Tecumseh school board sets timeline to hire new superintendent

TECUMSEH — If all goes according to plan, the Tecumseh school district will have a new superintendent on the job July 1, if not sooner.

As Superintendent Rick Hilderley prepares to retire in June, the Tecumseh school board met Wednesday with its search consultant, Rodney Green of the Michigan Association of School Boards, to set the timeline for the superintendent search. They also discussed how Green would collect information from the community, staff and students on what qualities they want the next superintendent to have and the position's salary range.

Hilderley announced his plan to retire in August. He reminded the board Wednesday that his last day in the office is expected to be June 7, then he will use up his vacation time through the rest of June. His contract ends June 30.

Green told the board that it is typical for a new superintendent to start July 1 and that the board had options to have an acting or interim superintendent from June 8-30, but board members told him they preferred that the new superintendent start by June 1 or earlier.

To start the search, the position will be posted on the MASB’s website and an online survey will be posted for the Tecumseh community to fill out. Prospective candidates will have until March 5 to apply.

The survey will be available through Jan. 26, and residents, school employees and students are welcome to fill it out. Green said it takes about 10-12 minutes to complete.

There also will be in-person meetings and an online session when people can provide input. Green said the in-person sessions would be on Jan. 23. He said he would meet with groups of staff and students at times that were convenient for them, then there would be a meeting at 6 p.m. for the community. The board also accepted his offer to conduct an online input session for the community using the Zoom video conferencing service.

In the online session, Green said, he’ll review the search process and then call on the individuals who log in to ask what they’re looking for in a superintendent.

After the input sessions are completed and survey responses are collected, the board will meet Jan. 31 to develop a candidate profile and review a draft of the contract that will be offered to whoever the board selects as the next superintendent. Green said he would use Hilderley’s current contract as the basis for the new contract.

Green discussed salary and other compensation the board should consider. He suggested the salary be between $150,000 and $170,000 a year. He based that on what Hilderley’s current pay is as well as what the Adrian, Chelsea, Lincoln, Pinckney and Ypsilanti schools pay their superintendents. The board members agreed that was a good salary range.

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Green also discussed other forms of compensation and whether they can be used to calculate a pension. He said annuities are becoming popular because they count toward a pension but the district does not have to pay certain payroll taxes on them.

The board plans to meet at 6 p.m. March 12 to screen the applicants, review the interview questions and finish work on the contract. Green said at this stage, they would not refer to the applicants by name, but he would assign numbers to them.

The first interviews are scheduled for March 16, which is a Saturday. Green said there probably will be six candidates to interview. He said that he and candidates prefer to have the first interviews on a Saturday instead of having them on multiple days. The board that day would select who to bring back for second interviews.

Second interviews would take place March 19, starting at 6 p.m. Green said having the second interviews then would give enough time to do reference checks on the finalists. The board could make its selection that evening.

The interviews would be open to the public.

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Once the board offers the position to a candidate, the contract negotiations could run into April. Green offered to handle the negotiations for the board.

Board President Tony Rebottaro asked if it is common for boards to visit the finalists’ current districts. Green said that has become less common, and of the 53 superintendent searches he has worked on, only two have done site visits. He said the ability to research candidates and districts online has made site visits less common.

“They don’t do this as much anymore,” he said.

The online research works both ways, Green said, as prospective superintendents will dig into districts where they are applying and look at the school boards, their financial transparency reports and their meeting minutes.

Candidates might call him or the current superintendent, Green said. They might even call the board members.

Green advised the board members if candidates contact them to refer them to him. He said in situations where the current superintendent’s departure is “clean,” it’s OK to let the current superintendent talk to candidates about the position. The board agreed to let Hilderley discuss the position with applicants.

The board voted to hire the MASB as its search consultant at its Dec. 11 meeting. The MASB bid $6,500 plus expenses. It was the low bid, and Tecumseh has worked with MASB on previous superintendent searches and board training sessions. The MASB worked with the Addison schools on that board’s recent superintendent searches.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh school board sets superintendent search timelime