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Navasota schools to seek a chief

Navasota's school board president said Friday that community and staff input would be essential as officials begin their search for a superintendent this summer.

Superintendent Jennings Teel submitted his resignation to the board at a meeting Thursday night.

Trustees agreed to postpone the search until they have heard a presentation on the process from the Texas Association of School Boards.

School board President John Price said the board's priority was collecting input from stakeholders.

"We want to make sure the search process is open so the community is involved in the process," he said. "We're very adamant about being inclusive, and that, to me, is one of the most important parts of the search process."

At Thursday's meeting, trustees accepted Teel's resignation and selected Assistant Superintendent Rory Gesch as interim superintendent.

Teel's resignation becomes effective July 31, but he is on vacation and won't return to work, Price said.

Breckenridge officials named Teel the lone finalist for that district's superintendent post last month. Trustees officially offered the position to Teel after a mandatory 21-day waiting period, which ended Thursday.

Teel, 51, has worked for Navasota schools for the past six years, including four as the district's top administrator.

Price said that he did not know how long it would take to find a new superintendent but that he suspected a new leader would not be in place at the beginning of the school year.

"We do not want to be hasty in this process," he said.

On Friday, Gesch said he was willing to act as interim as long as needed.

"I'm going to serve throughout the process however the board chooses. That's the role they've assigned to me, and I'm perfectly willing to work with them throughout the process," he said.

Gesch, 39, has been an assistant superintendent at the district for the past three years. He said he was considering applying for the top job.

"Right now I feel like I probably will apply, but I've also discussed it with the board that they need to go through the process with the community. If I'm the right person for the community, that will be great, and if not, I'll work with whoever comes into Navasota," he said.

Price said board members hoped to hear from the Texas Association of School Boards during an upcoming meeting. The association performs superintendent candidate searches for districts for a small fee, he said.

The board has scheduled a planning workshop July 18 and a regular meeting for July 20.

"We're still in a fact-finding or discussion mode on how exactly we're going to go about the search. I think there's a very open movement within the board to make sure we have community involvement and school involvement in the search process," Price said. "We want to make sure we can garner support from the community for whoever the new superintendent is."