001Y >> I'm not going to sit down because as soon as it >> it's recording to call um meeting to order today. This is our special meeting on Thursday, November 13th. Mr. Drew, roll call, please. >> Mr. Bennington, >> here. More >> here. >> Miss Many >> here. >> Mr. Anderson >> here. More >> here. Let us [clears throat] stand for the pledge of allegiance. [groaning] 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 and justice for all. >> We welcome everyone today to the Commodore [clears throat] building and we want everyone here to feel safe and to be safe. Uh, so please note that the exits are on the west and east sides of the cafeteria. Um,
002in case of an emergency, there is an AED on the wall right outside the doors into the hallway. Um, and in case emergency personnel have to be called, we are at 140 East Indiana Avenue. Um, I'm also going to share that we are audio recording, but the audio recording is right there in the middle thanks to hanging out in the middle of our meeting. Um, so just please make sure we project. We don't have to yell. We've tested it, but uh we will need to project a little bit. Uh, our first item of business is 2.1 to adopt the proposed agenda. We just have one item for today's special meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Anderson Lmer. Mr. Dur. Roll call. >> Mr. Anderson. >> Yes. >> Miss Lmer. >> Yes. >> M.
003Many. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Mr. Bennington. >> Yes. >> Miss Roland Miller. Yes. With our agenda, we'll move into 3.1 um interview search firms for the superintendent search. Um we're grateful for uh representatives who will be introducing themselves from finding leaders for being with us today. Um we did uh have the withdrawal of the OSBA proposal. Um and so we will just [clears throat] be talking to finding leaders today. However, I know we've used Finding Leaders in the past. Um, looking at their proposal, they clearly are well suited for our type of district to do the superintendent search. So, I'm excited to hear about them. Um, just as a reminder, K12 did not submit a proposal and they were the um only three that we had heard from. Um, and K12 did not submit
004because they were already over booked and could not take us on. So with that, we are really glad though that finding leaders representatives are here today and so I invite um Steve up to introduce yourself and Melissa and we'll hear all about this. >> Thank you so much. Give me just a moment. >> My name is Steve Farnsworth. I put a resume on each of the places. You can see that I've been traveling around in my career somewhat. Started as a teacher for 10 years, became a high school principal for five years, and then a superintendent. [clears throat] I was a superintendent not too far from here in Finley, as you might know. Um, loved it, and I've it's been a great career. uh when I retired uh started doing consulting and so right now
005I'm doing searches with finding leaders. I'm also doing some things on my own working with boards of education and superintendent. My uh colleague tonight is Melissa Conrad. Melissa, please introduce yourself. I had the opportunity to uh do so with a number of you here prior to the meeting and just in case you're a visual learner uh auditory and I'll just be very brief but um I've had the opportunity to serve K12 education for over 45 years. In fact, I was adding up I thought I think this might be my 50th. So um but 45 sounds a lot better. Um but I started out as a high school physics uh in biology teacher. Uh taught in the classroom for a number of years and then had the opportunity to move into various administrative positions. A number
006of those were at the central office and the last 17 years of my 36 years serving K12 education. I had the opportunity to serve as a superintendent. Uh it my first job I took in 1995 when there were very few women superintendent and that was at Big Walnut local school district which is just outside of Columbus and I served in that position for 11 years and decided I wanted a change and something uh bigger challenge. So I moved on to Worthington schools and served as superintendent there until I retired. Uh I love being a superintendent as you all know as board members. Um it's challenging, it's hard work. Uh but really to get diverse constituencies together to develop a shared vision of opportunities uh and helping them develop the energy to want to move toward
007those opportunities was was very rewarding. So, but then when I moved on from uh K12 education, I took a position at Otterbine University working for the president and uh in charge of community outreach and also uh took on a faculty position at Ohio State running the principal lensure program and I had the opportunity for two years of those 10 years to uh run the superintendent lensure program. So again, chance to work with aspiring administrators and help them out. Being involved in the community has been very important to me. I've done I've been involved in in a number of uh civic and nonprofit boards and I now currently, and it's not on my paper, um I'm a school board member. Uh just got uh selected to serve on the board of a dropout recovery charter school.
