001The Monday, January 12, 2026, Invergrove Heights Community Schools Board of Education special meeting is called to order at 5.32 p.m. We're meeting tonight at the district office. As a reminder, there's no public comment during special board meetings. This meeting is being recorded and access to the recording will be made available on the school district's website as quickly as possible. Our school district's mission is to inspire, innovate, excel. A community commitment. Board Clerk Larson, will you please take roll call? Member Longsberry? Here. Member Dukes? Here. Member Ward? Here. Member Klinger? Here. Member D'Amiola? Here. Member Pearson? Here. Member Larson? Here. Great. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
002and justice for all. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda items? Motion by Member Kooning. Second by Member Ward. Motion by Member Kooning. Second by Member Ward. Any discussion? Madam Chair, I would just say, I'm not super passionate about this, but I would consider next year, let's just discuss the order of the agenda. I think election makes sense first. Just reading the statute and thinking about new year, new slate, re-elected slate, and then having the new business. I think it's just cleaner, and I think it's best time. But I don't. Know we've done it this way for the numbers and we did it to do to by by the time of our guests And I know we have done so for that way too, and I respect that Yeah, just
003to discuss next year Good point all those in favor aye opposed The motion is carried Do I have a motion in a second to approve the consent agenda items motion by member Pearson? Motion by Member Pearson, second by Member Dukes. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. All right, yes, as Superintendent Bernardson shared, we have invited two search firms to share with us tonight the proposals that they had shared with us previously. And given schedules, we are starting at 530 with... Hazard Young Attea? Yes. An associate. Okay, so I'm just going to read this. The Invergrove Heights Schools Board of Education seeks to appoint a new superintendent beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. The board reviewed multiple search firms, evaluated proposals, and narrowed the field to two finalist firms. Both
004firms will present to the board after which a decision will be made regarding which search firm best meets the needs of this district. So I would like to welcome Deborah Taylor from Hazard Young, Attea, and Associates. It's H-Y-A. H-Y-A, yes. Thank you. I just wanted to shake all your hands and I'll jumble through the wire. That's really fun. So thank you. Thank you. All right, I know that I have limited time based upon the request for you this evening. So I thought I would make a brief proposal, excuse me, a slideshow that I'd like to walk through. And hopefully during that time you can get to know me, our firm, and our proposal. but I'm open to questions and if it's not inconvenient, I'd like to stay since I see that you have action and
005perhaps in discussion you might have questions later on. So I'll stay for the rest of the portion of that meeting. Sure. All right, excellent. So, as I said, my name is, as you said, my name is Deborah Taylor, and I am a retired superintendent, or as I like to say, rewired, because I'm very busy right now. So you'll have something fun to look forward to, and that's your next step plan. I have served as superintendent for 16 years, and that includes in senior leadership positions in Wisconsin, neighboring Wisconsin, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The team that's working with me has served in leadership roles and superintendent roles in both Illinois and California. So we come to you with a national connection. However, we have many colleagues in our firm. We have 130 to be exact. And
006Ted Belasing, who's a retired superintendent from this portion of the state around the suburbs of Minneapolis. And Carlton Jenkins are also members of our associate team and we're going to be consulting with them as especially during the recruitment phase so that we can be sure to make those local connections. I myself have my superintendent's license in Minnesota so I'm also familiar with your administrative license requirements. So that will make it easier for me to assist with the recruitment. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about your responsibilities and we can briefly go you're certainly well aware that with retirement of your superintendent that it's necessary for you to have the right fit for your district. It means that not only do you need a person who is highly qualified and has the proper certifications and
007has background checks, but you also have a unique culture here. You have a very specific strategic plan. If you could pass on to the next slide. Thank you. That I know you are engaged in implementing. I have a brief overview of your high areas of information, highlights of your information. These are things you're certainly well aware, but I think that this profile, which I have to share with you today, does provide you with a set of specific areas of focus that you really need to look at as you look at your next superintendent. I've had the opportunity to listen in to two or three of your recent board meetings and one of the ones that was very informative was your October meeting in which you had presentations around your strategic plan progress and one specific
008school principal came and shared the great work that she was doing with the MTSS model. I obviously believe that you're on the right path to make significant improvements. So when you think about that match, you want to be looking for a person who is very motivated and experienced in moving in that direction. This is from your website and your plan and as I was mentioning earlier to a couple of the members that were in the room at the time, we certainly have, you certainly have an excellent plan. You focus on the important work of the school mission and what your daily experience should be like and as I read and heard from folks at your meeting, it seems to me that you really are anxious to enact. the relationships, the longing, the engagement, and also
009that striving for improvement at the same time, and that you're making good profits. So once again, congratulations to all of you for that focus. So you might be wondering, since I am not a current employee or a recently retired employee from Minnesota, why HYA would be a good choice for you. I know we are all very concerned about local kinds of connections. So that's why I pointed out our local connections in HYA with two prior superintendents. I also wanted to point out, it might be difficult for you to see this slide from where you are, but HYA is the one with the tallest column. So as you look at all of the other major firms that provide super-advantaged search options for schools, ours is the one that has the most involved. We have currently 90
010in 23-24, or over 90 in 24-25. We don't have all of those statistics, but... That's important because we're experienced. We have a signature process. While there's a lot of things that will be revised to meet your specific needs, we're flexible about that, of course. But we have a research-based process that's been in place since 1987. That's what's grown and evolved with schools over the years. We also have 75% of the superintendents are recruited by HYA associates. If you could just go down a little bit, there's something on the top. Sorry, the other way. I apologize. There we go. So when we do work with you to place a superintendent, our firm is happy to report that 94% of the superintendents stay for the full term of their first contract. And that is including all superintendents
011placed in the last ten years. Having a superintendent that's been with you for about 12, 13 years, you know how important it is to have longevity in your contract. So that is something that we can offer to you. Okay, now. Thanks. Alright, so we have a focus on board leadership. I myself serve on a couple of boards right now. In the past I have as well, while I've also been an administrator. But I currently serve on a board in Wisconsin. So I'm very, very familiar with the role of the school board, which certainly is one that carries a lot of responsibility for individuals who are from your community and the parents, of course, and the students. While this process is one that we will facilitate it truly has to be your decision and your process
