East Jordan board to select a superintendent

SANDY — The east Jordan school board, newly elected Tuesday, will be choosing from among 12 superintendent candidates with hopes of announcing a district leader by mid-August.

Members of east Jordan School District's education transition team requested superintendent applications about six weeks ago, according to team member Rickie McCandless.

The team hopes to present the 12 candidate applications to the freshly elected school board as early as next week. The board will discuss what they are looking for in a superintendent and decide which candidates they would like to interview.

The team is not revealing the names of the candidates, McCandless said in an interview with the Deseret News on Tuesday. "We assured them this would remain confidential," she said.

McCandless added, "There is no sense in creating a disruption with their current jobs if they are not to be interviewed." It will be up to the east school board whether to announce the superintendent finalists for public input.

Three of the 12 candidates are from Utah. The others are from New York, California, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Indiana.

Applicants' background include current superintendents and assistant superintendents, principals and central office staff members, as well as state, county and higher education officials.

The superintendent is to be paid between $180,000 and $195,000, according to John Bennion. He serves as chairman of the east Jordan District education transition team.

Bennion said he is pleased with the applications. "Some candidates are much stronger than others, but at least four to five candidates are very strong — and a handful of others are worth getting to know," he said.

The team announced the position by advertising in two publications, Education Week and American Association of School Administrators, and online; and by sending brochures to major universities that have superintendent and education programs, to all school districts in the state and to anyone who requested it.

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E-mail: astewart@desnews.com