Board members reject deputy supt. option, expect to name Garcia’s successor by early 2026
The Community Consolidated Elementary District 181 Board intends to hire a new top superintendent in late 2025 or early 2026 to replace Hector Garcia, who will retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
At their Nov. 18 regular meeting, board members unanimously approved a succession timeline for the superintendent’s post, which calls for the search process to begin next fall and the new superintendent to start work July of 2026.
The decision came after a discussion of two succession plan options in collaboration with BWP & Associates, the firm the board hired last month to lead the search process. Under the traditional timeline approved, focus group sessions with local stakeholders will be held early next year to inform the candidate description when the position is posted next fall. Candidates will be identified and presented for board evaluation before a final selection is made in the winter of 2026. He or she will start the following summer, and Garcia will remain with the district for an additional 30 days to help with the transition.
A second option explored would have significantly accelerated the timeline. Under that approach, candidates would have needed to be identified in the next few months and a final selection made in the first few months of next year in order to have that person serve as deputy superintendent to shadow Garcia for a year beginning next summer.
That additional one-year position would carry an estimated $200,000 salary.
Most board members favored the traditional approach for several reasons. Asim Aleem feared that top candidates might shy away from the yearlong apprenticeship.
“I think we could get the most qualified candidate to lead the district without the concern that they may view it as a step down or may not want to wait a year to take the reins,” Aleem said.
Grace Shin agreed.
“I think that we can recruit the best out there just based off of our merits right now,” she said. “I don’t necessarily know that we would need to go the deputy route.”
Some expressed resistance to expending an estimated $200,000 for a deputy superintendent on top of Garcia’s salary.
Meg Cooper said 30 days of collaboration between Garcia his successor was sufficient.
“That gives a lot of transition time,” she said, noting the traditional approach also allows the district to leverage the focus groups.
Margie Kleber, who was also a member of the board when Garcia was hired eight years ago, said the district has had success with the traditional approach.
“Clearly you transitioned very well,” Kleber said to Garcia. “I would expect that our next superintendent would be, at the very least, as qualified as you are and as capable of transitioning to the role as quickly as you did.”
Michael Martin, who is stepping down after his tern expires in April, voiced support for the deputy superintendent idea.
“I think it would actually expand your pool of candidates,” Martin said. “I will leave this decision to the next board, and I hope that the next superintendent can say that they can sniff what Dr. Garcia has done since I’ve been on the board.
Board President Bill Cotter said BWP was engaged now in order to both begin publicizing the impending superintendent opening and start laying the groundwork for focus groups in early 2025. He asserted that the traditional approach allowed that work to be done in full, unlike the accelerated option.
“We would need to hit the ground running, kind of, tomorrow and try to scramble to do some stakeholder engagement, get the job posted, develop the candidate profile,” said Cotter of the deputy superintendent option. “(The traditional approach) does allow us to take our time to have a great deal of clarity around the type of person that we want to hire.”
