Elite Eight
JISD narrows search down to fill Dunn's seat
By JIMMY GALVAN

Eddie Hopkins has been down this road before.

The Jasper Independent School District board of trustees' president is in the process of hiring his third superintendent of school in 11 years.

The JISD search committee narrowed its list of prospective candidates to eight during an executive session Tuesday, Nov. 21. The position is being vacated by Dr. Eddie Dunn, who has accepted a similar position with the Ennis school district.

"All the applications are from all over the state," Hopkins said. "We have been real impressed with the pool of applicants we received and how widespread it was."

Hopkins said it was a difficult job to narrow the field down to the present eight from the 23 applications that were received.

The search committee is made up of Hopkins and board members Brenda Job and Joe Breckenridge.

"We have been impressed with the quality of the applications," Hopkins said. "The process is working pretty fast. Any one of the eight will make us a good superintendent."

He said currently, the committee is working to check out references and conducting background checks on the elite eight.

"We're doing full blown background checks on these eight," Hopkins said. "We probably won't interview three, maybe five, of the eight."

Hopkins said no meeting of the search committee has been planned prior to the regular Dec. 11 board meeting. He said he believes background checks should be completed by that time and the committee will be able to proceed with the search.

Hopkins said certain criteria must be met to be considered for the position. He said superintendent experience is at the top of that list but he added some of the final eight are assistant superintendents with their present larger school districts.

"We want someone to look to Jasper as a place they want to come and not just a place that just want to stop over at," Hopkins said.

"As much as you want to blink and it be over, this is a process that we are just in the middle of it," Hopkins said. "I feel good about the progress we have made so far."

Hopkins said he believes a new superintendent could be named by February or March.

And even though he has been down this road twice before, Hopkins said it doesn't get any easier.

"What I see is that in the last 11 years, the school business has changed," Hopkins said. "When the school business changes, hopefully, the superintendent's mindset and ability to lead changes as well. You need to find someone who can lead you in the direction that the education process state-wide is going. You have to find somebody who is progressive and that can take you to the next level."

Hopkins praised outgoing superintendent Dr. Eddie Dunn as being an innovator for the district.

"He has been very good for Jasper and our school," Hopkins said. "The only thing I hate about it was we didn't have the ability to keep him longer.

"There are some good things we have learned from Dr. Dunn that I would like to see in our next superintendent just because I believe they can take from it and carry us to the next level," Hopkins said. "It just hurts to lose somebody like Dr. Dunn.

"Dr. Dunn was honest with us from the beginning. He told us on the front end that this was not his last stop and I appreciated him for that," Hopkins said. "I didn't realize it was going to be two and a half years later but I do appreciate him for being honest."