008So I I wear the hat of working with aspiring superintendent sitting in the seat for a while and now I have the vantage point of of those of you as a school board member. So but uh anyway I welcome the opportunity. I'm brand new to finding leaders and uh appreciate uh getting to meet all of you and hopefully get a chance to work with you. >> Thank you. And she's really being modest. She's really one of the preeminent educators in the state of Ohio. She knows a lot of people and has a lot of contacts. >> You've been talking to my husband. [laughter] >> We're glad to have her. Um, so a little bit about finding leaders. Um, and I I want to tell you that I've been doing these searches for about 10 years.
009Usually, however, I don't do the presentation. So, I'm not going to be as polished a presenter as what finding leaders would normally have, but I have done a lot of work uh with boards of education in the search process. So, [clears throat] there's a lot of information in that packet that you have. I want to try to help you remember some of that. So, we're going to start by talking to you about the three Rs of finding leaders. I just made this up, by the way, before I came. So, the [clears throat] first one is responsibility. and that's your responsibility. Uh, finding leaders is known for engaging stakeholders, uh, staff members as well as community members in the process. But we're always careful to make sure that everybody that we bring in so that you
010can hear from their perspective knows that it's your job and yours alone to select the superintendent. That's really, really important. We tell the folks right up front that they're here to help us with this very difficult, very important task, but it's really the board's responsibility to make the final decision. So, we don't ask them to decide. We ask them for their perspective, for their advice, for their thoughts, but not for their decision. That's not their call. Okay? So, that's the first R, responsibility, and that's your responsibility by statute to make this decision. The second R is relationship [clears throat] and that's important for us. U we have been leaders in education for a long time. Most of us who work for finding leaders, we know how important building and maintaining relationships is to success. It's
011very very important to success. So we take that very seriously. It's the heart of what we do. Uh we we want to build relationships with you. We want we want to build relationships with your staff and your community. And then as a part of that relationship, we're not just going to go away after you make your decision. We're with you for the long haul. If you need us for any reason, you call us. We're a phone call away. We also as [clears throat] a part of this relationship piece, we offer a transition plan uh which comes with this process. The transition plan goes to the superintendent. [clears throat] It's been uh fine-tuned over the years, been modified a little bit, but right now it's in really really good shape. It will help your new superintendent
012transition into this school district in this community and we just give that to the person um when when they get the job and then we coach them along. And the final thing and this is really important as well is recruiting. That's the final R, if you will. Um, the days of just posting a job and then having people look at it and and call you up or apply. Um, if you really want quality candidates, uh, those days are over. You really have to recruit now. [clears throat] superintendents who are in a good situation, if they get along with their board and they get along with their staff and [clears throat] things are going well, um they're not likely to be looking for another position. But if somebody like us goes to a successful superintendent in
013another district and we think that they would fit here and thrive, uh we'll go knock on their door. We'll call them up. We'll take them to a cup of coffee or whatever and we'll talk to them about Parisburg and what a great situation it is and then we'll see if they're interested. You know, that's the recruiting piece. Now, if they're not interested, you know, we don't twist their arms, of course, because we want them to be happy here. But, um, that's the kind of recruiting that needs to be done today. >> And there are some firms that don't really do that. I don't think any firm does it as well as finding leaders [clears throat] because we have a lot of people like Melissa who have contacts all over the state and I think that's
014really really important. Now, if you don't mind, [clears throat] pull out your folder and let's go to uh you can look through all of this and I hope you do because there's a lot of really good information in it. Go to the one with the circles that are Gosh, I don't know what color that is. Somebody help me out with that. Is this Is it a green or But yeah, that's the one. >> How about teal? >> A teal. There you go. All right. And I apologize for my finger. I You're going to see it when I hold this thing up. My grandson slammed my finger in a door. And it's been a few weeks, but it won't go away. So, when I hold this, it's not dirty. It's just a finger that's been slammed
015in a door. Um, if you'll look at the top circle that says uh critical decisions. You all with me? Okay. So, there's there and in the packet there's a section that talks about all the critical decisions that we're going to ask you for. If you select us as your firm, we're going to be right away. We're gonna we're going to come and meet with you and we're going to ask you some questions. We're gonna ask you, can you find it? That's the one. >> We're going to ask you some questions about uh tell us what you just love about Parisburg schools. Tell us what you just love. And then we're going to ask you for challenges. And then we're going to ask you, okay, so I mean I'm just your sample questions [clears throat] for
