The Houston Independent School District Board of Education soon will begin gathering community feedback on the candidate profile for the next superintendent, and could have a replacement named as early as May.

The school board reviewed a tentative timeline for the search process on Thursday during their first meeting with Ray and Associates, the firm hired to find a replacement for outgoing Superintendent Terry Grier.

Selected by trustees in December, Ray and Associates will help trustees conduct surveys and host a series of community meetings held over the course of several days to gather input from various district stakeholders, including parents and students, school-based staff, district employees, and business and community members.

The board will then use that feedback to finalize its superintendent profile and begin searching for candidates, a process that could begin as early as March.

According to the rough timeline, applications would be due in early April, with first-round interviews conducted later that month. Second-round interviews could be conducted in early May, with the district naming a replacement as early as May.

Dr. Grier plans to step down on Feb. 29. This is his seventh year as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District.

For more information on the superintendent search process or to provide feedback on the candidate profile, visit www.houstonisd.org/supesearch.