I hope everyone had a wonderful week. It is absolutely crazy we are already into April. As I do in most of my updates, I again want to thank all of the efforts by our kids, our staff (especially classroom teachers), and our families. We are into the last two months of our school year, and everyone is working hard to finish with excellence!
As I hope you already know, Dr. David Hicks will soon be taking the lead as Northwest ISD’s new superintendent. Please be very proud of the work our school board members put forth to make this decision – they have found us a great leader.
I also want to thank everyone who shared feedback, participated in meetings, and completed the survey to help determine our superintendent profile. Our School Board members were able to use your input to define the superintendent search process and to help find Northwest ISD this great candidate.
Thirty-five educators applied for this position. Our board members narrowed that number down to the top 16 who most matched the leadership profile developed by NISD stakeholders. They interviewed the top six of those finalists, and they interviewed the top four from that group again before selecting Dr. Hicks.
Dr. Hicks was unanimously named the Lone Finalist at Tuesday night’s special board meeting and, if all goes as planned, will officially be NISD’s new superintendent upon the Board’s approval in April (after the state-required waiting period). Dr. Hicks’ experience as a superintendent and familiarity with fast growth and this area will be a great asset. And he already has a good understanding of us. As he stated Tuesday night, he believes in family – that family is crucially important to everything we do as educators – and he knows that everything we do in NISD is about our kids.
Dr. Hicks and I have already started discussing the transition and expect he will begin full-time in mid-May. As we begin the process of passing the torch, please know how much I appreciate all the support you have provided me over the last six years. I know Dr. Hicks is ready to carry on our work, and I know you will continue to support him as you did me.
Everyone be safe and have a great weekend!
Ryder Warren, Superintendent
Northwest Independent School District