016the for your new superintendent. Do you want somebody with experience? Someone who's been in the chair, how much experience do you want? Somebody who or would you accept somebody who's been retired and then now trying to get back in? You know, that's a question. What are you looking for in terms of a contract? Are you looking for a three-year, fiveyear? What kind of a salary range are we talking about? What are the benefits that you're used to offering in the package? We need to ask you all those questions and there's a whole list of them in there. Those are just some examples. Um, other examples, two other examples real quickly. Do you have somebody on the inside in the Parisburg schools that might want this position? And then are there people in other districts that
017you've heard about that you really wish they would apply for this job? Those are the kind of questions that we would ask. Um [clears throat] and then we'll together talk about the answers and then come up with with the strategy. Okay. So that's the critical question piece and that'll happen right away. You in essence are our first focus group. We need to find out from you what you're looking for and we we need to build a profile of the next leader for this district. So the next circle where it says announcement, once we have all that information, then we'll put together an announcement, we'll send it out to all the usual places and then some. So that even though we don't think that somebody's going to look at the announcement and say, I'm going to
018apply for that job, if they're already happy where they are, we do think that it has to be out there, people have to know that you have a position open. Okay? And then that sets the stage for our recruiting engagement. >> [clears throat] >> That's where focus groups come in. Now, focus groups, you [clears throat] you'll tell us who you want us to have as focus groups and then you'll select the people and then we'll come in and we'll talk to them. Usually, you have a group of teachers and you try to get and we might have a group at the high school, we might have a group at the middle school, we might have a group maybe more than one group at the elementary. So, we'll do as many focus groups as you need.
019Uh we'll also do the same thing with classified staff if you want that. We'll also do community leaders if you would like that. Uh influential people in the community and others maybe maybe there's some districts that want us to talk with booster groups. There's some uh school districts that want us to talk with specific groups maybe parents of special needs children. So this is an opportunity for us again to build the profile of your next leader. You will take your answers to those critical questions. We'll take the answers from these focus groups, the many focus groups that we'll do, and then we'll put together a report and we'll share that with you in an open board meeting. And then the community can hear what we found out from our questions with the focus groups and
020from you. And again, this is our process. It can be [clears throat] modified. If you say, "Steve, thank you very much, but I don't know that we want that at an open meeting," you know, then we give it to you in another way. So, that's your call. A lot of districts though like to be really transparent during the interview process, during the um selection process. They want to be open and transparent so everybody knows what's going on. Okay? But this is your search. you modify it as we that I'm giving you the basics of it. [clears throat] Okay, so that's the engagement process. By the way, in the time in the announcement, there'll be a timeline and if you look at the very last um page in your pamphlet or your little brochure thing, there's
021a sample timeline in there and that it's very it's the very back. I hope you have it. Oh, it's a it's a freestanding sheet. That's the one. >> Yep. And you'll see that we'll start right away in November if we're selected. And then we will have you will be naming a superintendent by late March or early April. Now, the contract won't start, of course, until August 1st. However, unless that person can get away earlier, then we can make those arrangements. Okay? So that's the sample timeline. If there's a conflict with some of those dates, some of those times, we can always modify those at your wish. Okay. All right. So we I already talked about the recruiting piece. It's very very important. The um then we'll go right on over to interviews. So [clears throat]
022when it comes to interviews, finding leaders will interview the candidates as they come to us. Okay? We will interview those folks and we'll use the um template, the profile that we've developed through the focus groups and from your answers to your questions and we'll decide if these candidates that are coming to us fit the profile well enough to bring to you as a board of education. We typically will get 20 plus candidates for this position. I think we'll get more. And then we have to decide which of those candidates best meet the profile that we've developed. We typically bring the board of education someplace in the neighborhood of six semi- finalists, six people. Now, it could be five, it could be seven. There'll be a natural break there, but that's what we'll bring to you.
