The Search is on : District's time line set in stone for hiring vacancies
Morris golf coach Chris Hankins sent the search-engines at Morris High School moving last month by submitting her resignation as leader of the Redskins. Those same engines are now roaring as the MCHS administration and the District 101 board are also looking to fill the head football vacancy created when George Dergo announced his retirement from the position on Monday.
Previous to Monday's meeting, the 2009-10 staffing timeline at MCHS was underway. Last month, two math and one English positions were posted as available to the public and the day after Dergo's announced retirement, two available P.E. positions were also posted. That's standard procedure according to Morris Principal Kelly Hussey.
"With regard to teaching openings, our first step always involves advertising on outside sources, the most commonly used being the IASA Illinois Education Job Bank," he said. "When addressing extra-curricular openings we advertise both inside of our district, and whenever deemed important or necessary, we also advertise in local newspapers and on additional resources like the Illinois Athletic Director’s website/listserv."
The five open positions allows MCHS an opportunity to take in a larger number of applicants which can be considered as coaches. Not to mention the ones coming from within the building.
"I think that makes it viable for the best candidate to get a teaching post at Morris High School," Dergo said from his AD's office on Tuesday. "And from our staff, we also have some viable candidates. It's up to the board and the administrative staff to explore every option we can for the kids to get the best person for the job."
Rifling through applications is the next big step to making the right selections.
"Our process will involve a few specific steps, and will attempt to include representation from a number of different groups. First and foremost, our goal is most certainly to attract strong, highly-qualified teachers, who will help our community high school advance closer to the possibility of maximizing every student’s experience," Hussey said. "Also, whenever extra-curricular positions are available, it is our goal to find strong, highly-qualified coaches or advisors with the experience and personalities to give our students their best chance to excel and be competitive in every way possible."
It's a methodology that Dr. Pat Halloran is comfortable with.
"We have created a process that will involve a variety of people at the screening team level in order to gather valuable input from various perspectives," he said. "As always, we will strive to find the best classroom teachers that will help us advance our improvement efforts."
Once the application process has ended in late January, the district office will then pass them along and the screening process begins.
"Soon after the deadline for applications arrives, we will have organized interview teams to address a larger group of applicants in each area on a first interview night," Hussey said. "We hope to be able to bring in anywhere from seven to ten top applicants for a first level interview night. These applicants will have been selected by the administrative team with input from each appropriate department, and based on the combinations of what they have to offer in any of the openings advertised."
Those responsible for the initial screening of applications, selecting candidates and generating the interview questions include Principal Hussey, Assistant Principal Jeff Johnson, AD Dergo and the respective department chairs. That process is currently expected to last through the first week in February with Hussey notifying both internal and external candidates that they have been selected for an interview.
Dr. Halloran indicates that there are strengths and weaknesses in interviewing people both internally and externally.
"The benefits of opening up the position to outside candidates is that in the end, you are pretty well assured that you haven't overlooked anyone and you are getting a fresh perspective, new ideas, a variety of experiences. A drawback is that the outside person may not have an appreciation for the culture or expectations of the community, school, etc," he said. "Internal candidates provide you with some stability during the transition process, a sense of the goals of the organization, and an understanding of the "way things are done". You also know what their strengths and weaknesses are, which is both a positive and a negative."
Right now, interviews are slated to begin on Feb. 17 by the "Interview Teams", which will include Dergo as he takes a role in picking his successor.
"Coach [Dergo] will help with the interview process, the application screening process, and probably showing all of the teaching/coaching applicants around the facility," Dr. Halloran said. "He will also be involved with the at the second interview level as part of the administrative team.
"This year, as with anytime we replace such a visible position like a head coach, we most certainly are looking to include the input of those most affected by the decision," Hussey said. "It is our firm belief, that only good will result when we all work together to achieve our goals."
As Halloran indicated, second interviews will be in order by Feb. 22.
"Candidates will be selected for second interviews with the anticipated goal and timeline of recommending final candidates to the Board of Education in March," Hussey said.
At the onset of March, the administrative team and Hussey will select the finalists and conduct reference checks and the remainder of the timeline is for Hussey to make recommendations to the District 101 Board on March 8 and then to contact the finalists the next day.
Which should mean five new teachers and two new head coaches on board by the end of March after undergoing such an arduous process.
"We fully recognize that, in the case of the head football coaching position, a search has not taken place in over three decades," Dr. Halloran summed up. "So we want to be thorough in our process and efforts."
