agreed at its July 8 meeting to contract with BWP & Associates, a national educational leadership search firm, for assistance in finding Berkeley County School District’s next superintendent.
Chester Floyd, who has been Berkeley’s superintendent since 1997, plans to retire effective Jan. 19, 2009.
BWP is a national educational leadership search firm headquartered in Libertyville, Ill. The firm has successfully completed several superintendent searches in South Carolina including the Kershaw County School District, the Clover (York 2) School District, the Barnwell 45 School District, the Horry County School District, and the Richland One School District.
"We had heard of this firm and its track record for conducting community centered searches and successfully guiding school boards through the search process. Hiring a superintendent is the most important decision a school board can make. We want to get it right, and we believe contracting with BWP is the correct first step in this process," said Doug Cooper, chairman of the Berkeley County Board of Education.
Contracting with a search firm has become a common practice for school boards as the pool of outstanding superintendent candidates in the state, region, and country continues to shrink. Search firms assist boards by aggressively recruiting quality candidates and managing all phases of the multi-faceted search process.
"BWP offered the board the advantage of having a national search conducted by experienced consultants with South Carolina connections," said Cooper.
William Symons, a former superintendent in three different states who currently lives in Beaufort County, S.C., will lead the Berkeley search. Symons has been conducting superintendent searches since his retirement from Charlottesville, Va. in 2002. "We welcome the opportunity to support and assist the Berkeley Board in this very important process. We plan to be in Berkeley County to engage with staff and community members in early September just after school begins," said Symons.
The search team will consist of three others: Herb Berg, an experienced three-state superintendent which included a superintendency in South Carolina; Odell Stuckey, experienced personnel administrator and consultant with the State Department of Education and the South Carolina School Boards Association; and Mary Ann Blaskowitz, a former South Carolina Teacher of the Year and experienced school district public relations director.
"One of BWP’s strengths is its plan to allow members of the community and employees an opportunity to provide feedback on issues related to the selection of our next superintendent," said Cooper. BWP’s consultant team will make a presentation which will outline the search process for the public at the July 22 meeting of the Berkeley County Board of Education at 6:30 p.m. in the Board of Education Building located at 231 E. Main St. in Moncks Corner.
