Some Of Nashville’s Superintendent Finalists May Be On Shortlists In Other Cities

Nashville’s school board will spend all of Thursday on interviews with six finalists who hope to become the district’s superintendent. The interviews come only two days after a recruitment firm announced the candidates, but the accelerated timeline could help the board secure its first choice.

The school board plans to make a hire by next Friday, wrapping up the process in a whopping 10 days. And board members are hoping that expediency will prevent poaching. If they move quickly, they won’t lose candidates to other districts, says Jim Huge, whose search firm is leading the recruitment process.

Huge says the candidates promised to contact him if they become finalists or receive job offers elsewhere. 

“So,” he told the school board at a Tuesday meeting, “if we stay on our schedule, and you are able to name your director on Friday the 13th, we will not be in any danger. So I don’t want to have us be in a position of losing those.”

Huge says multiple candidates are still applying for other positions, though he only named one.

That candidate was Shawn Joseph, who has worked near the nation’s capitol for the last decade. He is now being considered for the top spot in a district that includes Greensboro, North Carolina. And 
Kenneth Zeff

, who currently holds an interim superintendent position in a large district in Atlanta, may be gunning for a permanent job there.

But Nashville should finish its interview process at least two days before any competing districts make job offers, Huge says.

School board members have another incentive to move quickly: They aren’t allowed to make major hires in the 45 days before their elections in August. If they don’t act soon, the new superintendent won’t take office until well after the school year has begun.