LCPS board privately interviewing superintendent candidates

John Beatty, Catoctin, Vice Chair Harris Mahedavi, Ashburn, Erika R. Ogedegbe, Leesburg, Tiffany L. Polifko, Broad Run, Board Chairman Ian Serotkin, Blue Ridge, and Brenda L. Sheridan, Sterling voted yes. Denise Corbo, At-Large, who sought to participate remotely, and Jeffrey Morse, Dulles, were absent.

Twenty-nine people applied between March 29 and the end of the application process on April 26, according to Serotkin. He noted in an interview before the vote that Virginia law allows candidates to be interviewed privately to protect their anonymity.

Serotkin said applicants are typically superintendents in other school divisions and would be unlikely to apply if the interviews were conducted publicly. He said anonymity prevents potential “backlash” in their communities over them looking for jobs elsewhere.

“All the executive search firms that advise school boards on this generally advise not to make the candidates public unless you have to because it severely impacts the candidate pool of people who apply,” he said. “The board is committed to trying to be as open and transparent as we can, but when it comes to the hiring of a superintendent and wanting to get the best and broadest applicant pool that we can, that means, in this case, protecting the confidentiality of those applicants.”

Serotkin said a new superintendent is expected to be named in early June. In December, acting Superintendent Daniel W. Smith replaced Scott Alan Ziegler who was fired and indicted in connection with the 2021 student-on-student sexual assault scandal.

—Evan Goodenow