Superintendent Search

The Board of Directors of the Seattle Public Schools, which serves a diverse population of 48,000+ students, is seeking a new superintendent to lead this dynamic urban school district. Seattle, an international city at the center of the high-tech Northwest economy, has shown strong support for innovative public education for many years. Comprised of 8,000 staff members working in 91 schools, Seattle has been recognized as a leading urban district that outperforms the state average in test scores and graduation rates continue to rise.

April 19, 2012: The Seattle School Board has named the top three finalists for Superintendent. The candidates will spend next week in Seattle. The Board will make its final decision in May. Click here for additional information.

To read the March 23, 2012 letter from Board President Michael DeBell to the community about the search process, click here.

Seattle Public Schools has contracted with Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) to conduct our superintendent search.
       ♦ Position Advertisement 
       ♦ Desired Characteristics

To apply for the position, please visit HYA's website here.

To refer someone as a candidate for this position, please send the following information in an email to tingey@hyasearch.com.
       ♦ Name of potential candidate 
       ♦ Potential candidate's contact information 

The timeline for the search is as follows (subject to change):
       ♦ March 23 - Application deadline  
       ♦ April 13-14 - First round of interviews 
       ♦ April 23-25 - Second round of interviews for finalists
       ♦ Early to mid-May - Board extends offer of employment and  
         announces the new superintendent 
       ♦ TBD - new superintendent assumes responsibilities

Search Process:

Phase I: Development of Selection Criteria

Phase I was the development of the desired characteristics Seattle Public Schools will seek in a new superintendent. In order to gather input from a broad spectrum of the community on what it would like to have in a new superintendent, the HYA search consultants interviewed 25 people/groups. Combining the results of the public survey conducted in Nov-Dec 2011, the feedback gathered at three town hall meetings, and the information collected from the HYA interviews, the search firm consultants drafted the Position Advertisement and Desired Characteristics documents that delineate what the Board is looking for in a new superintendent. The language was refined and the search process determined in public Executive Committee of the whole meetings.

Phase II: Semi-Finalists

Phase II will be conducted by the Search Committee and will include the first-round interviews. Although the Board will make the final selection of the new superintendent, it has selected a Search Committee to provide feedback on the candidates and participate in the first round of interviews. The Search Committee’s work will be conducted entirely in confidence in executive session. 

The Search Committee consists of the following members:
       ♦ 7 Board Directors
       ♦ 1 representative from Seattle Council of Parent, Teacher and 
         Student Associations
       ♦ 1 representative from the Central Administration
       ♦ 1 representative from Seattle Education Association
       ♦ 1 representative from Principals’ Association of Seattle Schools
       ♦ 1 representative from Local 609: International Union of 
         Operating Engineers

Phase III: Finalists

Phase III consists of the Board’s second interview and a facilitated discussion with a community focus group. To collect further feedback from the community about the finalists, an approximately 25 member focus group will be given the opportunity to participate in a facilitated discussion with each finalist candidate. The search firm consultants will report the feedback from the discussion to the Board. Applications to be a member of the focus group were accepted until March 8, 2012, and the members were selected by the Executive Committee on March 14, 2012.

The 25-member Community Focus Group:

Names of Candidates: The names of the candidates will be kept confidential until the second round of interviews for the finalists in order to allow the highest-caliber of candidate to apply without concern about their current district’s reaction to the application.