Williamson School Board Weighs Superintendent Search Firms

The Williamson County School Board began a new superintendent search.

Interim Superintendent Leigh Webb’s new contract stated that she is allowed to apply on the same basis as other candidates. 

At the Sept. 17 work session, the board confirmed Webb’s contract for renewal until May 2027, which gives the board approximately eight months to find a replacement. 

In the meantime, three potential corporations were considered at the work session to help lead the superintendent search: HYA, the Tennessee School Board Association, and ZEAL Education Group. 

Williamson County has a budget for the search, sitting between $100,000 and $103,000. That is based on budgeted superintendent salaries and related payouts.

Who Are the Candidates

HYA presented itself as a national search firm, emphasizing broad recruitment, board governance and support after a superintendent is hired.

Representatives said the firm uses a national network of education leaders, a candidate database of more than 9,000 people and targeted outreach rather than relying only on job postings.

They mentioned portals to keep the board updated easily, as well as candidate assessments and transition support. Their fee is 25 percent of the school board candidate’s compensation. 

ZEAL says what differentiates them is helping WCS build a high-performing team by deep stakeholder engagement.

The company uses a platform called Thought Exchange that allows community members to share opinions on questions anonymously. They have a dashboard for updating the school board, and targeted outreach to candidates who may not be actively looking for work. Their price point is $48,950, with additional costs for optional national advertising and more extensive background checks.

TSBA gave three different search options. The most comprehensive includes community meetings, surveys, candidate screening, reference checks, interview guides, reported results and three to five finalist recommendations.

They have had 30 successful Tennessee superintendent searches in the past five years. If the search ends up with a poor result, there is a two-year guarantee to repeat the search at no cost.

School Board Concerns and Praises

With the discussion of these candidates came the discussion of Tennessee's new law, HB 2616, which allows initial executive interviews to remain confidential from the public. They have to decide whether to institute this law, as it is brand new. 

“I think we would have to have a consensus that we want to be the lab rat in Tennessee under the new law. We would really be the tip of the spear, and if anything can go wrong, it will,” District 3 board member Dennis Driggers said.

Board Attorney Sam Jackson suggested instituting it because it will incentivize more people to apply. Most of the board agreed. However, Jackson explained that this still has to be an adopted policy to become official. And there are unanswered questions about using a hybrid approach, how interview recordings, video submissions and other digital aspects will be handled.

As far as the actual candidates go, HYA was praised for its national capability, large range of candidates, and capacity to handle Williamson County as a bigger district with 40,000 students. 

Concerns include compensation tactics and HYA’s reputation, which District 10 board member Jennifer Konyn said had negative results in the first rounds with Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ choice. 

“That was not necessarily an issue with the candidates themselves, but rather the board not being happy with how the initial search went, and actually asking to go back to the drawing board. That’s a little concerning to me,” Konyn said.

ZEAL does not have Tennessee-specific experience or experience with larger districts, which was mentioned as something to flag. But their deep engagement — with the community and the ThoughtExchange platform where community members can share ideas anonymously — were considered a great addition. 

“ThoughtExchange, I like that because I think our district and this community really wants to put their input into this search,” District 11 board member Tonja Hibma said. 

TSBA got positive feedback from board members for their Tennessee experience, flexibility with how the search is designed, and experience with the new policy. However, multiple board members think a national search may be a better fit for their process since TSBA only has eight people on staff. 

The board has not made a decision on who they will choose.