Anoka-Hennepin hires help in search for superintendent

The state's largest district is surveying residents and looking nationwide for its next leader.

By NORMAN DRAPER, Star Tribune

Last update: October 8, 2008 - 1:36 PM

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The Anoka-Hennepin School District has hired two firms to help in its nationwide search for a new superintendent.

One -- the Highland Park, Ill.-based School Exec Connect -- will conduct the nationwide search to find a replacement for outgoing superintendent Roger Giroux, who plans to step down at the end of 2008. The other is the Wayzata-based Blueprint Education Group, which will compile information from community meetings, interviews with district residents, and survey data to form a profile of what characteristics the new superintendent should have.

According to district spokeswoman Mary Olson, the district is paying School Exec Connect up to $24,900 for its search efforts, and Blueprint Education Group $9,000.

The district's timetable for hiring a new superintendent stretches into March. School Board Chairman Michael Sullivan said an interim superintendent would be hired to take over the reins of the state's largest district after Giroux's departure until a new superintendent is hired.

Anoka-Hennepin officials have said they will conduct a nationwide superintendent search, but wouldn't rule out promoting from within the district ranks.

Currently, Olson said, the district is conducting an online survey of district residents and staff.

"We're still in the phase of gathering from the public what sort of characteristics they want in a superintendent," she said.

Meetings on the superintendent search were slated for Monday at Coon Rapids High School and Tuesday at Champlin Park High School. By late October, Blueprint is supposed to release its findings from district citizen and staff input. In November, the position will be advertised.

The application process will last from December through early January, after which School Exec Connect will screen the applicants and determine who the finalists will be. Those finalists will undergo two rounds of interviews in late January and early February. Finalists who make the last cut will visit the district in mid-February.

"The key thing is it's on schedule," Sullivan said. "It's moving pretty much as we thought it would."

Giroux, who announced his retirement in June, has served as Anoka-Hennepin's superintendent for 13 years. District board members named him to succeed outgoing superintendent Douglas Otto without conducting a full-scale search. The last time the district did a superintendent search was in 1990, when board members were able to lure Otto to the district from Indiana.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547