001All right. Well, welcome everyone tonight to uh tonight's uh special meeting where we will um go through our applicants and uh choose some semifinalists for the uh superintendent position here at Albert Lee. Um the first thing I'd like to do is just ask for an approval of the agenda which is in front of you. So move. Got motion by Gary and Kim seconds it. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose the same sign. We uh have five here tonight which is our quorum. Uh Mary Joe and Davey are unable to attend. Mary Joe is kind of close but and Davey is unavailable. So, but still got our number to get busy with. And uh so we're going to uh just kind of basically now review the um the
002uh applicants information with Barb. I'll turn it over to Barb. And uh when she's done speaking, if you have any questions for her, again, uh I know she'll mention it to us how generic everything is until we uh vote and choose our semi-finalist. So, Barb Dorne, MSBA, you got it. Thank you very much, Dave. I really appreciate it. Uh, it's nice to see you all again. Good to be back. This is a very exciting night for Albertly Area Schools. Um, you have an excellent pool. There are a few housekeeping things I'd like to cover first before we get into the actual review of applications. So, if it's okay with the board, um, I had emailed something to you this morning and I wanted to just go through that. I'm going to screen share it as
003well so people who are in the audience can see what we're discussing. But is it okay with everyone if first I kind of go through schedule and some housekeeping relative to how the interviews are going to unfold. Is that okay with the board? Sounds good. You bet. Okay. So, let me try and screen share here. I'm going to present a window. I think it is Albertly area. Okay. So, once I'm screen sharing this, let me see if that's right. What is that? Special schoolboard meeting H. It should be something in I think wouldn't you know the one time I don't Yeah, that's not it. The one time I didn't practice this ahead of time, but if I screen share, I have it open in Adobe. So, if you bear with me just for a moment
004here, I'm going to try it again. Microsoft Edge. There we go. I bet this is it. There we go. Thanks for your patience, everyone. I'm going to make it larger as well. And if I'm in Adobe, I'm not able to see anybody in the room. So, if you have questions or um need something, please interrupt me. Okay. Um, so the first thing that you're looking at here is the draft schedule. We have been through this before, so I'm not going to dwell on it. I just want to confirm that right now, initially on next Wednesday, first round of interviews, we are holding spots for potentially six candidates, but that will change based upon the board's decision tonight. And also, just this is what last time I shared with me is the interviews will be held
005at uh in the Brookside Education Center, room 109, and of course are open to the public. So, is all of this still okay with the board? Yes, looks good. If um we would end up uh picking fewer than six, then we would just adjust it from there at the end. Correct. Okay. We will circle back to this tonight once you've got your finalist selected and decide exactly how it's going to lay out. So, that's great. Thank you for asking. Then, we also have the round two tentative interview schedule which would be on Monday, March 31st. Uh at this time we're holding spots for three finalists on that Monday evening. We could of course change that based upon how round one goes next week. So there's two things I want to mention relative to round two.
006Of course it is still in Brookside Education Center. Oh, I need to add room 109 to the bottom of that. Room 109. Okay, I will add that. Uh the three spaces. This is the round of interviews which at the last meeting the school board decided to invite representative stakeholder groups to provide input on those two or three finalists relative to their strengths and areas of growth i.e. weaknesses. So um Darcy did send me the names and email addresses for the people who stepped up or were sent by their membership to do that. So I will be reaching out to those folks with an email about expectations for March 31st. So, thanks very much, Darcy, for sending those to me. I will copy you and Dave Clatt, I'll copy you as well on that. Just so
007you know what MSBA is sharing with those folks who will provide be providing audience input to the board on March 31st. So, that is underway. The process is in place for that to occur. Also, I wanted to ask the board again about uh giving tours on the round two date. Uh very often, school districts do offer tours to the two or three finalists. take them through the buildings, answer questions. So, if that is something that interests the board, then I need to work with Darcy to get that lined up if it's not already in place. So, I think I'd like to turn it back over to you, Dave, to facilitate yes or no on tours. And if it's yes, if you could just give a little direction to Darcy and me about how to move
008forward with those tours on this day. Is that okay? Was good. Thank you. Um, what does the board think um about uh tours of the district? Uh, I know some of the thoughts were a lot of candidates kind of spend their own time, come in on their own time frame to look around. Uh, at 4:00 in the afternoon or 3:00 again, depending upon the time if the school buildings would be open, we talked about that and who would be there, what they would want to see. But it's up whatever it's up to you guys, whatever you think we should do. What is the school calendar? Maybe Darcy could help us look like on the 31st. Is it just a regular day of classes across the district or Okay. All right. We at one time talked
