Succession! School Board President Announces She Will Not Seek a Second Term

The Scarsdale School community received their second surprise in less than a month on February 14, 2022 when Karen Ceske, the President of the Scarsdale School Board, announced she would not seek a second three-year term on the Scarsdale School Board. She said, “I have people in my family who need my support,” and cited 18 years of volunteer work in Scarsdale including leadership roles on the PTA and the PT Council.

Ceske stepped up to the role of President last July when the Board’s Vice President failed to be re-elected. She was a calm, steady voice during a tumultuous and controversial era.

Her news came just weeks after Scarsdale Schools Superintendent Thomas Hagerman announced his departure in June, which will leave the district without time to conduct a search for his replacement for the 2022-23 school year.

Without these two key players at the helm, the district is in for a transition.

That was the topic of a discussion at the 2-14-22 meeting when the current Board of Education reviewed their options for finding a new Superintendent Thomas Hagerman will leave Scarsdale at the end of the school year.superintendent.

The first question was whether to do a search now for a permanent superintendent or to appoint an interim superintendent to lead the district during the 2022-23 year while the board undergoes a formal search.

Board Vice President Amber Yusuf led the conversation and presented the board with their options. She said, “Normally the board writes an RFP for a search firm, interviews and retains a search firm who works with the board to identify candidates. The search firm will work with the entire community to develop a candidate profile and conduct candidate recruitment and vetting.”

However, given the short timeframe, there was consensus that this process would not be possible before Dr. Hagerman’s departure in June.

Jessica Resnick-Ault said, “I feel strongly that we appoint an interim because I think we need significant input from the community and we would not have time to do that before the end of the year. Many candidates will be locked into positions now. We would not get a fulsome slate of candidates.

Bob Klein said, “I second Jessica – we want to have adequate time to search.”

Jim Dugan agreed, saying, “This is an important decision for Scarsdale – I think it may take some time to locate the best qualified candidates. It is not likely we would find a permanent replacement by June. I think we should appoint an interim.”

Carl Finger said, “ I agree – it would be virtually impossible for us to get someone by June.”

Ron Schulhof and Karen Ceske concurred.

The discussion then turned to the search for an interim superintendent and what level of community engagement was feasible?

After much back and forth about a questionnaire, a survey, a forum or a call for comments via email, the group coalesced around a community letter from the Board President and Vice President. The letter would define the characteristics of the interim superintendent, the board’s process for retaining and interim and invite anyone to send comments.

Karen Ceske said, “I think it will be pretty clear what we’re looking for in an interim. The board can just lay it out. We could just ask for people to email us their thoughts.”

The Board agreed that Karen Ceske and Amber Yusuf would draft a letter to the community outlining board priorities for the interim superintendent and asking for feedback. The letter will announce the board’s decision to appoint an interim and to conduct a national search for the next superintendent and will invite feedback.