012So we rely heavily on the school board will provide you with advice what we really need for you to help us with all decision making We are a trusted firm, as I mentioned. We've been in place for 38 years, included in the materials. We have validated client testimonials. We've completed over 1,600 surgeons nationally. We've also completed some recently in Minnesota, notably in Rochester, and prior to that, as you can see from our proposal. So we have experience here in the state. And as I said, our focus is not only providing you with a slate of candidates, but the right candidates who are really going to meet your needs. We could go ahead to the next one. Thank you. All right, so another summary of what we've just taken a look at in the interest of
013time. The only thing else to point out is on the right-hand side of the slide, there's a question for you, which you may be considering either this evening or at a future time, as you think about whether you'll work with HYA or I believe it's the Esco School Association. Which firm can best provide you with the infrastructure, relationships, and expertise for your next year? And we believe that over and above. we definitely will provide that for you. A lot of satisfaction for our private clients. All right, you can continue. All right, well, you've already met me. So I just wanted to briefly indicate who else will be working with you who will be on our team. Our second person on the team will be Dr. Janira Walters. And as I mentioned, she has been a
014superintendent, recently retired out of the Chababalanda area. Mr. Vaughn Feprasert. And he currently is working with HYA. He previously had been a superintendent in California, as well as in the Illinois Chababalanda area. area and both of these individuals are extremely knowledgeable and have done the work for quite some time what we have in common of course in addition to our desire to find you the very best person for your district who will be with you for the long haul we also I think present a diversity and we understand that equity and diversity is important from our understanding of your strategic plan and I think having a diverse team to bring forward your processes something of help as well okay next please And then just to summarize, what is an actual search? What does it look
015like? I'm certain that you've had an opportunity to look into this yourselves. And many organizations like the School Boards Association and others have outlines and processes that they provide to you. So what we generally do is we outline not only what's included in the process, but about how long might it take. So the first process is engaging. The engagement is when Wild, myself, and the rest of our team will work with you to identify your specific plan, your timeline for the future. It is not something that we assume. There's a timeline coming up, which I'll show you shortly, but we assume that you have a specific goal in mind as to when you'd like to complete the process, when you'd like to have your superintendent. working with you. I assume it's going to be July
0161, based on what I've read. But you may want to complete your process at a specific time. So we may back this up. So that planning process will immediately go into effect. We also will work with you during this time to engage with your community and that is the most fun part for me. Working with various focus groups from the community and normally we have up to 24 groups and it's a little bit up to you to help us decide who should be incorporated and when those might occur. They might be here, they might be remote. Some of your people might have easier time connecting with parents and so on. And so we'll be setting all of that up with you during this first certain time. Another important piece is our award interviews. So in
017addition to hearing from the focus groups in the community, you as leaders have specific expectations for the process and for your future superintendents. So we will interview each of you and provide a summary of that information back to you along with the focus groups, etc. Once we have completed that engagement work, we'll update the job posting. By the way, once we contract with you, we will put an initial job posting immediately so that we don't lose any time. But as you know from what I've just described, we want to be sure that your leadership profile is going to be specific to what your community and your group are looking for. So that might have to be recently revised as time goes on. All right, we will also... incorporate the advertisement links, we will collect resumes,
018we'll contact individuals who we know are interested in contacting Dr. Blass and also Dr. Jenkins recently. We already had in mind a couple of people locally who we might want to recruit because with us... It's not just a matter of posting information and seeing who applies. It's a much more active process. We'll be reaching out to people who fit the profile that you design and those individuals will be invited to apply and then they'll go through the same interview process. It's also true you may have some individuals, perhaps some demonstrators on staff. they would really like to see engaged in this process. So you'll communicate that to us and we can once again reach out to those teachers and invite them to apply and they would be part of the same process. Sorry, time is
019running out. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that we had time to ask you questions as well. And I can't, Barb has a heart stopped, correct? She's on the meeting right now. Yeah, does she have to get off right at 6? I can check with her. Okay. Okay, I will be brief, but just to go over these two last bullets because they are important. The selection process. Yes, absolutely. Of course, and we have... We have an interview protocol and a workshop that we'll involve you with. And we also will join you for your interview. So we'll be here supporting you as much as you require to ensure that you make decisions that will be long-lasting and positive. The other thing that's new for our firm is that we provide a six-month transition seminar for
020all HYA-placed superintendents. So that means that starting in July, perhaps one of your board members, your board chair, and the superintendent will take part in a six-month free virtual seminar, which will go through several areas, and that's later on in your packet. I won't take the time to go over those now. But the point is, not only are we going to provide you with a candidate who you desire, you'll be making the selection, of course, the final decision, but we'll also be providing with a colleague. mentoring and coaching and support through that process, which I think will be very, very helpful. Okay, let's just go through the remainder of these quickly. That is information about our board portal. Many people say, I'd love to see who's applied to be one of our candidates. So we've
021created a board portal just for you. where you can go on and check and see what's required and look at all the information materials in this confidential portal. It's not to be shared with others. As well as all of the background information, as you can see in these categories, will be available to you. Go ahead and continue. You had asked for a timeline, so I wanted to be sure we got to this. This is our proposed timeline draft, depending upon when you appoint your firm. We would like to offer you a concluding date, if you could scroll down just a little bit, of approximately end of March or early April. If that seems like a date that's not going to work for you, then we would just back it up and look for ways to
022implement it sooner. But given the amount of time required for the engagement process with your focus groups and interviews, and also the recruitment process, I think that that is a reasonable timeline. But again, that's something we would discuss in our planning meeting once the firm is identified. Okay, if you want to continue on. This is what's incorporated into the engagement phase which we briefly talked about so you can continue on with that please. And I've spoken to you briefly about our focus groups. They can be versatile in formatting and organization and that's something you can help us plan and decide. Okay, and then next, I've discussed with you how important it is for us to actively recruit, and we do have a very large diverse associate network across the country, and we rely on one
023another to help us identify people. And also helpful, in the event that we have, for example, a... an unknown candidate to you, could be from Minnesota or anywhere else. Our associates, because of our reach, can be contacted and we can inquire locally about those individuals when we're doing our reference checks and background checks. So that's very helpful. And we use scientific processes to work through the process to become to make decisions about who was going to best serve at the school district. So our responsibility is to screen candidates, check references, and provide you with a slate of candidates. That slate of candidates then becomes your responsibility to work with us, conduct interviews, and we'll help facilitate those interviews as much as you require. It's important that we know that we're very focused on ensuring that
