Barren County Schools Superintendent, Bo Matthews, recently announced he will retire effective June 30th of this year. The Barren County School board met Thursday night to discuss a timeline for hiring a new Superintendent.
The district hired a private firm known as KSBA, or, Kentucky School Board Association, to help guide the board through the hiring process. Tim Eaton was the firm’s representative. He, himself, finished his career in public education as the Superintendent of Pulaski County Schools. He told the board he understands how hard it will be to replace Matthews, who has served in that role for 13 years.
Eaton explained the process to the school board made up of mostly new members Nikki Shelton, Vice Chair Mike Miller, Chairperson Shelley Groce, Brad High, and Dr. Joey Newberry the process and the timeline of hiring a new leader for the district. First, advertising for the position must be posted for 30 days in the KSBA portal. A screening committee will be formed to review applications that will consist of one classified employee, one board member appointed by the Chairperson, one principal elected by the group of principals, one parent representative appointed by the PTO president, and two teachers will be elected by the Kentucky Education Association. That’s a total of 6 persons on the committee.
Based on discussions at the meeting, the board should be able to name a new Superintendent by mid-June and begin contract negotiations.
The position will be advertised beginning February 26th. That 30-day window for advertisement will close on March 27th. The first Joint Meeting between the school board and screening committee will be April 9th. The screening committee will have its first meeting at the conclusion of that joint session on the 9th. April 25th, the committee will reconvene to review applications, with a third meeting on May 2nd. The final joint meeting will take place May 14th. The committee will present 3-5 candidates to the board for consideration.
With end-of-school activities and graduation, the timeline helps the Barren District know who the new superintendent will be, before Matthews retires. Eaton, with the KSBA, recommended this timeline for when a district like Barren has had a long-standing superintendent, such as Bo Matthews.
