Pasadena ISD’s school board plans to appoint a new superintendent by mid-March, filtering from a pool of candidates from across the country, trustees said Thursday.

Trustees discussed details of the search in a two-hour closed session at a special board meeting, ultimately voting to interview six applicants in two rounds of interviews each. 

The search comes after outgoing Superintendent DeeAnn Powell announced her retirement plans last fall after over a decade at the helm of the district. Powell said at the time that she expects to remain in her position through the end of the school year.

Powell served as the district’s first female superintendent and the first superintendent to have graduated from Pasadena. Student test scores rose and state data show more graduates were ready for life after college under Powell’s watch, even as the district weathered three hurricanes, several tropical storms and a global pandemic. Powell’s decade-plus leading the district is more than double the average tenure of superintendents across the nation. 

In an interview after the meeting adjourned without public discussion of the search, board President Casey Phelan said he hoped to find a successor that would emulate Powell’s work and leadership style. Although Powell had been born and raised in Pasadena, Phelan said the board “cast a wide net” in the search for her replacement.

“We’re very happy with what we have and we’re very sad to lose her, so we’re really just looking to continue and build on that,” Phelan said.

District officials surveyed parents, business leaders and other community members in preparation for the search. In those conversations, community members most wanted a leader who would be heavily involved and present in day-to-day life in Pasadena, Trustee Kenny Fernandez said.

“I’d like the superintendent to be somebody who’s an all-in superintendent,” Fernandez said in an interview after the meeting. “Just being encompassed by the Chamber (of Commerce), to the community, to the businesses, to the religious leaders, but most importantly to the students and to the staff, to what makes up Pasadena ISD.” 

The spring timeline is in part to shore up a successor ahead of the district’s May board elections, when four of the seven seats will be on the ballot. The board also plans at an unspecified date later this year to fill the vacant seat left behind after longtime trustee Vickie Morgan’s death in December, Phelan said.

Whoever they pick, Trustee Crystal Dávila said she hoped the new superintendent stays “a long time.” Kirk Lewis, the superintendent before Powell, also led the district for over a decade.

“It’s longevity,” Fernandez said. “That’s what we’ve had. We’ve had success through stability. We’re a stable board, we’re a stable administration and we have stable students. While others are fighting the fight out there, we, by the grace of God, have been able to keep moving forward.” 

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