024we're not utilizing any unconscious bias in our selection, and I know that's a role for others as well. All right. I've talked about this. Let's continue, given the interest of time. So in the long run, I guess these are the six areas that we provide support in, so if you want to leave that slide up while I take your questions. Thank you so much. Of course. So we all have the opportunity to review her proposal as well. Thank you so much for sending that in by the limited time frame I gave you. You provided a very, we appreciate that. Any questions for HYA? The people that would be conducting this, would they be out of state? Would they be local? Would they be here or would they be... We would be here on site for
025any onset required activities. So the engagement activities, is that what you mean? Yeah. And would there be costs of flying someone? We included our travel in the proposal total fee cost. So it is included. It's not additional. We did not include travel for your candidates, however. If you choose to make it as a reimbursement, that would be up to you to decide. Is there any point at which outside of the travel costs listed in the contract we would then be billed for travel for your team for their flight and their hotel to come to our district and say we need additional community meetings, we need an additional workshop or something like that? Well, we have up to 24. If you would like to go to 30, then we may have to talk about numbers of
026additional days. But in my experience, we usually place them within a one or two or three day time period, so the travel on our end is less costly. That's a good question. As I mentioned some people prefer virtual meetings because it's difficult for them for childcare reasons to have or business They can't make it to the school during the day. So that's it. To board member Ward's question it sounds like Dr. Walters and Mr. Faye Faye Percert yes are being assigned they they are the associates working for yes and when it comes to then the active recruitment that's when our reach expands and as I mentioned earlier it's not pleasing Dr. Jenkins two people who are very knowledgeable about the Twin City area and have close connections with the director of the I don't know
027if you know either of those folks, do you? Sure. Carlton Jenkins was at one time the superintendent in Robbinsdale and Ted Blazing was at one time the superintendent in White Bear Lake. He was superintendent when I was in school there. I remember that name. I was like, I recognize him. He signed my report. And as I said, just recent conversations I had with them. that's going to make a huge difference in terms of identifying people that we'd like to contact for possible recruitment. But once again, much of that's going to depend on what your profile is and what you're seeking in your next superintendent. But we have those connections for you. I appreciate sort of the national look because I think it's... It's helpful because we are really trying to make it the best fit
028and that person may not live here. That being said, there's some interesting challenges happening in Minnesota right now and I assume with some of your other clients you're kind of talking about and discussing those issues. How have you and what are you doing really in regards to just talking about Minnesota as you recruit around the nation? I'm not sure you're talking about educational challenges or political challenges. Just to avoid, you know, sticking on anyone's toes, let me just say that one thing that I observed which is an excellent term is the new act that is in place to improve reading for Minnesota students. And that is actually... national trend. There are many states that have recently passed laws that have required changes in reading instruction and assessment. Wisconsin has one as a matter of fact,
029which is where I live. But what I was going to point out is that when it comes to finding the right fit or looking for ways to define a school district, I think a lot of it is... is quite evident. Your schools, I think, are well defined by your strategic plan, by all the work that's underway right now. You have been engaging your teachers in professional development, to get back to that example of reading, which has had a very positive effect. You've made great gains. You are looking at improving your diversity in your employment, which is a challenge, but one that I think again many districts are seeking to do to be sure that your school represents a face for the community. I think that the goal of ensuring that students feel safe in these
030times in particular, one of the challenges that I've read about and I had experienced in a different way. When it happens, well, for example, to avoid the politics, but when there's some school violence in a region, sometimes families are afraid to send their children to school. And I know that happens in other situations as well. So we have to work very hard to ensure that students understand and can relate to the fact that we are providing a very safe environment. We have to ensure that. And when we can't ensure, we might have to turn to remote learning for a period of time. So I hope I, without getting into too much of the details of your current experience, which I'm very sorry that you're experiencing right now in the Twin Cities, there are challenges across
031the nation and in Minnesota as it's on the way to stay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. Yes, and you're welcome to stay and listen to MSBA. I appreciate your inviting me and I look forward to Enjoying the rest of the meeting. Thank you. Thank you Alright, so while Tracy welcomes Barb back, we are going to the second superintendent search firm presenting this evening is the Minnesota School Board Association represented by a director of leadership development and executive search, Barb Dorn. Just waiting for it to get back up. Perfect. Welcome, Barb. Hello, are you okay? Yes, we are all here and ready to hear your highlights. Great, thank you very much Is it okay if let's see it's six o'clock if I've done it 615 is that gonna fit okay
032with everything else you have on your yes? That's great, and so I guess before you start After reviewing her proposal do you do how many questions do you think we have right right now before she gives the high level Just to I have zero right now. I have zero. Okay. All right. Yep Let's do ten minutes and then we'll we'll pause and see if there are questions Okay, sounds good. Well, I know how fast 10 minutes go. So first thing I want to do is thank you very much for allowing me to visit with you virtually tonight. I'm Barb Dorn. I'm the Director of Leadership Development and Executive Search at MSBA. And I will be serving as a search lead for the Invergrove High School Superintendent Search. I am going to give you a very
033brief overview of MSBA services. I want to review the timeline. I also want to talk about what makes us different. And I want to allow those 10 minutes or 5 minutes for questions. The proposal contained so much information that I know it can sometimes feel like there's just too much. So I want to boil it down to a couple of very simple things. The first thing I want to say is that there's no magic in superintendent search. Every firm will do the same thing. So generally speaking, any superintendent search firm will create the leadership profile. They will offer public engagement opportunities. They will advertise the position, recruit candidates. that the applications and recommend finalists and they will facilitate the interview process. So there's nothing special in that overall scaffolding of the process. So it's not
034what firms do with how they do it. So I'll tell you briefly from MSBA's perspective, we base absolutely everything we do on a continuous improvement model. So I'll tell you just very briefly what that means as well in terms of that faculty research. First of all, the leadership profile. One thing that we do is we refresh our hiring criteria every single year. Our search services move at the speed of education because nothing is being done now in education that even sometimes remotely resembles what was being done in 2019. so much change with the pandemic and i think every single year there's opportunities to refine the hiring criteria and develop better and better leadership profiles specific to each individual district so that's just one thing that we do we also offer stakeholder engagement opportunities that second
