Johnson City board names three finalists, schedules public interviews next week

The Johnson City Schools board on the evening named three finalists in its search for a new superintendent and set public interviews for next week.

TSBA representative Dr. Tammy Grissom told the board the screening committee received 21 applications and recommended three finalists: Dr. Joshua Carter, the current principal at Science Hill High School; Dr. Corey Gardenhauer, principal at Robinson Middle School in Kingsport and a former superintendent in Elizabethton; and Dr. Erin Slater, currently superintendent of the Fort Madison Community School District (Iowa). Grissom said board members have each candidate’s materials in their meeting packets and that transcripts and supporting documents were emailed to the board.

The board agreed to conduct the interviews Monday through Wednesday, each scheduled as a public meeting beginning at 6 p.m., and to hold a public decision meeting the following Thursday at 6 p.m. TSBA advised the board to use the same interview questions for each finalist to ensure comparability and provided a candidate reaction form for attendees to complete. Grissom also reminded members to review equal employment opportunity guidelines included in the packet and cautioned against asking prohibited interview questions.

The chair said the district will pay travel expenses for the out-of-state finalist. The board also directed its superintendent compensation committee to meet next week to review contract language; committee members were told base contract language will be presented without salary figures at that stage.

Next steps: candidates will be contacted to choose interview dates from the available slots, public reaction forms will be made available at the interviews, and the board plans to vote on a superintendent at the Thursday decision meeting.