Dixon Public Schools get head start on search for new superintendent

DIXON – In preparation for the July 2026 retirement of Dixon Public Schools District 170 Superintendent Margo Empen, the school board is looking into possibly using the Illinois Association of School Boards’ executive search program to aid in the search for a new superintendent.

Depending on the services selected, participation in the program comes with an $8,400 to $13,000 price tag, which would include creating an ideal candidate profile through input from board members, district staff, parents and community members; assistance with the interview process by prescreening applications, providing interview training and involving key stakeholders such as teachers or administrators in the process; and workshops after a candidate is hired to create goals for the district.

The IASB is a nonprofit organization of local school boards in Illinois. Its executive search program stands out from headhunter firms because it’s “the only organization whose primary goal is to serve Illinois boards of education. ... We work for you,” Jim Helton, associate executive director of the IASB’s executive search program, told the Dixon board during its Oct. 16 meeting.

If the school board decides to hire IASB for its search, the process could begin in the spring. Using that timeline, the job opening would be posted in July, which puts the district in the “first wave” of superintendent searches, he said.

There are three “waves” in superintendent searches, Helton said. It’s ideal for school districts to announce the position vacancy within that first wave because they’ll have access to the most sought-after and the largest pool of candidates.

For Empen, it’s important to give the board enough time to select a candidate as early as January 2026 so that she can have time to work alongside the new hire before her last day June 30, 2026, Empen said at a previous board meeting.

[ Dixon Public Schools superintendent plans to retire after 2025-26 school year ]

“[We need] at least enough time to really figure out the job,” board President Linda Wegner said at the Oct. 16 meeting. She added that it also would be important for the new superintendent to be visible and make connections in the community before Empen retires.

Board Vice President Brandon Rodgers said a district in the Quad-City area hired a new superintendent about six months before the district’s sitting superintendent retired.

“I thought, ‘Why?’ We’re paying two people, and it’s a substantial amount of money,” Rodgers said. “[But] the story told by them was epic.”

That district had “two superintendents at football games and basketball games. They ingrained each other into the community,” he said.

Matt Brue, an IASB consultant, told the board that in July 2023, when he retired as superintendent, his district went through a similar situation.

The person his district decided to hire was sought after by other districts, so they came to the district to “see what was going on.” Brue took the new superintendent along with him to basketball games or wrestling meets, and the person had time to meet school staff and administration, he said.

“[The new superintendent] just did that on his own. It wasn’t double salary,” Brue said. “I’m not saying that the person that you’re going to hire is going to do the same thing, but it could be part of the deal.”

Components of the search

In a typical search conducted with the program, a lot of work is done before the job opening is even announced.

They’d start by developing an ideal candidate profile that is unique to Dixon and its school district. Information would be gathered through online surveys completed by board members, district staff, parents of students and community members that focus on “what you’re looking for in your next superintendent,” Helton said.

The consultants “compile it, find congruence to what stakeholders think you’re looking for, and then we present it back to the board in open session,” he said.

For an extra $1,500, the board could decide to participate in focus groups conducted by the consultants, who would come in and spend a day in the district, asking those same groups four questions: What’s unique about Dixon? What do you do well? What are your challenges? What do you want to see in your next superintendent?

“We listen. We write, and then we find themes and report out to the board,” Helton said.

After that, the job opening or “announcement of vacancy” would be made using that ideal candidate profile.

“We advertise what you’re looking for, and those are the people that we’re targeting,” Helton said. “[The IASB] has a very large network, reputation and process that attracts the best [candidates].”

Helton said the organization has a network of more than 7,000 current or aspiring superintendents who have requested to receive vacancy notices.

The IASB also is associated with many other professional organizations, including the National Affiliation of Superintendent Searches, which pulls in candidates from all across the U.S., Helton said.

The consultants would collect applications, verify references and conduct screening interviews to narrow the candidate pool. The finalists would be invited in for interviews.

For the final two or three candidates who are selected for a second interview, the IASB can facilitate group meetings with each candidate and district staff, community members or parents for an extra $1,500 per consultant and per hour.

After each meeting, whomever the board has elected to participate would fill out a basic five-point rating scale for how well they think each candidate met the ideal traits decided by the board. The consultants would summarize each candidate based on their rating and provide that to the board before the second-round interview.

After that, the board votes to hire its new superintendent.

When the search is complete, the IASB provides a half-day workshop for the board and its new superintendent as well as training for the new team within the first six months of the superintendent’s start date.

“I think that’s why we’ve been highly successful – because we take that candidate and start working on getting goals set with the board,” Helton said.

Why choose the IASB?

The IASB’s program has a one-year guarantee that the chosen candidate will be locked into that superintendent position. From 2020 to 2024, more than 95% of the superintendents placed have remained in their positions through their first three-year contract, Helton said.

Rodgers, who attended the IASB’s conference about the program, said two key parts that stood out to him were the collaboration in the process from district staff, the community and the board, as well as the amount of preparation done before the opening was listed.

The IASB conducts the majority of superintendent searches for school districts across Illinois, Helton said. Those that don’t will hire a headhunting firm, which can cost upward of $15,000. The IASB program’s fee without adding any extra services is $8,400, which is based on district enrollment.

About one-fourth of public school districts in Illinois will conduct superintendent searches internally, Helton said.

“By districts doing it themselves there’s not that expectation of confidentiality. I hate to say it, but over the last several years we have had, if districts knew their superintendent was looking, they would be out of a job,” Helton said.

When conducting a search using the IASB’s program, everything is completed with the board in open session, except when candidates are discussed or brought in. For the candidates, the expectation is that everything is completely confidential until they get to the second-round interview, Helton said.

“It may seem like a lot of money, but we’re hiring for the most executive position in our district,” Rodgers said.

The board still has not decided whether to use the IASB executive search program. After Helton and Brue’s presentation, Wegner said, “it’s a lot of information, and I think we need time to absorb all this.”

If the board does decide to use the program, the decision will be made by voting during an open-session board meeting.