New Hanover superintendent search going national

The New Hanover County School Board is moving forward with its search for a new leader to replace retiring superintendent Al Lerch.

In a meeting Wednesday morning, board members agreed to let the North Carolina School Board association help them in a national hunt; something they did not do back in 2007 when they promoted Lerch to the position.

The state School Board Association says the selection process usually takes four to six months.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Allison Schafer of the NCSBA. “We conduct surveys for the board, we help draft all the documents, we contact the candidates, we make arrangements, we staff the interviews. We basically do the legwork for them.”

The flat rate to do all that is $8,500. When you add in travel costs for interviews, it’s more like $13,000 to find the right person.