A charter school board can run a fast Executive Director search without cutting corners. It needs a partner with search capacity, one scoring rubric used at every stage, and written candidate summaries the board can decide from. That is how the board of Democracy Prep at the Agassi Campus (DPAC) in Las Vegas filled its top seat in weeks.
In October 2025, the national board of Democracy Prep Public Schools voted to end its management of DPAC. Under the transition plan filed with the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority, DPAC became an independent public charter school on July 1, 2026. Before that date, its board had to hire the Executive Director who would lead the school on its own.
What did the DPAC board need?
DPAC’s board needed a new Executive Director on a fixed and urgent timeline. Three facts shaped the search:
- The sitting leader chose not to enter an open search.
- The board did not have the capacity to run a search on its own.
- The independence date of July 1, 2026 was not going to move.
The board needed speed. It also needed a process it could trust, because this hire would set the direction of a newly independent school.
Why do Executive Director searches stall when a board runs them alone?
Most charter school boards are volunteers with full-time jobs. Running a search means sourcing candidates, screening them, scheduling interviews and keeping every board member’s judgment on the same scale. Without dedicated capacity, those steps stretch out, and a board under deadline pressure is tempted to hire the first credible candidate or to delay the decision.
How did the DPAC search work?
Stronger Consulting ran the full search for DPAC, from screening through board interviews. The process had three features:
- Multiple stages. Candidates moved through a staged process before reaching the board.
- Scoring rubrics at every stage. Each candidate was measured against the same criteria, so the board compared people on equal terms.
- Candidate summaries. Board members received written summaries, so a busy board could decide quickly without guessing.
How fast did DPAC hire its new Executive Director?
The new Executive Director accepted the role and onboarded about a week after the final interview. They started on June 1, a month before DPAC became independent.
“Stronger did not waste my or my colleagues’ time.”
Maliq Hendricks, Board Member, DPAC
What can other charter school boards learn from DPAC?
You do not need to be leaving a network to face a fast leadership transition. Founders step back, leaders move on, and partners change. DPAC’s search points to five practices any board can use:
- Work backward from a fixed date. Set the start date first, then plan every stage of the search to meet it.
- Decide what you are hiring for before you interview. Agree on the role’s first-year priorities so every board member evaluates against the same goals.
- Use one rubric at every stage. Consistent criteria keep the process fair and make the final decision faster.
- Give the board summaries, not stacks of resumes. Board members decide better and faster from clear, comparable write-ups.
- Bring in capacity when the board does not have it. A search partner handles sourcing, screening and scheduling so the board can focus on judgment.
What should a board answer before it hires?
Before your board starts interviewing, answer three questions:
- Who owns the new leader’s goals for year one, and are they written down?
- Which decisions belong to the board, and which belong to the leader?
- What did your network, partner or founder handle quietly that now has no owner?
Our free checklist for hiring leaders who stay walks through these questions in more detail.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a charter school Executive Director search take?
Timelines vary with the role and the candidate market. At DPAC, the new Executive Director accepted about a week after the final interview and started June 1, a month ahead of the school’s July 1, 2026 independence date.
Should a charter school board run its own Executive Director search?
A board can run its own search if members have the time, a sourcing network and a shared evaluation process. When a board lacks that capacity, as DPAC’s did, a search partner can run the process while the board keeps the final decision.
What should an Executive Director scoring rubric include?
A strong rubric ties each criterion to the role’s first-year priorities and uses the same scale at every stage. That lets board members compare candidates on equal terms and reach a decision faster.
What happens when a charter school leaves its network?
The school becomes independent, and its board takes on decisions the network used to make, starting with who leads. DPAC became an independent public charter school in Nevada on July 1, 2026.
What does an education executive search firm do?
An education executive search firm sources candidates, screens them, manages interview stages and gives the board clear information to decide. For DPAC, Stronger Consulting ran the search from screening through board interviews.
Read the full story
See how the search came together in the DPAC case study. If your board is facing a leadership transition, talk with us. Complimentary consultations. No pitch, no pressure.
For more on planning ahead of a transition, read why small nonprofits can’t skip succession planning.
Stronger Consulting runs Executive Director and CEO searches for charter networks, school systems, and mission-driven nonprofits. Book a call and we will talk through the process with you.
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