Residents are being asked to give input on the strengths and challenges at Homewood-Flossmoor High School and the professional and personal characteristics for H-F’s next principal.
The consulting firm BWP and Associates will be accepting input from residents of the H-F district at four meetings: three on Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 8 a.m., and 5:30 and 7 p.m. A fourth session on Monday, Nov. 28, will be a drop-in session with the community invited to speak with BWP team members between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Meetings will be in the TLC computer labs off of the Kedzie Avenue entrance in the South Building.
“We talk about how important it is for community members and stakeholders to have an opportunity to participate. We have talked consistently about community feedback, and next week we’re going to be gathering that feedback,” said school board member Gerald Pauling, personnel committee chairman.
Phillip Ehrhardt of BWP and Associates told the school board Tuesday, Nov. 15, that input is critical to the firm’s designing an accurate profile for the principal’s position. The firm has a 95 percent success rate in its placements and expects to meet community expectations for the H-F principal post.
Ehrhardt said the firm will have four team members at H-F for the meetings. In addition to the community sessions, BWP will be meeting with students, staff and administrators for their input in the selection process.
H-F is operating without a principal this year after the school board relieved Ryan Pitcock of the position, although he is receiving a salary for the 2016-17 school year under the terms of his contract. He had served as principal for eight years before the board voted 5-2 to release him on June 21.
Ehrhardt also encourages the community to fill in an online survey that will be posted on Monday, Nov. 21, to the H-F website at hfhighschool.org.
He said the survey is a convenient way to get input from those who can’t make the meetings or wish to remain anonymous. The survey also will be available at H-F as a paper survey.
The survey will be available through Nov. 30. Survey findings will be posted to the H-F website.
BWP team member Steve Griesbach said “the survey and meetings provide multiple data points for us to use to develop the candidate profile.”
The team is working from a timeline that will have a principal candidate by mid-February, but Ehrhardt said BWP will adjust the schedule to suit the needs of H-F.
“We work as a consulting firm until the board is happy. We believe we will try and bring a very strong slate but if for whatever reason they’re not happy, we will continue to work the process until they are happy. That’s our commitment,” Griesbach said.
