The Denison School Board heard on Tuesday an outline of the district’s plan to find a new athletic director and head football coach, a process the district administration hopes to have wrapped up by April 1. So far the district has received 140 applications to replace former coach Cody White, who resigned recently to take a position in Tennessee.
Bob Ledbetter, of Champions Consulting and Search Firm, which was hired to help with the search, outlined the plan for the search. “This is a great job, and we are getting a lot of high profile applicants for this job,” Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter said the firm will narrow the field to around a dozen candidates for interviews with the firm’s staff. He said the firm will also do some anonymous visits to the communities of potential candidates. Ultimately, the company’s staff will narrow the candidates down to three or four who will be interviewed by a district hiring committee, and the committee will make a final recommendation to the board.
The district is paying the firm $4,000 and up to $800 in actual expenses to assist with the search. “We could not have done what they’re going to do,” said Superintendent Henry Scott. “We wouldn’t have had the time.”
The board also gave formal approval to plans to consolidate Mayes and Layne attendance zones. Board members discussed the consolidation of the two attendance zones at a board retreat earlier this month. The plan will allow the district to close Layne ahead of schedule, saving the district between $400,000 and $500,000 next year, Scott said. The arrangement will be a two-year, transitional one before the district rezones its attendance boundaries when the construction currently underway is completed.
In other business, the board approved:
• a resolution urging the Texas Legislature “to reexamine the public school accountability system;”
• the 2012-2013 school calendar;
• a trustee election for Wards 3 and 6 on May 12;
• an agreement with the city of Denison to hold elections jointly;
• the 2012-2013 board goals;
• wage rates for upcoming bond construction projects; and
• a request from the Texoma Vintage Car Club to use the DHS parking lot.