009about maybe student students helping with those tours at um so I I would since we're not starting till 4 I would love to see the option provided to those candidates to come in with a student and walk around the building or student andor someone else to to walk around buildings if they want to. And one of the thoughts on the students is again to make sure everyone is treated exactly the same way. Students might not, but I think if we decide on the tours, we should have students be able to greet them somewhere. So, um, Barb, is there any logistics that Kim had brought up about students or about tours that we should think about? Yes, if you decide to have um maybe two students per candidate, they really do wonderfully as greeters and then
010they usually just accompany the person to the different buildings. But of course, then the administrators take over the tours and answer the questions specifically about the programs and the things in the buildings. Uh the biggest logistic thing is travel between buildings. If you are taking them to high school, elementary, middle school, etc., students cannot drive them in their cars. Uh, so you would need to provide transportation by the district, whether it's a school van or a small bus or something like that. Generally, if it's an adult, sort of an ambassador for Albertly Area Schools, it could be former board members, it could be members from the city, whoever it is that is sort of the driver in that case. Adults do tend to be more comfortable taking people around in their own cars. But if
011the district is concerned about liability, I would recommend that each tour be provided a driver um on behalf of the district. Okay, thank you. And again, that would if we decided on that, we would schedule basically three tours. Correct. Correct. And so I know I talked to Dave about it, Kren's about it, too. And he had talked about if that's something we decided, he would be happy to do that also. So I didn't know if we how far again we needed to go for the consistency part of everything. So Okay. Any other other thoughts? I mean, that's a good thought. Agreed. So, are you thinking, which I tell you what, I'll look for a motion if we're thinking about tours and we can get the logistics after that. Um, so I'll make the motion that
012we um commit to offering tours to the candidates, the finalists, um, with um, student representation as not the guides, but as the welcome the hosts, if you will, and then we'll have administrators be the guides. Okay, I'll second. Okay. Uh, motion on the table and a second. Is there any other discussion? I'm assuming that the tours will be arranged so the candidates aren't going to run into each other because I think we always did that at the college that we try to keep this as mysterious as possible. So, okay. Yeah, we just do a a regular schedule with them too with back it up maybe however we would put it in thoughts or comments. All right. Uh, seeing none, uh, all those in favor of offering the tours for the candidates signify by saying I.
013I. And oppose the same. All right, that carries. So, Barb, yes, we will offer a tour. Okay. So, um, just some thanks to Darcy in advance. I think this will fall largely on her to coordinate in-house, maybe in partnership with David Kren. And you should have some sample tour schedules already that I sent you. But um please take a look back at that email and then let me know if you have questions as we go forth. Okay. Um so really appreciate your help. Looking forward to round two. It'll be a good day for candidates and I think for the hosts and the tour guides. So going back to the um there we go back to this. I'm all done with round two. Then I do want to take a moment to talk through the interview
014process. If you can all see the highlighted yellow candidate interviews. Can you see that? Yes. Okay. I'm sorry if you're nodding. I can't see you. My screen share is taking the whole screen. So, here is something that um Dave as board chair, you can customize this to fit yourself and your own style, but generally speaking, we want each candidate to get the same welcome. Uh when they first sit down to their interview, they'll be at a table. There will be uh the interview questions in front of them, probably a bottle of water, and then we would just ask you to greet them and say, "Welcome. Thank you so much for coming. Um, today we're going to rotate asking you questions and we'll be taking notes and so we are carefully listening. Um, also let them
015know there are 12 questions, but I will have shared that with them before they walk in as well. And then I'm going to be holding up signs for each candidate at 30 minutes, 15, five, and zero if they use the whole hour. So they'll know to look for that as well. And then just ask each board member to introduce themselves. And in this case, we just would like each board member to simply state your name, how long you've been on the board. We want to keep it real simple. Uh so that you're not inviting them to share all kinds of complicated information about their kids or families or where they graduated from. Uh those are protected classes. So we ask board members not to share information beyond your name. Uh if you want to say
