Goose Creek CISD board approves superintendent search timeline, schedules community engagement

The Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a timeline and related process on Sept. 8 to recruit the district's next superintendent, following a public presentation by search consultants Thompson & Horton.

Consultant David Thompson told the board the firm had already advertised the vacancy and begun receiving inquiries. Thompson said the firm follows a “process in public, people in private” approach, meaning procedural items and community engagement are handled in open session while discussions about individual candidates occur in closed session. “Any conversations about process, timelines, things of that nature, we'll have those discussions here,” Thompson said.

Thompson and his colleague, Dr. Mike Moses, outlined a timeline that includes community focus groups and surveys in late September, a board-only review of applicants in mid-October, in-person first-round interviews later in October and a finalist and contract process in November. Thompson flagged a Sept. 30 date for daylong community input sessions and said an Oct. 15 meeting would be the first serious, closed-session review of all applicants by the full board. The consultants recommended naming a finalist during the week of Nov. 10, allowing for the statutory 21-day waiting period that applies before a contract is finalized.

Thompson described the community engagement format: facilitated focus groups organized by stakeholder category (parents, non-parent taxpayers, business/chamber representatives, faith leaders, teachers, principals, students—recommended juniors and seniors—and auxiliary staff) on Sept. 30, plus a short online citizen survey to run about one week. “We write down everything they say without attribution and then you get to see that,” Moses said of the focus groups.

The consultants described active recruiting steps already under way: targeted invitation letters to roughly 40–50 school executives, nomination letters to about 50–60 opinion leaders, and advertising on texasisd.com, the Texas Association of School Administrators career center and a third superintendent-focused job site. Thompson said the firm had contacted about 90–100 individuals either to encourage them to apply or to solicit nominations.

Board members asked about timing and logistics. Thompson and Moses recommended structured, in-person first-round interviews (about two hours each) organized across several consecutive evenings to allow direct comparison among candidates, followed by in-person second-round interviews with two finalists that include social visits and extended interviews. Consultants also noted districts sometimes allow a brief overlap or part-time transition with the outgoing superintendent to smooth the handoff.

After the presentation and board discussion, Trustee Clem moved to approve the timeline and process “as presented tonight”; Helen Buratt Timbs seconded. The motion passed in open session by show of hands (6 in favor, 4 opposed, 0 abstentions).

The board and consultants emphasized that candidate-specific discussions will occur in closed session. Thompson warned the timeline is a tool that can be adjusted if the board needs more time at any stage. He also noted the recruitment window was deliberately set to align with typical periods when superintendent candidates are most likely to consider moves (fall through November or late spring for July 1 starts).