School board to quickly start search for new superintendent
By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
HILLSBOROUGH–Orange County Schools Superintendent Shirley Carraway announced Monday that she will retire after four years on the job.
Carraway, who was hired in 2003 after a lengthy and difficult search by the Orange County Schools Board of Education, made her plans known at a hearing on the district’s budget at Cedar Ridge High School.
In an interview Tuesday, school board chair Dennis Whitling said he and other board members had heard of Carraway’s plans earlier and that the board was already studying how best to move forward with a search for a new superintendent.
The school board has scheduled a meeting for April 26 to hear advice on the search process from representatives of the North Carolina School Boards Association.
Whitling said he and other board members would take into consideration the long and, at times, divisive process the previous school board went through when trying to choose a replacement for then-Superintendent Randy Bridges.
None of the current members served on the school board during the search that eventually led to Carraway’s appointment.
“Several of us were on the outside looking in during that process,” Whitling said. “Hopefully we have a general knowledge about some of the problems we should avoid.”
Whitling said he wants to see public input up front in the process. “We’re looking to have community input from the start.”
Public forums and possibly a survey are being considered, he said.
Carraway has said she wants to step down on Oct. 1. Whitling said the board is going to try to move quickly to start the search with the hope that a new superintendent can be hired in time to spend at least some of next fall with Carraway prior to her departure.
The board would like to start advertising for the job in early May, Whitling said, with a closing date for application possibly at the end of June.
“It’s a tight schedule,” he said, adding that the school board may have to meet more in July than is customary in order to complete interviews.
But even though the board wants to move fast, the priority will be to make the best hire possible.
Whitling said the hallmarks of Carraway’s tenure are the opening of Gravely Middle School and the districtÕs Partnership Academy alternative school along with improvements in instruction and teacher collaboration.
The next superintendent, he said, will continue to face the challenges of navigating the federal No Child Left Behind legislation as well as keeping up with growth and improving education for the district’s increasing number of Hispanic students.