful but we are also not sure what candidates we will get in this search. We are not saying that they have to be a sitting superintendent but we are going to take what we get and try to find the best candidate.”
In this search, Ellis shared that the group is looking for an individual who is willing to engage with the community and build relationships with the staff.
“The superintendent is a multi headed responsibility position,” explained Ellis. They have a responsibility to the staff, the Board and they also have a responsibility to the community.
“We want someone that is going to be working on building those relationships in all three of those directions, not just participating in the community but really engaging in the community.”
When it comes to bringing in possible candidates, Ellis feels there are several attractive qualities that Levelland ISD provides.
“We are really that perfect size,” said Ellis. We are small enough to provide a small community feel but we are big enough that we have all of these amazing things that we offer that some of the smaller surrounding schools cannot. We have a lot of potential and that is very exciting to show off.”
For Ellis, this will be her second superintendent search. Feeling less uneasy going into this search, the Board will have four members of the seven with experience in the search process.
“The other three members who have not been a part of this process before will add a fresh perspective and newness to that,” said Ellis. “It is really about us as a group trying to come up with what characteristics we are looking for. That is how we frame the questions to see if we can get those responses out of the candidates.”
Ellis noted that it is important to avoid pigeonholing which could lead to overlooking other positive qualities or becoming disappointed due to not hearing or finding what they were looking for in responses. This also comes into play for the Board as all seven members work to stay on the same page.
“Sometimes it can be difficult to get seven people to agree on the same thing, but the reverse of that is the beautiful part,” said Ellis. “Each one brings a different perspective and each one has people that trust them.”
The Board is comprised of Ellis as an At-Large member; Gary Bridges an At-Large member; Mike Stafford who serves in the vice president role and represents District 3; Matt Buxkemper who represents District 5; Joyce Johnson who represents District 1; Brooke Obenhaus who represents District 2 and Treva Potter who serves as secretary and represents District 4.
For the Board, Ellis feels there is very little disagreement between the group and has worked well together.
“It is understood that everyone’s opinion matters and everyone listens to the others opinion,” explained Ellis. “Even if they may not agree with something, they agree that we’re all there for the right reasons. Keeping that in mind when we’re listening to each other, if we’re all trying to get to the same goal it makes it easier to listen to each other.”
In preliminary discussions, Ellis shared that the group has been examining where the district currently stands, what they would like to change and what they would like the district to look like moving forward.
Looking at a timeline, the application process will close June 23. On June 24, the Board will meet and go through every application from the service center. Ellis noted the service center provided every application during their last search which totaled roughly 50.
Once the Board feels they have received an adequate response in applications, the goal will be to hold the first round of interviews on July 7 and July 8. Each interview will be about an hour.
July 28 will consist of the second round of interviews which will be a more indepth process consisting of a couple of hours for the interviewees. The goal will be to name a lone finalist by the end of the day or in the morning of the following day depending on how long interviews go.
Once a lone finalist is named, the district will have to wait 21 days before moving forward as it is state law. If the timeline remains perfect, the district will make the decision official during their regularly scheduled board meeting on August 20.