More to come later, but it looks like the Wake County school board will vote tonight to hire the N.C. School Boards Association to conduct the superintendent search.
Of the four firms who submitted proposals, board members of both parties liked McPherson & Jacobson while Democrats said they liked them and NCSBA. The other two firms were ruled out for various reasons.
But what seems to be the clincher is that while Democratic members say they like both firms, they say the cost differential is too great for them to pick McPherson. NCBSA is offering to do the search for $14,500 plus expenses while McPherson would be $47,000 per expenses.
Republican board member John Tedesco questioned the ability of the NCSBA to attract candidates of a high enough caliber while the Democrats disagreed.
There was also concerned raised by GOP board member Debra Goldman about how the request for proposals was handled. Staff advertised the RFP on the district's website and the state purchasing website.
Goldman said she was concerned not enough firms saw the RFP, pointing to how only four firms applied. There were seven who responded in 2010.
But Democratic board members and staff said they handled this RFP just like any other. They also said that interested firms would have known about the search and could have submitted a proposal if they wanted to do so.
School board chairman Keith Sutton said they're not going to handle this search like it was done in 2010. For instance, the whole board will conduct the search instead of having a search committee as was done in 2010.
