Board of Ed Hires Firm To Conduct Search For New Superintendent

The Board of Education voted 8-1 to hire a search firm to help Hoboken find a new superintendent. Search firm R-Pat Solutions LLC will be paid $8,800 for its services, board members announced during Tuesday evening's meeting. 

The hiring of L-Pat Solutions was discussed during an hour-long closed session and subsequently put on the agenda as a live item. 

Board member Frances Rhodes-Kearns voted against hiring the firm, because, she said, the New Jersey School Board Association will offer its services for free. Ads and job postings are not included in the $8,800, said Board member Theresa Minutillo. 

The firm will mostly help recruit candidates and find qualified people for the position through its network, Minutillo said. The NJSBA does not do recruiting.

Before R-Pat Solutions can start doing its job, the Board will have to set guidelines and goals for the district (such as the length of the contract and the salary). (We looked for a Web site for the company, but a quick Google search did not turn up anything)

During the last search, Board President Rose Marie Markle said, they had to do most of the search process themselves. 

It's been roughly four months since Frank Romano, the Board's pick for the position, withdrew himself from the candidacy after he could not come to an agreement with the Board of Education on negotiations about his contract. The Romano pick was highly contested, when former Board member Carrie Gilliard and current Board member Maureen Sullivan strongly opposed the choice. 

"After what has happened," Minutillo said, "we need to be more pro-active."

Board members Minutillo, Rose Marie Markle and Irene Sobolov acknowledged that it will be hard to attract qualified candidates to the position after what happened with Romano. 

"It's a little tainted," Sobolov said.  

The Board offered Romano a three-year contract with an annual salary of $190,000. Minutillo would not comment how much the salary of the new superintendent should be. 

Minutillo said during the meeting that four firms responded to the Request for Proposal the district sent out. The NJSBA was one of them, Minutillo said. 

Markle said it will take at least eight weeks until the advertisement for the job will be placed. On top of that a superintendent needs to give his or her district at least 60 days notice, which means that there will most definitely not be a new superintendent before the start of the 2010-2011 school year. 

Interim Superintendent Peter Carter's contract runs until the end of December, Minutillo said, adding that she hopes that the position will be filled before then.