016if you're an officer, but then also how long you've been on the board. And then we just jump right into the interview. So it's a very short intro by Dave as the board chair. So then you ask questions until we are complete and please do take notes. Uh I'll bring hard copies of the questions in an EMD form and that means exceeds, meets or disappoints. And so I'll walk the board through this next Wednesday before the interviews where you'll take notes on the EMD form and then select whether the candidates's answer exceeded your expectations, met them, or if you were disappointed in their answer. and we'll have you do it all on hard copy um because eventually you're going to put it in electronically and you do have a link in the email from this
017morning that's called the EMD link if you want to practice it's just a practice form to input that data but we really like you to fill it out on hard copy initially for at least the first three people because you have to get some kind of baseline of understanding and sometimes when people immediately go in and put the electronic results in and then by the third candidate they realize that they were a little too harsh on maybe that first candidate. So, I call it kind of getting your seal legs under you in terms of how you're rating the candidate answers. And so, you'll be doing it on hard copy. I will bring all of those for you next week. And then when uh the candidate is completely done, um here we go. Uh Dave will
018simply thank them for joining us and let them know that we'll be in touch that evening when you finish deliberations. So, that's it. Um do keep your notes and do remember that you have to turn those into HR when you're all done. We talked about those at the last meeting. Please make sure the notes are appropriate and you do not reference anything relative to protected classes in the notes that you're writing down as well. So, it's pretty straightforward. After the first interview or two, it's going to feel very, very natural. And then this is how the deliberations typically unfold. Again, you can do whatever fits Albertly area best. But in this case, once you've interviewed all four or five or six people, whatever it might be, we'll give you a half hour break as you
019saw in those schedules while we collate all of the EMD results and then that is emailed to me and I'll email it to Darcy or whomever in the district could print hard copies for me next Wednesday. So, I'll hand out hard copies to the board and I'll spend about one minute reviewing the results. It's just one tool in the toolbox. Um, it's not going to tell you who to bring back for round two, but it is something to take a look at in terms of how your fellow board members felt about the quality of the responses. Then what we usually do is ask Dave to facilitate a conversation where you talk about each candidate for maybe two minutes or so a piece, two or three minutes with what you saw as a strength. If you
020just list one or two, that's helpful. Whoever is the first board member, please don't read an entire list of strengths because then you steal the thunder for every other board member after you. So, we want each of you to maybe share one thing that you notice was really strong about their interview or their candidacy. There will be disappointed people that night when I make phone calls to tell them they're not being uh brought back for round two. So, it's very helpful for me to have some positive comments from the board to share with the candidates that are not being brought back as well as those who are. So sharing the strengths, keeping it positive like we talked about during interview training is great. The round two reference checks is different. That will not be in
021round one. So after the EMD form and the strengths, then you can get into talking about who do we want to bring back? And it can happen kind of organically. Uh Dave will facilitate this as well. He might say, well, who'd like to go first and share which two or three people you'd like to bring back? And so people kind of start building on one another with their comments about who they'd like to return on the 31st for round two. And fairly soon you might see a majority start to coalesce around a couple of people. So as that happens at some point um you might get stuck and you might have some difficulty choosing between two people. Let's say you want to bring back three but there's two that for that third spot you just
022can't decide. That, as we talked about last time, is probably one of the only times that you could go to deficits. If you really are needing to break a tie, you could talk through who is stronger in which areas and who might be a little weaker in another area in order for someone to percolate up to the top. And at that point, you might have two or three people which you could then make a motion, second discuss, and vote. So, this is how deliberations usually go, but I want to be careful to say that every district is different and you might end up having a different type of conversation. Some boards like to do a straw poll and simply jot down their preferred one or two people on a sheet of paper and I can
023collect that as a straw poll and let you know where the votes are landing. But you do not have to do that. It really depends on what Albert Lee wants to do. We will call everybody. We'll have a press release ready to go out after round one. Just like tonight, we're going to have a press release ready to go. And then after round one and you've decided who to bring back, there is still homework. I'm going to bring suggested round two interview questions for us. So that that night while I'm out in the hallway making phone calls to people, you're taking a look and discussing round two questions and what you want to ask the the people you've selected on the 31st. We'll confirm the schedule. We'll talk through the reference check process and whoever
