School board seeks outside help in search for new superintendent

The Clark County School Board voted unanimously Wednesday to seek an outside consultant or search firm to help in hiring a new superintendent.

Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes has announced he will not ask for an extension of his contract, which ends Aug. 30. School Board member Carolyn Edwards expressed interest in keeping Rulffes on as an interim superintendent while the board looks for his successor.

School Board members did not discuss the budget for the search, but a guide published in 2006 by the Council of the Great City Schools estimated the cost of a superintendent's search to be anywhere from $40,000 to more than $100,000.

Martin Dean Dupalo, a School Board candidate for District G, said the current School Board treats its funding like "it's Monopoly money."

"At a time when we have no money (in the district), they're abdicating their responsibility (to pick the superintendent)," Dupalo said in an interview after the meeting.

But School Board President Terri Janison said the School Board would still be in charge of the search. "We'll be setting the parameters," she said. "I feel strongly that we will be making the decision."

Superintendent Walt Rulffes said a private consultant would help protect the privacy of candidates. He said their resumes would become public records if the search were conducted solely by public officials.

School Board member Linda Young said she would like to involve students in the search too.

School Board member Deanna Wright wants a national search and said, "We can and should be looking at outside people."