023And we'll tell you why we're bringing them to you. We'll tell you their background, why we think they fit, etc. what their background is, etc. Um, [clears throat] we will show you all of the candidates if you want. We'll show you all the candidates that have applied. And you might ask us, well, why didn't you select that one? And we'll tell you, and if you say, "Well, we'd really like for that one to be in the group in the semi-finalist." Well, then that one's going to be in the group. We'll put that one in. Okay? So, but you're going to end up with about six people to interview in a semi- finalist. We will have already vetted them. They won't have skeletons in their closet or anything like that, [clears throat] but we will bring
024those to you. You'll interview those six usually on two nights. We do three one night, three the next night. That works for you. And then, and by the way, we give you sample questions. If you choose to use those sample questions, you may. If you choose to come up with your own, that's okay, too. Um, just so they're legal. You know, well, you look kind of old. Are you sure you want this job? You You can't do that. But, but sample questions will be given to you. You can either use those or modify them or come up with your own. [clears throat] The only thing we ask is on that round, we should ask all the same questions of each candidate. That gives you a really good comparison. And it's nice if if you [clears
025throat] decide to ask each one of you. Sometimes each board member asks a question and they do it kind of in a roundroin way and that works fine. Just make sure you do it the same way the next time. That sort of thing. There are some boards that say we just want the board president to ask the questions. That way we can just listen and that works too. Whatever works for you. All right. After you interview those six, then we'll debrief together and then you will select two of those, sometimes three, but we really like to keep it at two, okay? Because then you'll have two finalists, and I'll tell you why here in just a second. Um those two finalists then will be informed and then those two finalists will be told in detail
026what the package is. What's the compensation package? And we'll ask those two, knowing what you know about Parisburg, knowing what you know about the package, if you're the one that's selected, will you accept the position? So we don't get surprised at the very last minute. Okay. If they say, "Well, I have to talk to my wife." Well, you'd better talk to your wife and then get back to me right away because you're otherwise you're not going to be recommended as a finalist because we that's important to us. All right. So, now we've got two finalists waiting and during this time we are going to give you some uh instructions on how to vet as board members. So, we'll be giving you questions that you can use to when you call the board members from the
027districts where they are. We'll be giving you some sample questions that you can ask their board members. It's possible for you to make a visit if you choose to make a visit to their district. It's possible for you to set up a time where you can talk to the union presidents, for instance, or anyone else that you want to talk to. Get a haircut in the local barber, start talking schools, see what you find out. You know, those are ways that you can find out what's going on because this is a very important decision for you to make. All right, so we still got those two finalists waiting. Let me talk to you now about this in your packet. I think laying down [snorts] at your seat is this chart. This [clears throat] is unique
028to finding leaders. Um when Paul Hendleton started this organization, one of his real um important tenants was that we would involve stakeholders so that the board even though it's the board's responsibility. It's a decision that lots of people ought to have some input in so that you can benefit from their thinking, from their perspective. So this is what we call a group interview process. And I'll try to point to this and hopefully you can see it on your feel free to make notes on your page as well. So you'll be in a bigger room like this and you as a board of education will be sitting at the back during this interview process. You don't ask any questions. You just sit there and you listen. You watch for body language. you look to see how
029the candidates uh interacting with the audience. It gives you an opportunity to reflect so you don't have to think about well what am I going to ask next? It gives you the opportunity to jot down notes if something happens during this process that you want to follow up on. You're going to get a chance when this is over. You're going to get a chance to interview the final two candidates. You can ask any question you want at that time as long as it's legal. But you might want to follow up on something that makes you wonder during this process. Okay, so that's how this works. Each of these groups, you'll see community. Well, that might be your community leaders. That might be um just the parent group staff. It could be the certified staff. This
030could be the classified staff. Um the administrators really should all be there. and then student group and any other group that you think is important. Usually we have about five people in a group. It could be six or seven, whatever you think. Uh depends on how much room you have in the in the room. Um [clears throat] but only one of these people out of all these community leaders that are in this group, there'll be only one of them that's actually sitting at the table. The rest of them are going to be observers. Okay? Same way with the students. So, only going to be one student asking the question, but we're going to give them time when we bring them together on the first night. We're going to give them time to come up with
031their own questions or they can use sample questions that we give them or they can modify them. So, for instance, the student group will get together, [clears throat] they'll look at the sample questions and they'll talk together about, well, maybe we should ask this one or maybe we should ask a different one. Let's make this one up, you know, or whatever. and we'll give a little instruction about what's legal and what's not legal. Okay. So, after everyone comes up with oh let's say five or six questions that they want to ask from their group, then the candidate comes in and sits at the other end of the room looking this way of course and the candidate then introduces him or herself and then the questions start and it's the same thing. It should be the
