Dist. 300 board interviews superintendent hopefuls

Ken Arndt won't retire as superintendent of Community Unit District 300 for more than a year, but the district's school board may decide on his replacement in a matter of weeks.

The board this week is interviewing candidates from within the Carpentersville-based district. Based on those sessions, as well as a possible second round of interviews, the board will decide whether to hire internally or seek someone outside the district.

"We're still hoping that by the end of May, if it's an internal candidate, we can make that selection," board President Joe Stevens said.

Stevens has said that if the board settles on an internal candidate, it intends to have that person essentially shadow Arndt for a year before stepping into the position in July 2011.

The board has hired Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates to help with the search. The Glenview-based firm brought Arndt and Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates to the district.

Hazard initially conducted informal interviews with the seven internal candidates qualified to serve as superintendent, Stevens said, though not all were interested in replacing Arndt.

Employees who did express interest had to fill out an application and attend a second interview with the search firm. All candidates who applied for the job will be interviewed by the school board this week.

Stevens would not say exactly how many employees have applied and declined to name the applicants, saying, "I don't want to put anybody in an embarrassing position."

All applicants, Stevens said, have a state-issued superintendent endorsement, which is the main, but not exclusive, path to becoming the chief executive of a school district.

Among the seven qualified are Associate Superintendent David Scarpino and Jacobs High School Principal Michael Bregy. On Tuesday, Scarpino declined to say if he had applied, deferring to Stevens for comment. Bregy did not return calls seeking comment.