Board hires firm to seek schools chief

MONCKS CORNER — The Berkeley County School Board has hired a national firm to help search for a new superintendent.

The board unanimously agreed Tuesday night to a contract with BWP & Associates, a Libertyville, Ill.-based firm that has done searches for several other South Carolina districts, including most recently Horry County.

William Symons, a former superintendent in three states who lives in Beaufort, will lead the search for BWP in Berkeley County.

Symons said Wednesday that his team will meet individually with school board members July 21 and 22 to learn what qualities they want in the new superintendent. The firm will make a public presentation during the school board's July 22 meeting and, hopefully, announce dates in early September when it will solicit feedback in Berkeley County from community groups and school staff.

"We do not pick the candidate," Symons said. "We try to recruit and select candidates for the board to consider."

The search became necessary when Superintendent Chester Floyd announced in late May that he was retiring, effective Jan. 19, after 12 years with the school district.

School Board Chairman Doug Cooper said they reviewed several search firms, but BWP was the cheapest and most raved-about by former clients.

The base fee is about $30,000, Cooper said.

Cooper said contracting with a search firm to aggressively recruit quality candidates was the best choice for the board at a time when the pool of outstanding candidates is shrinking.

Symons said the search will focus on prospects from the Southeast but will widen its net to include the entire country if necessary.

Symons served as a superintendent for 18 years before retiring in Charlottesville, Va., in 2002. He will be joined in Berkeley County by Herb Berg, who has served as a superintendent in three states, including South Carolina; Odell Stuckey, a consultant with the state Department of Education; and Mary Ann Blaskowitz, a former South Carolina Teacher of the Year and district public relations director.

BWP also has completed searches in Kershaw, York, Barnwell, Horry and Richland County school districts.

Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postand courier.com.

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