The School District Governing Board has selected three candidates to interview for the post of SOCSD’s next superintendent:

• Katrina Sacco, Ph.D., director of curriculum and assessment at Payson School District

• Tom Swaninger, Ph.D., principal of Eastmark High School in Queen Creek School District

• Chad Knippen, Ph.D., assistant superintendent of Catalina Foothills School District

The governing board completed its initial screening of seven applicants during a special board meeting on Wednesday, June 6. Next, the board will conduct private interviews with the candidates on Monday, June 12, followed by an open session to schedule the community forum for the finalists.

The district expects that the successful candidate will take over the position on Saturday, July 1; however, the board has also reserved the right to extend the timeframe of any of the steps in the selection process.

The process has been fast-tracked because of a shortage of qualified applicants for superintendent positions and an abundance of such positions statewide. Ten school districts in Yavapai County alone were hiring superintendents last month.

One of those positions in the county has been filled, as the Clarkdale-Jerome School District Governing Board hired Matt Schumacher as superintendent of its district at a special meeting on Saturday, May 13. Schumacher was formerly the director of operations for the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District.

Other recent administration changes for SOCSD include Heather Isom being named the principal of Sedona Red Rock Junior-Senior High School and teacher George Gleason being promoted to Isom’s previous position as assistant principal. Gleason was the middle school leadership teacher and will begin in his new position on Monday, July 17.

Survey Results

During the second half of May, the district took public comments on what the community wants in the next superintendent and what it sees as the district’s biggest strengths and challenges.

“This is my ninth [superintendent search] this year I’ve done,” said Nicholas Clement on the Arizona School Board, which has been facilitating the search. “Your response rate was very good. The district did a good job of getting the word out and people took the time to complete the survey.”

One hundred and twelve respondents completed the survey. Forty-six percent of respondents had a student in the district, 41% were current or former employees  of SOCSD, 14% were parents or guardians who previously had a student enrolled in SOCSD, 13% were current or former students and 9% were residents without a family member enrolled in SOCSD.

Seventy-two respondents to the question of what are the biggest challenges facing SOCSD ranked housing, the high cost of living, addressing the needs of English language learners, general student behavior, student achievement and district enrollment as the major issues.

“I work at the elementary school,” one respondent said. “It is a beautiful campus, but the grounds are not being maintained as they should. The playgrounds are full of holes and large areas of grass are missing. Our sidewalk [has] weeds and grass growing in between the cracks. Building paint and stucco are peeling off the building.”

West Sedona School Principal Elizabeth Tavasci said that the school is currently looking into renovating the playground.

“Our playground is one of the ideas that our PTA is exploring for using some of [the] funds raised by the carnival,” Tavasci said. “Our grounds crew does work hard to maintain holes. It’s not perfect, but it’s improving over time. All of the spring moisture also contributed to weeds.”

While the school does not have a timeline for playground repairs, Tavasci said that some of the money raised by the carnival has gone to replacing water fountains with bottle-filling stations.

Over 10% of the comments also mentioned a need for more support for English language learners and the district is adding more staff for those students. Fifth-grade teacher Danielle Beinfest will become the English language development teacher for West Sedona School this fall. Sedona Red Rock High School is also advertising for an ELL teacher but has not yet been able to fill the position.