035thing i mentioned in a variety of different ways and there are some things that are unique to msba one we do certain preview meetings we added that about three years ago that was new We meet with your internal district leaders early in the search process. So usually it's the administration and the leadership of your bargaining units. The reason we do that is we want to loop them in as soon as possible. We will share information, timeline, brochure, survey opportunity, share information. We will answer their questions and ask for their help. Those folks are so plugged in that they very often get people excited about the search and they take the survey. So that search preview meeting is very, very unusual. Also unusual is the Q&A with MSBA. Nobody else does that. That is an opportunity
036for anyone in the community, in the buildings, students, whomever, to send me questions about the search process that they want answered. We then hold a live Zoom meeting that we host. where I share all the information but I also answer every single one of those questions and we record that session and it's placed on the district website for the duration of the search. So it will prevent misinformation from taking root in the search process. We do have a survey that we offer. We offer it at no charge. It's included in multiple languages. We think it should be in hard copy as well as online. And we will do focus groups and listening sessions if that's something the board feels is appropriate. We want to reach as many people as we possibly can, but you have
037to think very carefully about how the composition of focus groups or listening sessions are compiled because there are barriers to people participating. Not everyone can come and participate in person or even online with sessions because of employment or child care or transportation. So we want to be as inclusive as we possibly can in working with members of the public and with your staff. Everybody's going to advertise it. We'll advertise it as well. It's going to be on all of the national sites. We also boost our posting through AASB through 31 different diversity sites. There's no additional charges for any of the national sites upon which this is posted. We will also recruit candidates. That is something that is unique to us in that our methodology is a little different. We are members of the National
038Affiliation of Superintendent Searchers. So anyone who's looking for work through a school board association, executive search service, will see all of MSBA's openings as well. That's a national application database, and we have a national recruiter on hand to help us with that. And I want to touch briefly on our philosophy of group greeting. We hesitate to invite people to apply because what that often happens is people who are not invited don't apply. But in our case, what people know about MSP searches is that the school board will see every single application. We're not any sort of a barrier between applications and you, so that then people will throw their hat in the ring because we are not going to be presenting you only with a slate. So we will make sure people know about this
039opportunity. We will encourage them to take a look at it, but we want to be very careful to allow those individuals to decide themselves if they feel like this is an opportunity that they align with. They'll look at your leadership profile and the results of the public engagement summary report. And if they align, they will apply. We will vet applications, we will recommend finalists. I have a team of Metro service providers. You've seen their information in a proposal that I think is second to none. Not only do I admire their wisdom and their experience, but I also value their connections. We have John Ward, Kate McGuire, Josh Pauley, Bernadette Johnson, and Connie Hayes, all former Metro administrators and school board members that are helping us root and vet applications as well. We're going to do
040some bias training with the board because we do think that everyone understands that there's sort of an unconscious sense of things that we know about people based upon them. So our interview training includes bias training, which includes gender, geographic bias, familiarity bias, race bias, age bias. That will be a part of our conversation with the board to make sure that when you're looking at applications, you have checked your bias at the door as well. We will facilitate all of the interview processes. We are extremely careful to make sure that communications are clear. We also, as a part of the planning meeting, will provide you with comparable salary and benefits information that you can use to help decide the salary range you want to post for this as well. And we include background checks on all
041of the semifinalists. That is a national criminal database check. It's employment verification, education verification as well. That is on anyone that is named a semifinalist for your position. The only other thing I'm going to say is please see page 19 in the proposal for timeline. I promise I get to that. The timeline we are proposing is about a three month timeline. This I moved back from early January to now late January since we're just a little bit past when I submitted the proposal. But generally speaking, you can accomplish all of this easily in three months. We would suggest if we start at the end of January, you would be selecting your loan finalist probably in mid to late April. You're also out early though. Please do not feel pressured to do things super quickly. Last
042year, for example, we started a search in the South Metro at the end of March. That was a six-week search. It started at the end of March and it ended in early, mid-April. And that was a very successful search. And they got an incredible pool of anti-rock stars to bring in that Metro South search as well. Please look at pages 20 to 28 for our references and our client list. We have done 126 Minnesota searches in the last five years alone. We are currently doing 10 searches in Minnesota this year, including the two metro searches thus far, Edina and Wayzata, and we would be honored to help Invercrow Heights with its search as well. Finally, why MSBA on page 17? We view everything through a school board lens. That is all we do. That's all
043we understand. My office is next door to Terry Morrow. Gary Lee is just down the hall. Everyone who touches Superintendent Search is a staff person at MSBA as well because we have to rely on policy. We have to rely on board training. All of those things are a part of our services. So I am proud and honored to work with the people at MSBA that I do. I will say that no one runs a search as transparently as us. I mentioned a couple of those reasons already. Not only do you see the application, but we do look at your stakeholders as soon as possible. We have no hidden fees. If you look at page 15 of our services, you'll not only see what is included in our services, but you'll also see what we do
044not charge for in that third paragraph. You also will not pay for this search until it is completely done. So we want to make sure that you are comfortable with the person you are entering negotiations with and that they are interested in working for you and we will not invoice you a single penny until you have chosen who it is you want as your next leader there in Invergrove Heights. And then the post-hiring support. We have a transition workshop that is very unique to MSBA. It is our superintendent evaluation workshop. We'll do that with the new board team in probably the first three to four months of them working in the district. We want to set expectations for that first year. We want to make sure that they understand what's expected of them. We want
045to make sure that you have identified the top two or three things that you're going to evaluate them on because you must be conducting performance reviews, but they must be fair. and objective to your new superintendent because there's a lot to absorb when you are a new superintendent in any district at all. We're also going to be there for you. We don't go anywhere. We are around so if you ever need anything, MSBA is at your convenience for whatever it is you might need from us following the superintendent search. Finally, we do understand Minnesota better than anybody else. There are so many obscure statutes that are related to superintendent search that very often the Minnesota knowledge of statute and data privacy laws and open meeting law is invaluable. I'll save all that for a later
046time. I talked really fast. I think about 11 minutes. So I didn't quite make it, but I'll stop talking and let you ask me any questions you might have. Well, thank you very much. Yeah, thank you. Do you have any questions? Clarifying questions or additional questions? I didn't hear how you covered, how do you find out, what's the process of how you find out what we are about, our district? Other than looking at our website and seeing our strategic plan and what else do you do to find out what we are, who we are? Great question. Thank you for asking that. So I should clarify also that this would not be an MSBA-led search. It would be a school board-led search. We are there to support and guide you in all of the steps. We
