BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- The deadline is here and applications are in. Now the Binghamton School District shifts to the next phase in its search for a superintendent.
"It's a tall order. The superintendent is a very difficult job," said Binghamton Board of Education President David Hawley.
The position opened last year after former Superintendent Marion Martinez was removed. Since then, there have been two interim replacements.
"It's always important to have an appointed superintendent position that you know is going to be there, that there's a contract in place, that's going to be there for more than one year. You can start to continue stability and leadership in the district," said Broome-Tioga BOCES District Superintendent Allen Buyck.
In search of that stability, the school board turned to the public, enlisting the help of BOCES to conduct focus groups with the community.
"One of the things we wanted to make sure is that we didn't tell the groups who to pick, so we went to the teachers' group and their leadership and asked them to select teachers," said Buyck. "In the parent group, we went to all the parent organizations and their leadership and asked them. Our community group was made up of folks that had ongoing interaction with the school district."
"We wanted people to be able to speak freely and be able to give their opinions," said Hawley.
Binghamton is the largest district in this BOCES, so the demand is greater.
"We're facing poverty. We have a very diverse community. You need somebody that has some kind of experience in those kinds of districts," said Hawley.
The board of education's goal is to appoint a new superintendent by May and get that person working in July. In the meantime, it is business as usual.
"We continue to move forward. We're not treading water waiting for a new superintendent. We've had some great gains in the scores of the math at the high school. Our reading and writing workshops are going well," said Hawley.