(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD Board of Trustees is now in full search mode for the next superintendent of schools. After approving a retirement agreement with Superintendent Dr. Veronica Vijil, the board on Thursday voted to begin the search immediately. Board members voted to hire the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) to conduct its superintendent search.
Board President Denise Crettenden says Thursday night’s vote will now allow the search process to get underway.
“Now that we’ve chosen TASB’s Executive Services as our search firm, we’ll get started with surveys and forums and different sessions where the public can put their input in on what they’d like to see in the superintendent and get that from staff, parents, community — from everybody. So, we’ll then have a profile of what we’re looking for (in a superintendent). Then TASB uses their resources to go out and try to find those people for us. We’ll look over all the people who apply. and then there’ll be a process of whittling that down. Hopefully that timeline looks like in summer, we would be able to find someone,” said Crettenden.
The board voted 6-1 to hire TASB. The lone dissenting vote came from Trustee Josh Bright, who says he would have preferred that the district use a different process to select a search firm.
“I have nothing against TASB. I think TASB is a great organization. I (had) a lot of really good trainings for us,” said Bright. “My thing is I really just think that there’s a lot of other companies out there…that we could be looking at too. So, I was wanting to do, like a public request for professional services, just to see what all is out there.”
Most of the board disagreed and voted to hire TASB. Prior to that vote, Trustee Grace Mueller and Board President Crettenden spoke about why they believed TASB was the best choice to assist the district with its search.
“I’d just like to make a comment that TASB has a large national network, and they also have a very large component that involves the public to give their input. So, that’s one of the considerations about why we’re using them,” said Mueller.
Crettenden agreed, and says many districts use TASB’s Executive Search Services.
“I was impressed with how many people used them, you know, five years later when they were looking for another superintendent, and we ‘ve always worked well with TASB,” said Cretttenden.
TASB’s Executive Search Services will cost the district approximately $12,500. Crettenden says there could be some additional small expenses, but most costs will be covered by that fee.
“That includes them leading all those sessions, the surveys, and then getting the applications, (and) getting ready for interviews. There are things that cost money, like printing and postage and it’s all inclusive. So, aside from some things we could add like if we want to do some additional national advertising — there’ll be some national advertising included, but if we want to add some on, then there will be some (additional) expenses. If we bring people back for a second interview and things like that, then those things would be an additional expense to the district, but otherwise everything should be included,” said Crettenden.
Dr. Vijil’s last day acting as superintendent in the district will be June 30, 2025. She will remain an employee of the school district, serving as Superintendent Emeritus, until December 31, 2025. Officials say that’s in effort to assist with the transition of leadership.