Huron Valley District Hires Superintendent Search Firm

Thursday night, the Huron Valley Schools Board of Education approved the recommendation from the ad hoc superintendent search committee and selected Michigan Leadership Institute as the firm to head up the search for the new superintendent.

Only two bids were received by the district. Those bids were from an Illinois based company called School Exec Connect, and Michigan based company Michigan Leadership Institute, all three committee members agreed that they wanted to stick with the Michigan company. "Michigan is in a totally unique situation as far as economy and schools, I think we need to stick with a company that knows Michigan," board member Bonnie Brown said.

Michigan Leadership Institute was the lowest bid, offering to do the job for  $18,000 or less. That cost will include the posting of ad for the open position and facilitator costs. In addition to aiding in the search, the firm will also be available during the first year of the new superintendent's tenure to provide support and mentoring throughout the transition process.

Board President Sean Carlson said one of the most important pegs of this process will be the community component, "Whoever we bring in (companies) they need to get a good sense of what the board is looking for, and also reach out to the stakeholders in the community and get the community involved in the search. Community engagement is a very important part of this process."

The contract with the search firm will be signed in the next few weeks. During that time the board will get to decide who, from the company, will be on the search team and help facilitate the community engagement. The process for gathering applications will then start.

The Huron Valley Schools Board of Education is scheduled to meet again May 21 at 7 p.m. for a budget work session at .