Hoover school board nixes five superintendent finalists

The Hoover school board today announced it is eliminating all five finalists for superintendent the board interviewed in February and will look for someone else to lead the Hoover school district.

The five finalists considered were retired Pell City Schools Superintendent Michael Barber, Bessemer City Schools Superintendent Autumm Jeter, Satsuma City Schools Superintendent Bart Reeves, Haleyville City Schools Superintendent Holly Sutherland and Phenix City Schools Superintendent Randy Wilkes.

School board President Deanna Bamman said all five finalists recommended by the Alabama Association of School Boards were successful leaders in their current or most recent city school districts.

However, “I personally do not believe that we found the perfect fit for Hoover City Schools in the five candidates,” Bamman said on Monday, April 5. “It is my belief that while we had awesome candidates, we did not have the one for Hoover City Schools that rose to the top. For me, it was about listening to what our district leaders and stakeholders wanted when it comes down to finding a leader with the experience needed to run a district as special as Hoover.”

Wilkes provided an email to the Hoover Sun showing that he withdrew his name for consideration for the Hoover job on March 26.

Other Hoover school board members made similar statements as Bamman in a special work session the school board held Monday.

Board member Amy Tosney said she thought it was important to listen to the central office staff and principals about what Hoover needs in its next superintendent, and while the five finalists were good candidates and great people, they weren’t the right person at this point in time for Hoover.

Board member Amy Mudano said she was impressed with the five finalists and thanked them for the time and work they put into their application and the interview process.

However, “I just couldn’t put my finger on the right person for this time,” Mudano said. “We want somebody that has kind of that Hoover feel but also brings to that the experience that we need and is able to understand the depth and breadth of the issues that we’re dealing with, and (I) just never 100% felt that.”

Board member Craig Kelley said he had reasons to want to hire all five of them in certain ways but wasn’t ready to move forward with any of them.

"They each had amazing resumes and are very talented," Kelley said. “The school districts that have them and will have them down the road are just so, so fortunate."

Kermit Kendrick was the only board member who said he was ready to move forward with a vote, saying he was prepared to vote in favor of one or two of the finalists whom he felt met most of the criteria the board had identified as most important.

Nevertheless, “we will do exactly what we need to do to find a good leader going forward,” Kendrick said.

The Hoover school board hired the Alabama Association of School Boards to assist in its superintendent search. There were 37 applicants from 12 states, including 19 from Alabama, five from Georgia, four from Florida and one from Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas, said Terry Jenkins, a former superintendent serving as a consultant with the Alabama Association of School Boards.

The five finalists were picked by the school board association based on input from the school board and various stakeholders in the system. The consultants held public meetings and conducted an online survey to get feedback about desired traits for a superintendent.

The school board initially had hoped to make a superintendent selection by the first of March and have someone in place by the first of April, but Bamman also said all along the board would do its due diligence.

“While we are anxious, we are not desperate,” she said. “We are not here to make a decision just for the sake of making a decision. We do want to choose the right person. We need to explore and evaluate our options and discuss next steps with our lawyers.”

The good thing is that interim Superintendent Tera Simmons is doing a fantastic job, Bamman said.

See stories from the interviews with the five finalists here:

Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:38 p.m. on April 5 with a note about Phenix City Schools Superintendent Randy Wilkes providing an email that shows he withdrew his name for consideration for the Hoover superintendent job on March 26.