032same questions for both of the finalists. Okay, candidate number one will do the roundroin thing. They'll probably get to three, maybe four questions each and then the 45 minutes will be over. Candidate one leaves. You [clears throat] will have made arrangements for somebody to take that candidate around the community, around the district while we we continue because we're going to debrief in the next 15 minutes. Okay. So the debriefing will facilitate and then we'll ask some questions to the audience. That's not just to the person that's asking the question, but also to the observers, not to you. You're still sitting there listening. So we'll say, "What did you like about that that candidate?" And they'll answer. You'll be listening. Uh what concerns you about that candidate or what makes you wonder? you have any wonders
033about that candidate? And so they'll talk about that and then [clears throat] can you see this candidate as the superintendent of your school district. Does this candidate fit in that role? And then they'll answer and you're listening the whole time. If you have a question you would like to ask them, you can do it at that time. Okay. So that's how that works. That candidate's off. 15 minutes are up. New candidate number two comes in and we do the same thing all over again. Debrief the same way. [clears throat] Notice we didn't ask them which one do you like best. That's not what they're there for. What did you like about them? What concerns do you have? Can you can you see them sitting in the chair as the leader of the school district? And
034then you all are taking all that in and you're taking notes. And then candidate and then we thank everybody profusely and we might ask you to say a few words to them about how glad you are that they gave up their night to come in and help us with this important decision. And then they all leave. [clears throat] Candidate one comes back and you have the next hour talking with that candidate about whatever questions you want to ask. This is your last opportunity. You have already interviewed this candidate during the semi-finalists, right? You have already learned about this candidate through this process. And now you have an opportunity to ask the final questions. After an hour, [clears throat] that candidate leaves, we talk a little bit and then candidate two comes in and same thing.
035It'd probably be getting around um 10:00, maybe 10:30 at that point in time. And then you have to make a decision. Which of those two candidates do you want? Both of them have told us. I know the compensation package. I know the district. I will accept it if offered. So, all you have to do at that point is make your decision and then we give the phone to the board president or if you want us to call, we will. and we call them on the phone and we tell them they were the selection and we accept the position and they will say yes. At worst there might be one or two little tweaks that they have thought of that they would like maybe [clears throat] could I bag back some vacation days or will you
036pay for moving expenses or whatever. Um but they've already agreed to the contract in essence and there's usually not too much of that at all to deal with. Okay, let's see before I wind it up. What questions do you have? >> Your colorful chart here. Is that what you are anticipating to happen in March? >> Yes, that would be in March. That's really that night is the last um the last part of the process really. Then you make your decision. Once you make your decision and the candidate has accepted, then we ask the board to call a special meeting unless you have a regular meeting coming up within like three or four days because you don't want to wait. No, you don't. Because what what happens is word gets out and [clears throat] then the
037board from which that person is coming doesn't want to lose them. They start talking and they start sweetening the pot. And next thing you know, you've got this problem with a candidate that you really want, but now the candidate's torn because their home board is starting to talk about, well, we're going to give you a big raise, you know, if you stay here with us and all that. So, we don't want to wait this once the decision's made. We want to we want to approve it. Okay, that's a good question. Thank you. Any other questions? No. >> Melissa, do you have any concluding comments that you'd like to make? >> No, I've been taking lots of comments. >> Well, just just to recap then, you know, the [clears throat] responsibility is yours. We we think
038it's a really good thing to involve people in the decision. We think it's a really good thing for a lot of reasons, not least of which all these people that participate now, they're invested. They want this new person to be successful. You know, they had a part in it and so they want that person to be successful. So, that's a really important part. Um, the relationship piece, we're not going to go away. We're always a phone call away. if you need us, if the superintendent needs us, we give them the transition plan. We also offer a retreat. This is part of the whole package. So, if you we and we really recommend this, have us come in once the new superintendent gets his or her feet on the ground. Have us come in and meet
039with you on a Saturday morning or whenever you want for two hours, four hours, whatever, and we will talk together about roles and responsibilities. Do you know what the biggest problem is between boards and superintendents? Is communication, that relationship. And so if we get together early on and we talk about roles and responsibilities, who does what, who's responsible for what, and include the treasure, um then it's it really sets the stage for success. Um so that is that's a part of the package that that comes with it. And you tell us when you're ready and we'll be here and we'll we'll facilitate that conversation so everybody's on the same page. Okay. Steve, maybe to add just in terms of the logistics of for example identifying uh groups to come to the meetings, names of the
040people, invitations being sent out, coordinating RSVPs, uh reserving rooms, etc. How how does finding leaders and the board administration work together, making sure the logistics are handled? >> Yeah. So all of these people in the focus groups, you the focus groups usually just put out a a word and and we can help you with communication that way. We have some sample communication we can give you to invite people to come at a certain time for a focus group. [clears throat] These individuals in this group interview process are invited specifically particularly you know if you and and you can do that in a number of ways. For instance, if you want a parent group, you might want parents from the high school, from the middle school, from the elementary, etc. So they all come together, right?
