At its recent public meeting March 28, the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education approved a plan to seek the services of a consultant to conduct a full and comprehensive search for a new Superintendent of Schools. The district’s current superintendent, Ralph Ramos, announced his retirement on March 9. Sherley O’Brien, currently the district’s chief of staff, is now the interim superintendent.
In the approved 140 Day Superintendent Search Plan, the Board will seek to retain the services of a search firm/candidate with experience in the recruitment of superintendents for school districts similar in size and demographics to LCPS, which serves a diverse population of approximately 91,000 residents throughout Las Cruces, Mesilla, Doña Ana, and White Sands Missile Range. The district includes approximately 23,000 students within 40 schools: 24 elementary schools (pre-kindergarten-5th); one combined elementary and middle school (K-8th); eight middle schools (6th-8th); and seven high schools (9th-12th). Two of the seven high schools are early college high schools and are located on the campus of New Mexico State University. LCPS also has a Virtual Learning Academy, serving elementary through high school students.
The primary responsibility of the Search Consultant will be to serve as the main point of contact to the Board for all matters related to the Superintendent search, following the 140 Search Plan. The Search Consultant must be available on April 11, 2023, at 4 p.m. via Zoom for a five-minute introduction to the Board of Education at their scheduled work session. The Consultant must also be available to meet on April 12, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom with the Superintendent Search Advisory Committee.
As part of the search process, the Board announced it will establish a Superintendent Search Advisory Committee consisting of five categories of constituents internal to the district and four categories of constituents external to the district. Aside from committee members representing certified and classified staff, Board members will be nominating two candidates each to serve on the search committee. The Superintendent Search Advisory Committee, working with the Search Consultant, is expected to advise the Board on two principal issues related to the search: the criteria desired in a new Superintendent, and to generate interview questions from the stakeholder perspective to be asked of the finalists in a Facilitated Public Forum.
Interested applicants must submit a letter of interest, a resume, and a fee structure to include the candidate’s engagement philosophy or methodology. The deadline to submit all required materials is Friday, April 7 at noon. Candidates or firms must submit everything via email to Cesar Chavez, Associate Director of Purchasing, cchavez3@lcps.net.
The Board is expected to select the firm/consultant from qualified applicants at the April 11 work session, which starts at 4 p.m.
For additional details, the Formal Quotation Request can be found here.