(Seguin) — Let the search begin. The Seguin ISD Board of Trustees Thursday night unanimously approved the selection of a superintendent search firm. The action comes just under a week that Superintendent Dr. Matthew Gutierrez announced his resignation from the Seguin ISD. Dr. Gutierrez has accepted a job offer in Madison, Wisconsin.
As soon as the district received word that Dr. Gutierrez would be leaving, the school board began the process of filling his shoes. Board President Cinde Thomas-Jimenez says the board has chosen a very familiar search firm — a firm she believes will help guarantee the right person for the job.
“The school board decided to go with the executive search firm that comes out of TASB which is called Executive Search Services out of TASB which is the Texas Association of School Boards and that is the firm that we went with last time that we were searching for a superintendent and we found that they had really great community engagement. They held open meetings here in the district office for people to come in to express their thoughts. We also had an online forum for them to go in and express their thoughts if they couldn’t come to the meeting and we found them very easy to work with and we are headed in that direction. We are going to start up as soon as possible. We hope to meet with them (this) week so we can set a timeline and the notice will go out that the job is open through their search firm and hopefully, we will see a list of candidates — I hoping by the end of the month, February,” said Jimenez.
Throughout this search process, Jimenez says it’s important that the district remain focused on the groundwork that has been put into place thanks to Dr. Gutierrez’s leadership. She says this foundation also opens the opportunity for individuals in house to also seek the position.
“As a board, we are 100 percent committed to the path that we have drawn up these last couple of years and through our Ex-G (Exceptional Governance) training and so it is important to us that we follow that path and there’s been a lot of discussion in the community about we don’t want somebody new to come in and force new programs and ideas and new staff. I believe that the administrators at the campuses and the teachers are of the same mind. They want us to continue to move forward so that we can see the true results and the people within the district that are already working here are very familiar with that path and we feel as though if they are interested in taking on the leadership role to lead us through, then we are certainly willing to take a good look at them,” said Jimenez.
Even though the district hasn’t officially posted the job, Jimenez says there is reportedly already plenty of interest.
“I personally haven’t had any people approach me about the job but it was announced formally on Friday (Jan. 24) and I know that some of our leadership team was at the TASA Conference which is the Texas Association of School Administrators up in Austin this week and they were all approached numerous times by different people across the state that already know that the job is open. So there’s already a lot of talk out there,” said Jimenez.
Jimenez says Executive Search Services which operates under TASB was one of four firms that responded to the Seguin ISD’s request for electronic submissions. She says the district didn’t even have to go with a search firm and could have elected to do the search in house. However, the district did receive proposals from all four firms — again resulting with TASB as being the district’s top decision. The cost to the district is $8,500.