The Horry County Board of Education listened to what the community is looking for in a new superintendent at a school board meeting on Monday, Oct. 21.
BWP & Associates, the district’s search consultants, presented information to the board. Data was centered around the public’s input surrounding the search. The group gathered information through public forums and an online survey that was available for Horry County residents to participate in.
The search is to replace former HCS Superintendent Dr. Rick Maxey, who retired on June 30.
The issue that was highest on the list of concerns and challenges for the community was growth. Of those who were surveyed, 77 percent of participants listed growth as one of the most important issues surrounding the district currently.
Dr. Kevin Castner — one of the two members of BWP & Associates who shared results with the board — said that finding a superintendent who understands how to address the dynamics of rapid growth will be important for the board.
“The growth isn’t just in the number of having new people coming in,” Castner said. “It’s also keeping up with infrastructure. And also the fact that the growth you have is causing a greater complexity in the students that you will be serving. So you’re not staying the same. You’re changing… Growth isn’t just one thing. It’s multiple things that will come up later.”
The other top issues noted in the survey were personnel and facilities.
Dr. Percy Mack delivered the second part of the presentation to the board, which focused more on qualitative data gathered from conversations with community members.
Increasing support for mental health needs of students was raised as a major concern for individuals who were spoken with as a part of this information gathering.
“[Mental health support] is one that really came from the students,” Mack said. “They felt like there needs to be increased support for mental health for students. That touches home, and that is nationwide, and we are going to have to really work to address that.”
Top qualities that respondents said they wanted to see in the next superintendent included: integrity, commitment to the community and good judgement.
Approximately 3,200 total participants were a part of this information and data gathering by the firm. Castner said he had never seen a district so large and a response rate as high as the one gained with this project.
The candidate pool will be closed on Nov. 10. The firm told the board that they expect to present four to six candidates who “separate” themselves around the last week of November. The goal is that the board will present and appoint a new superintendent by January, with a goal start date on or before July 2025.
Castner told the board that they have “one of the greatest districts in this country”, and that they will want to continue to maintain that through the search for the new superintendent.