041So then you might get some help from the principles and say who do you think who would be two good um elementary teachers that we could have. Now when I say good I mean good-hearted. I don't mean that they always agree with everything that you all do. You you want to get somebody of goodwill, okay? They they need to come whether they agree with you or not. Maybe they even voted against the levy. Who knows? You know, I don't care. What we care about is are they people of goodwill that can help us make a difficult decision and share their perspective. That's what we want. Okay. So, you would specify who it is and then we can give you the communications um samples that you can use if you wish to send to those people
042and invite them specifically to this particular evening. Okay. Thank you. Good question. In the proposal, it talks about targeted focus groups, which we've talked about. Um, it also mentions listening sessions, and I wondered if that was something different. And then there's stakeholder surveys, um, key leader briefings. >> Yeah, there's a lot of that. We can usually when we do the focus groups and we say we'll do as many as you want. That's pretty much the whole enchilada. And I mean, we can do if you want to call them listening groups, etc. We can do those, but it's basically the same. >> I did. Yeah. I didn't know if it was something different. No. >> How about this like surveys? It says that you'll facilitate a survey. >> Yeah, we can do that. We can do
043surveys. And sometimes districts want us to do that. Uh sometimes districts think if we do focus groups the way we do them, they we don't need that. So if you want a survey, we can do that. >> How's the uh how's the search market going right now? What's your what's kind of your what's kind of your placement rate for timelines like this? >> This is a great timeline. This is this is the time to do it. Uh right now you're on the early end of it actually. Um and so it's going to start opening up. So you're going to be you're going to be in good shape. You're going to be riding the wave right at the crest like you should be. >> Yeah. Yeah. And there's good people out there. Really good people. Um,
044and as I mentioned earlier to Eric, we the treasure searches are more difficult than superintendent searches right now. You just can't find can't find really good quality treasures. >> It's I mean it's true. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> Could you talk a little bit? The advertising cost range was pretty broad. It was 500 to 2,000 on top of the fee. Could you tell us a little bit about what's the 500 look like and what's the 2,000 look like? >> 500 will get you everything you need if you want to stay inside of Ohio. If you want to advertise nationwide, then it gets more expensive. Um, but every every place that you would want to advertise for superintendent in Ohio, we hit every single one of them, including including Job Spot, LinkedIn, and all this other
045stuff. Everything that's possible in Ohio will hit. Um, but if you want nationwide, then that's when the cost goes up. >> That's one of my questions was how often you actually pull from outside of Ohio. you see >> almost never >> once in a while. The reason and I this is my I think it's because the laws are so different you know and a superintendent needs to know what the law requires doesn't require and it's specific to states it can be done usually in larger districts where there's a lot of help sometimes they have attorney on retainer but um I think in Ohio, it's you're you're likely to be more successful by getting somebody from Ohio right away because they'll hit the ground running. They've already they already know what the laws are. They already
046know the in the intimacy of all of the well, they might even know the the lawmakers, you know, and so yeah, I think that's the way to go personally and there's a lot of great people in Ohio. So, do we do we cross over a little bit into Michigan? >> Can I mean, yeah, you can. And and we can advertise what we we probably hit the um the counterparts to the Ohio school boards like Michigan school boards, etc. And if you want to do AASA, that's possible as well. Yeah. You tell us what you would like. Make it happen. Other questions? I have so many. Um, that's okay. >> No one else is asking any. One of the things the proposal said that it was included was the Harrison talent assessment, but here it looks
047like it's a separate fee. Is that something that you use? >> It is a separate fee. Yeah. And it's it's not very much. I think it's 350 bucks each, isn't it? Something like that. I can't recall. >> I've done a lot of these searches and I've never had anybody ask for it. So, Cool. >> Um because we have uh two one of whom is here, two new board members that'll be coming on and then basically the women will be left. >> Okay. >> We have names. [laughter] How much time do you would you say between now and March that that board members should expect to commit to this? >> That's a lot. It's a lot. You'll have a lot of special meetings. We'll be with you a lot. So, it it'll Yeah, it's it's uh
048I don't know to give you the exact number, but um you'll you'll want to know what's going you'll want me to come back on occasion and give you an update, uh which I'll be glad to do. Um and there'll be things that I'll need to ask you for your approval on. Um there'll be a lot of like the communication with these people and the people in the focus groups. That's one of the things in the critical questions. One of the questions will be who who's going to be the contact person for the board that or for the district. Sometimes it's not a board member. Sometimes it's somebody in the district um treasurer or sometimes a communication person that I would contact on a regular basis. Um that that would be one of the critical questions.
