Posted 2:14 am Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Send to Kindle
Tyler ISD Board Plans Replacement For Reid
By EMILY GUEVARA
Staff Writer
Tyler ISD trustees plan to name an interim superintendent in about two weeks after Dr. Randy Reid is expected to be hired as Keller ISD superintendent.
TISD board President Michelle Carr said the district is looking to fill the interim position with someone who has previously worked as a superintendent and is not interested in the permanent position.
"Right now, we don't have a name of anybody, but we have some people that we'll be probably contacting and work from there," Mrs. Carr said after a special-called board meeting on Monday.
Trustees met in closed session for the first time since Keller ISD announced Reid as its lone finalist for the superintendent position. That district can't hire him officially until after a required 21-day waiting period. Reid has served as TISD superintendent since 2007.
Mrs. Carr said the mood among board members was somewhat somber at the start of the meeting but became more positive as trustees talked and shared ideas about the future.
She said trustees are "realists" and know the average time for a superintendent to stay in a district is about five years, but his departure still will be a disruption.
"There's a lot of really positive momentum, and it's disappointing that we're going to need to stop and regroup," she said. "But we're going to keep going and it's also an opportunity to grow and bring Tyler, you know, somebody new with new vision and energy."
This year the district will see many new faces in leadership. New campus and district level administrators include the John Tyler and Robert E. Lee high school principals, the executive director for curriculum and instruction and executive director for secondary education.
Mrs. Carr and Reid said the district's leadership team is strong.
"I've got full faith in the staff here in Tyler," Reid said. "We have great people on board. We've got great principals on our campuses and teachers on our campuses. I'm fully confident that they are going to be able to move forward and have a great start to the school year."
Reid said he expects to leave TISD in the next six to eight weeks, which would be late August or early September. He won't know an exact date until a contract with Keller ISD is finalized.
"They're willing to work with our board and I think our board is willing to work with their board in terms of the most appropriate time to make that transition," he said.
During the remainder of his time here, Reid said it will be "business as usual."
He said he's going to make sure all the district's plans are finalized for the start of school and tie up any loose ends.
Once an interim is hired Reid likely will work closely with that person to make sure they have all the information they need to effectively take over, he said.
He said as far as he knows the rest of the district's leadership team is stable.
"At this point, there's not plans for anyone else to leave," he said adding that several of the district administrators are recent hires.
One of the first things he did after learning of his position as lone finalist with Keller ISD was call those new hires to make sure they knew this had nothing to do with them, he said.
He said the existing leadership team members are working hard to try to continue to make improvements.
"I know those people well," he said. "They're here because they want to be. To my knowledge none of those individuals are out actively seeking employment elsewhere. I know that because they shared that with me."
He said it likely will take some extra work on the part of board members in the coming weeks and months as the district looks for an interim then a permanent superintendent.
"It's that committed board," he said. "It's that committed community effort that's going to continue to make Tyler its own school district ... I think it won't take them long to find the right person to come in and take the next step."
