Community input key as U-46 picks search firm for chief

Elgin Area School District U-46 school board members Tuesday selected a Milwaukee-based firm to conduct the search for a new superintendent.

Proact Search Inc., which placed the Illinois state superintendent in 2002, will spearhead the hunt to replace outgoing Superintendent Connie Neale.

Neale went on medical leave in September and submitted her resignation in October, but will remain on the district's payroll until February.

Interim Superintendent Mary Jayne Broncato now is at the helm of the state's second largest school system.

Board members voted unanimously to hire Proact after interviewing three other firms and after Proact agreed to knock $3,000 off of its initial $30,000 bid.

Proact submitted the highest bid of the four firms.

The second priciest firm was Highland Park-based School Exec Connect, which guaranteed the price of the search would not exceed $25,900.

Proact also agreed to conduct another search, for $5,000 plus expenses, if the new superintendent leaves in the first or second year of the contract.

Proact stood out for its unique proposals for involving the community in the search, school board President Ken Kaczynski said.

Proact suggested organizing focus groups so that all segments of the community could meet with the finalists for the job and hosting community forums to give all interested people a chance to question the finalists.

School board members Karen Carney asked if the district would have trouble meeting a timeline that would have the board interviewing candidates by mid-March.

"I know we're getting a late start," Carney said at the interview last week.

Proact consultant Jack Fagan, who served as a superintendent in Oak Park for 17 years, assured board members they were "in at the right time."

Intensive recruiting efforts, however, won't get under way until after the holidays, Proact President Nancy Noeske said.

"That person is out there," Noeske said. "We go after the people who are successfully employed, not necessarily those who are going after a new job."