2022 EDUCATION EDITION
board members are elected, they will have several key decisions to make such as if Mays will be asked not to run to encourage more can- didates to apply. Singh said that while the board ultimately votes on the superintendent, she would like to have a few selected community members be able to meet potential candidates and share their input. To achieve transparency, AISD parent Cuitlahuac Guerra-Mojarro said he would like all candidate applications made public. Last time, AISD only publicly named a lone nalist. Current law just requires the board to announce the name or names of the nal- ists being considered for the superintendent position 21 days before the nal vote. “If we want the kind of candidate that’s going to live out the values of our community, then we want
community and to man- age thousands of students causes trends in burn-out for superintendents. “There is no work-life bal- ance from my perspective,” Jones said. “Most urban superintendents don’t last more than three years.” However, Mays said he is con dent that he and his team will be able to manage the school year. Mays said he is looking forward addressing families’ concerns, such as safety, and collaborating with campus leadership. “I don’t think any of us are immune to what we are still recovering from, and I think that it’s really going to take everybody re ecting and connecting to be able to get back to a place of stability and normalcy,” Mays said.
third-highest salary among Travis County superinten- dents at $342,756, according to Texas Education Agency data, falling behind Kipp
a candidate that’s willing to engage in a sunshine pro- cess,” Guerra-Mojarro said, referring to an open process. The costs of inconsistency Over the course of the 2021-22 school year, Eliz- alde and other district sta worked to draft a balanced budget for the upcoming school year after facing up to an $80 million de cit. To achieve this, AISD cut more than 600 sta . While it is unclear how expensive the search for a new superintendent will be, Jacob Reach, AISD chief of governmental relations and board services, said the four-month long search to hire Elizalde cost the district $45,000. The 2023 search will take about six months. Reach said that whether superintendent turnover itself has negative e ects on the budget is di cult to quantify. Elizalde had the
for 0.02% of the annual bud- get, he said. With three superinten- dents in the last ve years, some worry about less tangi- ble costs to the district. “When you don’t have strong consistent campus leadership ... [it’s] hard to retain quality teachers and to deliver high-quality instruction,” Guerra-Mojarro said. Looking ahead Though Singh said the board is planning on improv- ing the future of AISD by tak- ing adequate time during the next superintendent hiring process, considering trans- parent hiring practices and starting to gain trust with the community, the long-term e ects of the pandemic and heavy workload on school sta remain a concern to nding stability. Jones said the pres- sure to be the face of the
“There is no work-life balance from my perspective. Most urban superintendents don’t last more than three years.” CATHY JONES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF AUSTIN PARTNERS IN EDUCATION
Texas Public Schools and Lake Travis ISD. However, AISD is the largest school district in Travis County, and Elizalde’s salary accounted
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NORTHWEST AUSTIN EDITION • AUGUST 2022
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