049And then you know any any update that you want at any time I can come back whether it's a special meeting or whether it's um an executive session or an open session. >> Yeah. But it's it's most board members will say it's a it's a lot of work. Well, you've been through it, haven't you? >> It's a lot of work. Yeah. A lot of time. So, but gosh, how how can you make a bigger impact on a school district than hire the leader? You know, this is a great time. It's a great time. And again, you're you're doing this at the right time of the year. I think you'll get a lot of good people and it's it's an exciting time and I think you'll enjoy it. Do you have a just that do you
050have a typical calendar of events right as we're rolling into the new year? >> What are what are the special meetings that should be planned? You know, okay, you're going to need eight special meetings over the next four months on top of the regular meetings because yeah, >> sometimes getting those scheduled early >> becomes important. I know a search process sometimes has the life of its own, but getting them out on the calendar would be good if you've got kind of a road map that you typically use that you're going to need. >> Well, I imagine there's going to have to be ones in between those dates to do a lot of the interviews and things like that. So, >> yeah, for instance, when when you interview the two the two nights for the semi-finalist,
051let's say there are six people, you will need to establish when those dates are. I think it's a general that's a general timeline. We would need specific dates. And I think that's a good point, Chris. Yeah, >> that's a good logistical question. How much planning how many dates do you put on say at the organization meeting knowing there's going to need to be flexibility? >> And it's it's nice to plan ahead, but what you have to remember too is you have them with their schedule. So you might say, "Hey, we know what these dates." But they're going to come back and say, "We can't do that." So >> that's possible. Uh we try to accommodate as best we can, but we will have to coordinate the dates. So you're right. The sooner we get them
052together, the better. And we can do that. We can help you with that. And then then we can come up with dates that are mutually convenient. >> Like it's happening in February then. >> I'm sorry. >> All of that would be happening in February. >> Yeah. I would imagine that the proof interview process the way it looks like it's structured is going to happen for >> no >> in executive >> yes >> really okay >> yeah and it's it's that part's important because when we started we did it in a public forum but then you have everybody from the the football coach that was fired two years ago to on and on and Sometimes it's not it it it um it doesn't allow people to be as honest as they would otherwise. I'll put it
053that way with a you we'll start the meeting. We'll open the meeting and then we'll go into an executive session and that way anybody that's not part of the executive session would leave and then and then it's just this group right here and >> we would invite just those people. >> I'm sorry. >> We would invite just those people to join us in executive Exactly right. That's exactly right. Um and and that seems to be the best way. Now, one other thing just so you know, um I mentioned if you have somebody in maybe another district, a neighboring district or someplace far away that you just know and you know they're a great superintendent and you really wish they would apply. Tell us and we'll go knock on their door. Don't you call them. Okay,
054that's not your place. You tell us, we'll go do everything we can to get them to apply, you know, if they want to. Um, but we won't pass that up. But we but we need to know who they are. So, if and and the other thing, if you have internal candidates that might be interested, you know, if we know that early on, then we can talk together about how you want to handle that. Sometimes um boards say you interview them and tell us whether they fit and whether they're ready. And if they are, then you interview them like everybody else in a in a in a cycle. You put them in the pool. And if they make the six, they make the six. If they don't, then they don't. You know, sort of thing. Um
055sometimes [clears throat] if there's somebody inside that you really really want you know then this could be a shortened version of a search you know and then that happens too. So it's just it's really up to you however you want to handle that. >> What do you recommend that the role of the current superintendent and treasurer assistant superintendent uh during this process be? Well, usually uh the superintendent doesn't want to be involved. I don't know. That's usually the case. Um you know, but as an interim, I I don't know. I think you have to talk that together. Um but we we usually leave that up to the superintendent and the board. Um, I think if I were going to advise you, I would say it's probably better not to have her involved during the process.
