GISD names Johnston as superintendent lone finalist

The search for a new Graham ISD superintendent came to an end this week when Dr. Mary Johnston was named the lone finalist for the position.

Since 2017, Johnston has served as the Rockwall ISD chief academic officer of elementary schools and formerly served in roles as the executive director for special programs and principal at Southlake Carroll ISD. 

In her position at Rockwall ISD, she is responsible for campus operations at the elementary schools to meet academic standards. She manages the campus principals, staffing and personnel and oversees curriculum and instruction, special programs, federal programs, multilingual services, assessment and accountability and professional development.  

With 30 years in education, Johnston has also served as a principal for Dallas ISD, assistant principal for Southlake Carroll ISD and a Spanish teacher at Trinity Valley School and Birdville ISD.

She received her Bachelor of Arts at The University of Texas at Arlington in English and Spanish, her Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration at Texas Christian University and her doctorate in education from The University of Texas at Austin. 

Multiple special-called meetings of the GISD Board of Trustees were held in October to interview candidates for the superintendent position. The meetings were held Monday, Oct. 7, Oct. 8-10 and Oct. 21-23, with the lone finalist selection made Wednesday, Oct. 23. 

The board met Monday, Sept. 16 and Monday, Sept. 23 to conduct a superintendent candidate review and to narrow down the over 40 applicants pursuing the position. 

The district is looking to have the superintendent in place after Thanksgiving. State law requires that the district must wait 21 days after announcing a lone finalist before the candidate is hired.

The resignation of former Superintendent Sonny Cruse was accepted by the board during a special-called meeting Tuesday, May 28, and will be effective at the end of December.

Impact Education Specialists (IES), who were hired as a superintendent search firm by the GISD Board of Trustees in June, provided an update Tuesday, Sept. 10. 

The superintendent search firm met with the school board Thursday, Aug. 1 to establish a profile of what they are looking for from potential candidates.

The superintendent search firm returned to the district Monday, Aug. 26 for community input sessions with members chosen by the district.

The community input sessions consisted of central office personnel, campus principals, teachers from every campus, parents and community members. 

The sessions from the report were used by IES to develop questions for the board interview process.

Members in the sessions were first asked three questions: What are the strengths of GISD? What are areas that could be improved? What characteristics and skills do they believe the new superintendent should possess? Responses were split into categories and grouped according to similar themes.

“Attendees selected the strengths and areas to improve that they believed to be the most important by sticking a red dot next to the response,” the report states.

The members worked together to identify characteristics and skills required to enhance the district’s strengths and push for improvement.

Common responses were collected during the community input sessions for the strengths, areas for improvement and future focus and qualification and skills for the next superintendent.

Some of the areas of improvement and future focuses of the district included addressing facility needs, prioritizing salaries of district employees, building trust in the district and improving transparency.

Qualifications included seeking local input from all stakeholders, plans for improvement and growth, solving problems and working with staff at all levels.