Thursday, January 8, 2009 East Central Illinois

Search for Danville superintendent replacement down to six

By Noelle McGee
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 8:02 AM CDT

DANVILLE – Danville school board members are set to interview six superintendent candidates this week.

Superintendent Nanette Mellen, who is retiring at the end of the school year, said the district had 27 applicants for the position. But only 19 submitted all of the application materials that were required.

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A "blue ribbon" panel made up of retired Superintendent David Fields, who serves on the Illinois State Board of Education, retired human resources Director Beverly Kesler and state Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, reviewed all of the complete application packages.

From that, they selected six candidates for interviews.

"I told them they could select as few or as many ... and they said they had six well-qualified candidates for the board to consider," said Mellen, who has not been involved in the process other than to coordinate it.

Black called all six of them "exceptionally" well-qualified.

"I think we all looked at these candidates that we recommended for further review and said, 'Wow!'" said Black, a former educator for the school district and Danville Area Community College. "They were very thorough and professional. They had a variety of educational accomplishments. And they had done some neat things at their school districts."

"To attract candidates of this caliber, I think that speaks highly of Danville and the Danville school district," he continued. "Those candidates do research, too. They're not going to go to districts where their careers would be a dead end or into communities where their families wouldn't be happy."

Mellen said board members will meet in closed session to interview the candidates – three on Wednesday and three on Thursday. Then, a community committee made up of three administrators, representing the elementary, middle school and high school levels; three teachers appointed by the Danville Education Association, representing all three levels; three community members; and possibly students will get a chance to meet with the finalists and get to know them.

Mellen said those informal meetings, which will be recorded by the board secretary but not attended by school board members, could be held on Dec. 8, if scheduling allows.

At the board's Dec. 10 meeting, board members will meet in closed session to review the finalists and hear input from community committee members. They hope to announce Mellen's replacement that night.

But "it can always be postponed, if they're not ready," she said.

Mellen hopes to know who her replacement is as soon as possible since about 50 administrative and teaching posts must be filled by the next school year.

"We're interviewing right now," she said, referring to a first round of new hires that could be brought to the board for approval on Dec. 10. She added that if the board selects someone from within the district, it would cause a ripple effect and require moving around additional staff to fill vacancies.

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