by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
There has already been interest in the job of superintendent of Spotsylvania schools, associates with BWP, the search firm selected by the School Board to find the division’s next leader, told the Board on Wednesday.
Kevin Castner and E. Wayne Harris, BWP associates who will lead the search process for Spotsylvania, are both retired Virginia superintendents with extensive personal and professional contacts in the field. But they stressed that they do not already have someone in mind for the job.
“We want to be clear that we don’t have a list of people already,” said Harris. “We know there has been an interest and we have had people contact us. We need now to parallel this with the community engagement process. Our focus is ‘match and fit.'”
School Board members and the two BWP associates were intentional at Wednesday’s special meeting to distinguish this superintendent search from the one conducted in 2022 by GR Recruiting, which concluded in the recommendation of Mark Taylor, a personal friend of then-Chair Kirk Twigg with no previous experience in education.
Though no one mentioned Taylor or GR Recruiting by name, Board members specified that they want candidates for the job to have a superintendent license.
Taylor did not have a license when he applied and sought one under Option 4 of Virginia Administrative Code’s requirements for licensure, which lays out a path for obtaining a superintendent’s license without a background in education. This option allows individuals who have a master’s degree or equivalent and at least three years of “successful, full-time” experience in a senior leadership position, and are recommended by a Virginia School Board, to apply for a license.
On Wednesday, Courtland District representative Carol Medawar said, “We want to make sure there is no question whatsoever that they meet the qualifications for a license in Virginia.”
Livingston District representative Megan Jackson said that she’d like to see “applicants who already have the license.”
“From my personal opinion, I would like somebody who has been a superintendent,” she said.
Harris assured Board members that “one of the first questions we ask” will concern licensure. Applicants must either have a license or have applied for one “before we can consider [them] a viable candidate,” he said.
The Board agreed on an expedited calendar for finding Taylor’s replacement. An announcement of the search is already on BWP’s website and the position will be shared more widely once school division staff and students, community and Board members have provided input to help create a desired leadership profile.
“We ask the same three questions [of all stakeholder groups]: what are the strengths of the division, what are the challenges [the new superintendent] might face, and what are the qualities and characteristics you’d like to see,” Castner said.
The associates said they’d like to engage at least 200 people to provide in-person input, beginning on April 16. There will also be an online survey that will be open from April 15 through April 22.
There will be a deadline of May 24 for applications and the BWP team will present top candidates on May 27. The plan is for the Board to conduct interviews the week of June 3, interview the finalist on June 10, and announce the new superintendent on June 17.
The associates estimated a cost of $1,899 to advertise the position with various professional groups, including the National Association of Black School Educators and the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents.
“We want a candidate pool that is representative of your district,” Castner said.
BWP & Associates was one of three firms that submitted bids for the superintendent search. “As per our procurement policies, purchased services less than $50,000 are required to get three bids,” Rene Daniels, the division’s director of communications and community engagement, said.
Board members on Wednesday talked about why they selected BWP.
“I originally wanted to go with [the Virginia School Board Association], but the cost difference was little to none, and for what we need and the timeline we need, this seemed like the right fit,” Jackson said.
Chair and Salem District representative Lorita Daniels said that what made BWP stand out for her was “the community engagement piece” and the firm’s connection to the Virginia Tech Leadership Institute.
“That is critical,” she said. “We are looking for change, a new vision, and a more proactive leader that can get us to the next chapter in Spotsylvania schools.”
Board members Lisa Phelps and April Gillespie, the Lee Hill and Berkeley representatives, respectively, were not present at Wednesday’s meeting.