047want to make sure you know your options, you have the information you need to make the best decision for the students in Invergrove Heights. But we will never, ever tell you what you have to do unless it is the law. We're big on law. We're big on statute. One of the things, though, that we do very early on before the planning meeting is send a document to the school district. We ask for background information on the district. We ask for your finance, just the big stuff, you know, assigned fund balance, unassigned fund balance, stuff like that. But we also ask for your points of pride because the vacancy brochures are unique to each school district. So you're going to tell us what you are most proud of, what really differentiates this opportunity from other opportunities
048that are going to be open in Minnesota this year, what's so special about April Girl Fights. So that's going to be your information coming to us. We then put that into a vacancy brochure. We also craft a leadership profile based on a hiring criteria survey that the board takes. It's got about 24 different choices that says all of these are important, but you only get to pick six. So as individuals, you'll take the hiring criteria survey. We'll take that information and mold it into a leadership profile, which will drop into the brochure along with your points of pride, along with a suggested timeline. We come prepared to your planning meeting with all of that information. So you'll look over the draft brochure, you'll look over the surveys we're going to be using, you'll look over
049the timeline. We'll make a lot of decisions right then and there, and you will design that brochure. We put it in there for you, but you are selecting it for sure. So I want to always say I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on Andra Grove Heights schools because you are and this is your search. It's very flexible. Our process also is not prescribed from the beginning to the end. At multiple steps along the way, the board can pause and pivot. You can make decisions based upon what's happened to that point in time, which includes the focus groups, the survey, the listening sessions. It includes the candidate pool. if the pool's not what you were hoping for but it's going to be really good but it includes because if you look at the
050pool and say i think we should open this up for another two weeks we can do that you have a lot of flexibility to mold this as we go along to what best fits your district long answer but that's a great question thank you for asking it thank you any additional questions Alright, we did it Barb, it's 6.15. I made it. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. Please reach out and I hope that you will consider checking references or perhaps you already did as part of the vetting process. We just really want you to do what's best for your district. We'll support the school board in whatever decision you make. We'll help you along the way, but we would be truly honored to be selected as a search firm for your
051search year as well. Take care, everybody. I'm going to log off. And if you need anything, I will be working in the office tonight getting ready for the leadership conference. So do reach out if there's anything more I can share, okay? Thank you. Thank you. All right, bye-bye. Bye-bye. Okay, so again, we received proposals before the end of 2025 and have read them, have looked at some. comparison between the two for both of the presentations tonight now we are moving into a discussion regarding the selection of a superintendent search firm are we ready to make a decision Darcy thank you for doing the reference check was that Just a written something or did you talk did you introduce I spoke to I called and spoke to each I think one thing that I like about
052the HYA presentation and I see what MSBA is doing too I really like the board individual meetings that was mentioned In a conversation I had with Kerry, I shared that going into this search, I think it's going to be very important that we all are on the same page, right? And what's important to me in the search to be very different than what maybe is important to Jake, but everything is yet still important. And I don't know, how do you all feel when you think about how the people who are going to help us do this are getting a sense of... what we're looking for right because Eventually needs to narrow down to what we're looking for the board collectively. How do we feel about the way that the two? Groups are doing that right
053so MSBA is doing it through a survey We are selecting six top priorities and then we synthesize that down to what they see the priority is for us with no At this moment with no direct conversations with us HYA is doing it through board and member interviews. I have two things to add to that. One, I understood from the MSBA RFP that there would be additional individual work. They would talk to us individually. I don't think the survey is the only way that they're going to get input from us. But if it is, then that really is our idea. We just tell them, you know, you're going to have individual conversations. I don't mind being the customer here and telling them what you're going to do. But I will go back to doing the reference
054checks. in these conversations uh with different districts two things came to light besides the information and the references number one we are incredibly fortunate that because nobody i spoke to was replacing a superintendent in retirement nobody under duress it was under arrest or i mean it was all these sorts of dramatic chaotic circumstances so i went home okay um i feel very fortunate And then the second thing that, so that for me highlighted the importance that we have the right partner, that we got to do the right job here. But the second thing that came out is in one of the conversations, I asked each reference, you know, what sort of things came up that you would have the firm do differently next time. And in one of the answers, one of the firms said,
055I think, you know, we missed here. But you know what? Actually, now as I'm saying that, that's really your job as a board to build the profile. And the example that they gave is that the way that the... city had been highlighted wasn't accurate. They had talked about fish fries in the city instead of really talking about it being an urban district and they need to go back and revise that. But the board member said, the reference said, that's really your board's job. That was probably our fault for not giving an accurate profile of what we wanted emphasized. And so for me, that really aligned kind of with what Mark Dorn was just saying, is you got to tell us a little bit about what you want. And to your point about being aligned, I
056don't know if we'll all be exactly like that and who we want. I think that's one of the values we have in our board is the differences. Yeah. Go ahead. No, I was going to say, I agree. The reason why I brought it up to Carrie was because I think one thing that has made us a great board, in my personal opinion, is our ability to be able to work together. And the last thing I would want, or any of us would want, is this search for a superintendent to become. contentious because we all went into it with a different view of what we were looking for. So and to your point about it being our job, I know we're gonna have chair elections and all things in a minute but whether that be, because
057even in the, I don't know if they tell us what each other said. the interviews or do we get to see the individual responses to the survey so I don't know if that's the conversation we want to have like you said they said they wish they would have took more control of it is it a sit down where we say hey this is what's important to me this is what's important to me and here's what's important to the board whether they are all exactly the same is it the top priority because it's important that we all have different views but I think it's also important that I know what Carrie is valuing. So when Carrie is asking questions or Carrie is feeling, I don't want to say feeling away, but like you know maybe questioning
058the person a little harder. I said hey I don't actually like this person I'd rather go this person. I understand that hey Carrie has this value that still matches what we want as a collective but this is where she's coming from. So I just I guess my curious point was coming from like how are those two folks either helping us do that or doing that for us? And so I think maybe like to your point maybe part of our discussion is some like norm setting within our group. Speak your truth, honor each other's, you know what I mean? I don't want to diminish what the norms might be, but I understand what you're saying. I think we will be able to share our opinions and I think we are a board that does that respectfully.
