The search for a new director of the Dallas County Juvenile Department is nearing the final stages, as about a dozen finalists are set to be interviewed for the position next week.
Dallas County Juvenile Board members hope to name a director by the end of the year, KERA reported. The candidates will be interviewed next Monday and Tuesday by board members grouped in panels of three. This system will avoid a quorum so that the interviews can be conducted behind closed doors to maintain the confidentiality of the candidates.
“If we did it in an open meeting, then we would have all the candidates appear in open meeting,” said County Commissioner and board member Andy Sommerman. “And some of these folks are, quite frankly, interviewing in confidentiality, … they have other jobs they don’t want their boss to know right now.”
Each candidate will be asked a set of standardized questions by interim director Michael Griffiths, who is not applying for the permanent position. The questions will be submitted in advance by the board members, according to County Judge Clay Jenkins.
Griffiths recently came out of retirement to serve as interim director of the department following the sudden resignation four months ago of the former director, Darryl Beatty, amid allegations of poor conditions within the facilities and mistreatment of inmates.
The search for the new director was led by the firm Bob Murray & Associates. Executive Recruiter Adele Frese said the pool of candidates from across the U.S. had been narrowed down from 41 to about a dozen.