056If there are times when you have questions, um, I mean, it happened to me when I was a superintendent and leaving and retiring. You know, I wasn't supposed to be involved, but occasionally a board member would ask me, you know, what do you think? Sort of thing. And say, "Well, that's your call, but you know, whatever." >> So, that's kind of how I'd handle it. >> I was I was going to recommend that I serve as the liaison and this, you know, mainly [clears throat] my logic is obviously logic in superintendent out of it and other logic person is HR director, but then John reports the position where I don't. So I I just that just just a thought >> I guess Steve I'd be interested in your answers to part B and C of
057that which were treasurer and and assistant superintendent because yeah what your what your because it is a really important role for both of those people and where do they get involved in the process? So there are some boards who want the treasurer to be involved as an observer, not to ask questions. And then at the end when we're debriefing, after the candidate leaves, the board after they debrief would turn to the treasur and say, "What thoughts do you have?" You know, can you work with this person or what do you think? and then that way there's some input but the treasur doesn't have a role in the questioning of the candidate. That's I that would be my advice. Um rarely have an assistant superintendent involved. >> Steve, I had a question. Um >> one other
058thought just one second. One other thought before I forget it because I'm getting old and I might forget my thoughts. So forgive me. Um, a reason you might not want the the uh interim superintendent involved is because if we go through this whole process and we come up empty, in other words, you didn't find somebody who really, you know, thought you thought was the right person. you may end up having to go with the interim again for a while for a period of time and then if she'd be if she maybe she doesn't want any part of that I don't know but if if and then somebody might say well she was involved and therefore you know she it's a conflict we shouldn't be able to hire her again or something so that might be
059another reason forgive me I'm sorry >> sure it's all right >> see I didn't forget to come back to my mouth I And this is kind of for the board too and see what your thoughts are because I there's a good question about the role treasurer my feeling and I told Susan this I would express my feel it's an important most important relationship I own the district superintendent you five are important but that relationship is so important and I agree that I think the role is not to ask questions but to observe I was wondering what made sense like this process is that taking the person around touring with one-on-one time away from everyone else where I could assess how I fit personalitywise. Not that not that that's a that's kind of how I thought
060just throwing it out there as a thought as you guys think about the process. >> That's exactly what I was thinking when you mentioned that during during the opposite interviews that somebody would take them around and I was thinking that would be the two of you guys' roles to I mean you we're asking to like marry you to somebody here. I don't want it to be a shotgun wedding or anything, you know. >> Yeah. Well, it could be. It could be. The only the only hesitation there is if you're taking the person around, you're not listening. >> Yeah. >> And then during the time when the board looks to you and says, "What do you think?" You know, you haven't heard all that, but you have gained some insight through, you know, being with the
061person in a car, driving them around, too. So, that's something to think about. Yeah, >> I was thinking from the opposite side. I was a finalist in a position and I was being driven around >> and that conversation was my indication I didn't want the job >> because I got some I got some yeah other information. Not that I would. So from the opposite perspective, it was a chance to have one-on-one away from it. But I but I would I Yeah. What is What do you give up? I mean, we can talk about it more, but I just I'm just thinking out loud, but I just want to put my stake in the ground that I'm hoping to have, obviously, it's your decision to collect input. >> I think that's that's fair, Randy. >> Fair.
062>> We're past time when we originally thought, but this is good conversation, but I also want to kind of honor everyone's time and my promises that we would not be here too long. Um, are are there any other questions? um especially as we look at making a decision about how to move ahead. >> Did you check that the the wording of the meeting for tonight's meeting >> or do you remember I could not the meeting notice what did it say >> in regards to what >> what's the topic of the special meeting? Yeah, the the uh interview firms for the superintendent search >> because I think and I'm gonna Susan S. Um I guess the question is whether or not that description precluded taking any action tonight. That's that's what I want to be clear
063about. Special meeting so you got to stay within the scope of the meeting. Yeah, just the topic was conducting interviews for the superintendent search and then there was board discussion following that. So >> we've been discussing so it doesn't sound like >> I don't think that >> I think yeah because I think >> gota be careful special lang with special meetings you got to hear the scope of what was what was what was probably take a look at that because other language throw Well, Steve and Melissa, thank you very much. Thank you for all the information. We have more homework and reading to do, so I appreciate that. Thank you for traveling up here. Um, if there's no other questions, discussion right now, I can adjourn. We are. Thank you everybody.