059And to your point, knowing each other's values and what's important will be, I think, I hope, part of any process that we have. I guess I think, you know, maybe I had a bit of a head start on this talking with different companies or whatever, but I feel like It is our responsibility to lead the whole process and maybe I kind of went on thinking like these companies are going to tell us what to do but like we do have to remember that this is what our job is to do. I'm leaning towards MSBA only because of what I see is the same is that The same people are going to be able to view the posting. So we're going to potentially get the same applicants. I do like the aspect of it being applicant
060driven as part of a recruitment process. That just speaks to me. Because I want the people drawn to our district to be the ones that we see, not another person's idea of who they want to bring to the table. That process speaks to me personally. But I think throughout the rest of that, our values, the candidates, being able to pivot, I think all of that is going to be within our control no matter what company we would go with. To piggyback off what you were starting with, Chana, I think all of us as a group will probably have some collective notions that we all want. And then over here, we are going to have a little bit of individual ones, right? And yes, maybe the search firm would be able to help guide us with
061those, not differences, but just those separate ones over here on this side. With that being said, that's very important to me. I really want the search firm to help us find somebody that we all match with what we want, with who we are, what we've established, what we've all collectively done here. That is important to me. Fiscally, I would go with MSBA. It's less expensive. I'm a little concerned about the positive one. HYA is that they are national and they have more experience than MSBA. MSBA has only been in for five years. I'm a little concerned about that. I am a little concerned about with HYA about hidden costs if there are anything with other plates, but she already answered that too, so thank you. So hopefully there are any other costs. That was one
062of your references that they had a paper, a flight. So that's what I am. I don't know if they mentioned, MSBA mentioned to you, what is the vehicle that all this stuff is being given to us in? Is it a Google Drive? Haya has a portal. Right, that's what I'm asking. Because I didn't like that. I don't know how MSBA is. What is MSBA's business? That is a great question. Maybe I should have asked. Sorry. It sounds like it's all available to us. I did enjoy that. And then we are able to view everyone. So I would, but that's a great question. Maybe we can drive a spreadsheet. Maybe we can get to know how we want to have us. Right. That came up in my thoughts when I was trying to know. Would that
063be a determining factor in what company you picked for it? So that's just a curiosity. I really do like the portal thing, though. But it does matter. I don't want to say I don't think it matters. It does matter because I think it's important for us to make sure we're getting the information we need and the information is secure and the information is all the things that we need. But whether it's a spreadsheet or a portal, as long as we have the access that we need to it, I think it's fine. Liz, I just have two thoughts. I feel really appreciative and a little bit spoiled for choice here because I think if we only had one... I think we'd be okay with either one of these groups. I really do. I like both presentations.
064I lean towards MSBA for two reasons. One, understanding Minnesota law, to me, in this process, particularly relating to what kind of questions are we asking, and the situation kind of on the ground here, to me, I think... Even from our question tonight to just kind of things I've seen come out from MSBA recently about how they are handling the conference in Minneapolis this week. What's going on? I think it is an interesting time and at least this year that's going to tip me a little bit towards MSBA just kind of covering some of our how we do things and how we're recruiting and where we're recruiting from. So I'm a little bit towards them and I think to Sherry's point. I do think every dollar counts. It's a little bit more palatable. There is a
065price match guarantee. Oh, now? I mean to be fair it's called out in there. So just, but and yes. Sorry. I did say that there was a price match guarantee. So we didn't ask them specifically about that, but that was part of the materials. Sorry, that's not the answer. You don't have to memorize it. Because I don't want to ask a question that's in here. You can ask questions. It's fine. It's completely fine. If anybody else came to call, the specifics about... Amarco was a very particular place. And I'm just curious about MSBAs. Like, I heard, like, oh, we posted here, we posted here, we posted there. I guess I'm a little curious about how we make, how we make sure that we're getting the best person. Whether the best person is from Minnesota, from
066MSBA, from this area, from not this area, from Wisconsin, from... South Carolina like how will we how would they ensuring that we're not just eating? You know I would answer that with two things one. I think from MSBA's proposal They would say there that part of that National Association of superintendent searchers From the phone conversations that I had with the reference checks the other thing that came out. I mean I was wrong I did not think that the timing how early we come out in January matter It does. It does. You need to be out early and you want your search because there are, to your point, there are the best candidates. Right. And other districts are going to come out and they're going to be starting their search. And before you know it, we
067might be, we think that we're making the choice, but we have to remember the candidate is making the choice too. So I think what I heard from MSB is they're part of that national association of searchers. So they have some experience even though there's only the five years. But then I... I think the other part is on us to get out early. Even being ahead by days matters. I did not think that before talking to the other districts. Any final thoughts? I mean, in my opinion, this is the most important work we do this year. And, you know, none of us were on the board when the board selected. Superintendent Bernardson and so potentially the decision we make will you know Outlast us and so I I appreciate each of you and I appreciate all
068of our Just what we bring to the table and I'm confident that we can work together in this And I think Think we're gonna see if we're ready are we are do we need to table this or are we are we? Open to taking the vote Okay, I Board chair Kerry Lounsbury will introduce the recommendation to approve MSBA as the preferred superintendent search firm Do I have a motion and a second to approve? motion by member clinder second by member pearson any discussion let me just reiterate what um i think it's it's a great two options like i think there were lots of things that i liked from both groups um and some of the things we've done in our discussions kind of you know, whether it be costs, whether it be accessibility or whatever
