Buffalo (WBEN) -- The Buffalo School Board has chosen a firm to conduct the search for its next superintendent.
The board has chosen a collaboration involving Say Yes to Education and the Cascade Consulting Group of Seattle. The final vote was 7-2.
The same combination helped with the recent search in Syracuse, and board president Lou Petrucci says Syracuse's endorsement was a factor.
"They conducted a series of community meetings that brought together a lot of the concerns and questions and characeristics that the various constituents wanted to see in a superintendent," Petrucci says.
Petrucci says he understands some board members were concerned about the Say Yes involvement in recruiting candidates.
"We can spell out those parameters in the contract that we draw up, stating that we'd like Say Yes to conduct the community meetings. We'd like them to reach out to the various constituencies, but by the same token, we would like Cascade to find the candidates," he says.
Board member Ralph Hernandez was one of the two members voting no -- saying he had concerns about a conflict of interest with Say Yes's involvement, but others didn't share that concern.
"I don't think you really can measure if there's an existing person out there actually running an urban school. I think we just have to vet out all the candidates that come before us, and hopefully we'll end up with the right candidate," Hernandez says.
When asked if indicating her interest to Cascade is somethign interim superintendent Amber Dixon will have to do, Petrucci simply said, "Yes it is, yes it is."
The board hopes to have the process complete by July.
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