The surprising resignation of Superintendent Mary Herrmann in January led many people in Clayton to wonder who would replace Herrmann after her short-lived term. Replacing previous superintendent Don Senti was a two-year process, so the length of the transitional period was a concern.

Thankfully, Board of Education members are confident in the abilities of Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Student Services, Sharmon Wilkinson, who will fill the role of interim superintendent during the selection process. Board of Education Secretary Lily Raymond believes that this will allow the Board to take their time finding the right candidate for the job and not rush the process.

“It’s been really nice that Sharmon, our current Assistant Superintendent, is willing to step in for a year or more if we need her to,” Raymond said.

Board President Sonny Buttar is also impressed by Wilkinson’s abilities and flexibility in taking on a new position. Although Wilkinson did not apply to be the superintendent, Buttar is open to considering Wilkinson as a candidate if Wilkinson shows an interest.

“Honestly, it is going to be partially dependent on what Sharmon wants,” Buttar said. “I mean, this is going to be the first time she’ll be superintendent, if she really enjoys this, there’s a maybe a good chance she’ll come back and say, ‘I want this.’ And then it’s up to the Board to say whether we want to do a full search.”

Currently, the Board is unsure whether it will begin the process of choosing a new superintendent next year or the year after.

“At this point, we haven’t determined specifically when we’re going to do that and whether it will be next year or the following year” Raymond said.

Buttar believes that Board members will be able to use lessons from the last selection process to choose the best candidate the second time around. Previously, the Board used feedback from parents and teachers as a basis for what qualifications to prioritize. This time, they will be paying particular attention to experience.

“What we learned from that was that everybody was basically looking for the same things, which was someone who was a natural leader, who was experienced in curriculum areas as well as bigger picture partnerships and all of that,” Buttar said. “But we also learned a lot of things that we went through the process. We had a strong preference for someone who was experienced.”

Buttar believes that Herrmann was an effective superintendent during her time at Clayton and has affirmed many of Buttar’s priorities for selecting a superintendent candidate, while also raising the bar for her replacement.

“One of the things we really loved about Dr. Herrmann, as a Board, was that she really hears what we’re saying and what we’re really after and what we’re asking about, and she carries us forward” Buttar said. “She listens and hears us in a very different way than we’ve had in our prior experience.”

Raymond is looking for similar qualities as Buttar and appreciated Herrmann’s knowledge about structuring curriculums. However, she is specifically focused on finding a superintendent with experience specific to affluent, suburban school districts like Clayton and, most likely, prior experience working as a superintendent.

“We value someone who is currently a superintendent and has that level of experience,” Raymond said. “We ended up interviewing some people that came from districts very different from Clayton [in the last interview process]. I think we need someone who has at least one experience in a district similar to Clayton so that they understand how a small, high-performing district works.”

Unfortunately, these high standards make it quite difficult for Clayton to find suitable applicants.

“Especially after going through the last search, we found out that there really aren’t a lot of people coming from districts like that,” Buttar said. “If they are in districts like that, they’re pretty happy. They don’t want to be wooed away.”