069it is that's feeling most important to us. It's kind of tipping the scale for me. But I think there were lots of things about both groups that were really great and really appreciative for everybody taking the time to come and share and talk to us and, you know, let us know what the process was like. Yeah. Any other discussion? Again, This is I think the nuance of Minnesota law is very important and so that is that pushed me to that edge as well. Okay all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. All right. Yes, thank you. We are in a portion of our meeting where we are at our organizational meeting for this school year and I'm asking for a motion and a second to approve the resolution to combine the vice chair
070and treasurer positions of the school board. This is something that we have done annually and we have found this structure to work really well for our boards. Motion by member Gibson. Second by member Larson. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Next we get into the annual election of board officers and I will now ask board members who are interested in being nominated for the position of board chair to raise their hands. Board members interested, if you would raise your hand. So we do have two. We have Liz and Carrie. Following that are there any nominations for the position of board chair? I nominate Carrie Lonsberry for board chair. Any others? Is there a second motion and a second to close nominations? Do we need... we must volunteer and have the
071nomination? I think it's covered by the volunteer. Okay. I just want to make sure. Yeah, it's covered by the volunteer. Okay. Great. Okay. So motion and a second? Second, by Member Klinger. Okay. Any discussion? Um... I just... I want to put out there for a second because I was looking back at all of the meetings, I mean years worth of nominating meetings, that's why I realized we kind of do this, we've done this before, putting elections at the end of the meeting and that's why I'm like, hey, I think we should move to the front. And I really, I just think it's worth considering. Carrie and I are, I think, really supportive of each other. We have talked about our strengths and our growth areas, that we have supported each other. And I had, and
072for full disclosure, I had sent a letter to the board as Open Meeting Law allows. I blank copied the board just on why I'm running and I'm seeking a little, even more involvement in the MSBA. And I'm really doing this, both of these things, to try and leverage as much as I can for our district and our kids. And I think this year in particular, I'm looking at some of the issues facing our city, our state, and at the federal level. And I think they're- They're massive and intense. And I think I bring some expertise and knowledge that's helpful. And I'm going to just bring a lot of focus this year. This is pretty much the only thing I'm going to do all year, is work on this stuff. Whether you elect me or not,
073it's truly okay, because I think we are such a good, supportive board. And I truly think, when I was watching one of those videos, I heard this saying about math. because he was, I think he was getting, he was running again on a post, and she said, it's not that we can't shake up the board, it's just things are going well, and he has the time. And I think those are two really good points. I'm not absolutely, I didn't run last year because I'm not trying to shake up the board. I'm trying to bring a strength to this leadership that I have that I think would be helpful this particular year with some of the challenges we're facing. And I have the time. And so that's really why I'm putting myself out there. And I
074just want a really higher level of connectivity to our community and to changemakers in our community for everybody on the board so we all have the same kind of information when we're setting our priorities and seeking a new super tech. Because I think that's really, really important. Kind of going back to our discussion earlier about search work. Just that we're all getting... Are really getting on the same page and having really great discussions and communications. Thank you discussion and I am raising my hand to be considered again just to I Think to see this process to the finish line as far as the search firm goes and Liz absolutely outshines me on advocacy at the Capitol so that is Very very important and what I said to Liz was if if she gets the votes
075tonight I will I will follow her lead and so This is not a popularity contest by any stretch of the imagination, but I would be Happy to continue to serve our community and this board in this way I just wanted to add, did you have something? I'll think about it more. You go first. I mean, it's like, as I've thought about, like, because I've never really thought about the roles before. Like, I mean, I've thought about them, but like with this year being with you, it's unique challenges and all of those things. And I think collectively we're at our best when we are at this table together, even if we have different opinions. And I hope that we still feel like we can share them. I think there's specific duties that your person does. like
076setting the agenda, going over the order, having the knowledge of, you know, Robert's rules and whatnot. And then I appreciate like you helping me when I've had to bang the gavel. And, you know, I mean, like if we all chip in in that way to some extent. title doesn't mean as much and also it does have weight to it and I I've not worked with you as a chairperson so I can't say what you're like and I know you're wonderful and I can also say that I've worked with you for I guess going on two years at this point and I like the sensitivity and nuance that of the conversations that we've had I appreciate what I've interacted with that too and so like we have two wonderful people talk about being, how did you
077put that? Sponsored for choice. Right so those are my thoughts. Similar to what Board Member Klingner just said I hadn't before knowing that this election was coming. I hadn't put a ton of thought into what do I personally value in a board chair. And so I spent some time thinking about it and what I came to is we all bring so many different strengths and talents to this table. We really do and it's a diverse and it's a dynamic group and I'm so proud to be part of you all. But what I value in a board chair is that they would listen to us and help guide us forward with the collective that our group brings together. So I'm looking for that listening and it was... So interesting speaking with one of the other districts
078when I made the reference calls this gentleman I gave him my speech about thank you for spending time. I know you're at work. It was anything for kids I thought you were gonna say anything for another board member But in his stories, one of the things he said is, I was the board chair at the time, and the board wanted to do this. And I was like, hey, guys, if that's what you all want to do. And so he kind of spoke as this chairperson, like, it wasn't my ideas. I was their leader, but they were kind of the decision makers. And so that's where this bug of the listening role in that leader comes up to me. And I agree, we are spoiled in choice. I appreciate the professionalism that you all bring to
