The DeKalb County school board revealed Monday that the only firm interested in taking on the job of finding the district’s next superintendent is PROACT Search, an outfit that was dismissed by the Atlanta school board during a similar search.
DeKalb Superintendent Michael Thurmond’s contract expires in June, so time is running out to find a successor. So far, the school board has had little success even finding a firm to help. This is the second time the district has issued a “request for qualifications” for search firms; the first attracted little interest.
PROACT was fired by the Atlanta school board in July 2013 because of concerns that the company would be unable to land a top-tier leader. Atlanta Public Schools later hired Meria Carstarphen.
Members of a committee overseeing the Atlanta search worried that PROACT’s time and staffing were divided between several school districts, and a similar concern arose at a DeKalb meeting Monday, when one school board member noted that PROACT will be working for a district in a neighboring state. Board members also were concerned that the firm did not get all of the 100 possible points in DeKalb’s rating process.
The board members agreed to interview the company in public in the next couple of weeks.
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