079this too. We are also spoiled in professionalism and board conduct, I think. So, thank you for that. I think sometimes many of us have probably brought in our own agenda in the very beginning and then we realize over time, experience on the board, that you can't bring your agenda, that you are here. collectively as a group as a unit as a one voice that's what I've learned from MSBA that we are one voice and we I made a mistake of probably in the beginning of coming in with an agenda and then I had to back up off of that and it's just that we are all one we all kind of agree with it together and um I think that it has been I think being on the board is a learning curve, a standpoint
080too. And that we all have our own experiences getting on the board, getting acclimated to the board, figuring out what's what. And similar to everyone else, you know, when we start thinking about the people that are going to help lead us through these processes, I thought a lot about the state in which just life is in the moment. And I felt like I don't just need, personally, a board chair that is orchestrating us and leading us, but I also want someone who's going to put up a fight. Because I think we are headed into a direction where... Someone's gonna have to fight for the kids, are gonna have to fight for teachers, who are gonna have to fight for families, who are gonna have to fight for the betterment of the district, who's gonna have
081to fight for the things that we need. And not a physical puzzle, but like a passionate pursuit. And that... to me also became something that I filled it through my head as I got the emails and thought about what was coming up next. You know, who's gonna help us all? And so I think there's a lot to consider and I think we have fabulous choices. I think Carrie's wonderful and I think this is great. And I think, you know, we all need something different, right? And how are we trying to get us what we need personally to be great on the board because we're only as great as one of us are and how we're trying to make sure we all get what we need so the kids are great too. And so that's kind
082of the mindset that my brain is in is because I, you know, think about, I vote for you both. I don't think Tracy's going to let me do that. So, but yeah, that's kind of where my mind is at as we talk about. all the roles actually. Are we allowed to ask questions of the individuals? Part of the discussion. I was just curious, is there a reason you weren't interested in, and this is just the HR career path, is there a reason you weren't interested in vice chair and then experiencing that and moving to chair? I was thinking about... where I have chaired a lot of different organizations before. I have been vice chair, I have been secretary, I have never been treasurer. But I felt I had some experience, especially at planning commission level,
083and I did, I was thinking a little bit about some of Jake's abilities. a little bit too, and other board members, just who has the best ability, what are they doing where, and so I just, I honestly feel anybody here could hit the ground running in any one of these roles. I think we all have some experience now leading a healthy board, or being part, we are, we don't need a label to lead, all of us. But again, I thought this year in particular, being... Maybe going to sort of that advocacy piece and being that person who's going to speak and try and help this district the kids that are teachers I just thought that would be the role I'd choose. That's helpful to understand. Any other discussion? If not, all in favor of closing
084nominations? Aye. Opposed? All right, there being two nomination calls for a vote call vote. Which means then that Tracy will call each board member's name to vote for the position of board chair. So you have a rotation ready to roll? Yep, I have a base rotation and I will say your name and you can respond. Member Lonsbury or Member Inuyah? I couldn't say Member Liz. It's acceptable. Member Lonsbury? Member Lonsbury. Member Inuyah? Member Nehemiah. Member Klingman. Member Lowensbury. Member Dukes. Member Nehemiah. Member Sarah. Member Lowensbury. Member Pearson. Member Lowensbury. And Member Hork. Member Lowensbury. Okay, with Kerry Lounsbury receiving the majority number of votes, is there a motion to cast a second unanimous ballot for Kerry Lounsbury as the board chair? So moved, Member Ginnick. Okay, and a second? Member Diggs. Okay, any discussion? All
085in favor? Aye. Opposed? With seven out of seven aye votes, the motion is carried. And for the last time I get to hand it over to somebody else. Well, thank you and you all know that Member Nehemiah is running for District 7 at MSBA and she has my full support and I look forward to seeing, assuming that goes back to seeing how we can work together this year Okay Moving on to position of board chair and treasurer I will now ask for members who are interested in being nominated for the position of board vice chair and treasurer to raise their hand board members interested Okay member finger are there any nominations for the position of board vice chair and treasurer There being no other nominations for the position of Board Vice Chair and Treasurer, is
086there a motion and a second to close nominations? Motion by Member Pearson. Second by Member Warwick. Motion by Member Pearson. Second by Member Warwick. Any discussion? Keep at it. Same thing. You keep running out of hope. Yeah, I know, I'm afraid. I mean, there's not a lot of secret sauce to it. I just, just listening. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Okay, so now we're... Clerk. Clerk. Oh yes, there we go. Position of clerk. I will now ask board members who are interested in being nominated for the position of board clerk to raise their hand. Board members interested? Member Dukes? Are there any nominations for the position of board clerk? Alright, there being no other nominations for the position of Board Clerk, is there a motion and a second to close
087nominations? So moved, Member Neumayoya. Second by Member Larson. Okay. Motion by Member Neumayoya and second by Member Larson. Any discussion? Not that I think my good friend here is not doing a great job. Just an idea of, you know, learning something new. Getting some extra experience. You know, contributing to the group. And just a comment on top of that, I think that's really wonderful as a, just sort of a, just a different take and a different level of responsibility. We spoke, we just wanted to knock on people. Thank you. I love a big bit. All those in favor aye opposed the motion is carried and thank you Sarah All right, do I have a motion in a second to adjourn our special meeting motion by member Warren? Discussion? Can I just say this real quick?
088While the camera is still rolling and things. I think it's just a testament to how great we all were together. You know, it was a boat. We did a whole thing. There was laughs. There was jokes. We take this very seriously. But we are also somehow unserious. And we have a good time together. And I think it's important that we are able to do important things and still have a good time together. And if you are a potential superintendent candidate watching this, you have an idea. And Darcy, you did hit something because that is possible. And that is something that makes a difference. And the way that you all work together is well noted. And we have no plans on being here until tomorrow. All right. All in favor of ending this closed or this
089special meeting? Aye. Motion is carried at 6.52 p.m.