024is making those reference check calls, I'll meet with them for a couple of minutes after the meeting to give them some ground rules on that. And then wanting to make sure that you're ready from a negotiations process on the 31st if you found the right person that you are ready to launch into negotiating immediately either that night or the very next morning. And I know we've talked about that and I believe you are already working on a contract that the board is comfortable putting forth as your first offer. After round two, there couple of things to do as well, but we're focusing on round one right now. So, as far as deliberations, I'll pause for just a second. Do you have any questions on how that might unfold? Okay, going Barb, going back uh to
025the candidate interviews. Just a clarification, it it indicates that we're going to give the candidate copies of the questions. Is that as they're entering the room or will they have 10 minutes with the questions? I've had that. Good question. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for asking. Typically the first time the candidate sees a question is when they sit down at the table and the questions are in front of them. Now some boards have chosen to send all the questions to them 24 hours in advance. Uh some boards want me to hand it to them five minutes before their interview so that they can take a quick glance at it before they walk in the room. And uh some boards have actually asked me to send two or three questions in advance and keep the rest to
026be answered sort of impromptu during the interview. So that will be entirely up to you and how you'd like to proceed with the questions. You did pick questions last time and we have 12. Um, so if you think there are some that you want to um have me share with them in advance, we'd need to get the questions back out to all the board members so you could discuss and decide which ones to send or you could simply say send all of them out in advance, 24 hours or five minutes. Let me uh Does that help? Yeah, let me ask I'll ask a question here, Barb, real quick. Uh, any thoughts about um questions in advance? I mean, I I personally would think five or 10 minutes ahead. They can look at the first one,
027get comfortable. Um, I don't know if I like the 24 hours. I don't want a dissertation on each question that will sound like everybody else's. So, that's my thought. Any other thoughts? I think a few minutes or whatever, so x number of minutes before they come in. I I think it might take some of the nerves away and we might get a truer picture of them, but we do want them to be able to think on their feet and some of the questions pose pretty big challenges as far as answering in a clear concise way and that has value too. So, I'd advocate for 10 minutes before they arrive and sit here to at least see see the questions. Yeah, I would I would too. Um, I also think that, um, most potentially most candidates
028will just appreciate that it's in front of them to refer back to because if they're if it's a long question, they have that in front of them. So, I I I would agree. Do you remember, Neil, last time? I don't think we gave them, did we? Never been involved in an interview where the interviewe was given questions before before they did the interview. So, but I like your comment. Personally, I you know, halfway through my answer to the question, I forget what the question is. So, it'd be nice to have that written down, but uh not perhaps until the actual interview. I I don't I don't I don't think they need to have the questions before they're interviewed. Any thoughts, Angie? Trying to remember what we did before. I don't think they had them ahead
029of time, but I think at the table, I think they were. Yeah. Well, I'm all right with a few minutes. As a candidate, I think that would, as Gary said, take some of the nerves away, but still, you know, see how they think on their feet. They all know what the first question is. Everyone does. But maybe they hit that second one. You know, maybe someone's really quickeyed and they just look at the last one. But, I mean, at least the first one, I think, and give them a chance. I I like the comfort level. Um, so 10 minutes before sound like a good deal. Okay, Barb, let's let's sound like consensus about 10 minutes before. Nothing real long before. Okay, I do go meet with each of them before their interview to describe the
030layout of the room uh to let them know how many questions there are. I'm going to ask the board if it's okay if they come in and shake your hands that day or if you prefer that they not. So, I give them kind of those again preparatory housekeeping comments and at that time I will give them the questions and leave them alone for a few minutes to take a look at them. Does that sound okay? Yep, sounds good. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for asking that question. It's important. Okay, so back to the uh candidate interviews. There's the deliberations. Uh the next thing in preparation because we're very close now to talking about the candidates themselves. In preparation for that, I just wanted to remind the board how MSBA arrived at our recommendations. Now,
031I know that all of the board members have seen every piece of applications as well, but I will tell you how we came up with those that we will be discussing tonight from our perspective as the strongest in your pool. So, we have a team of service providers across the state. They are former superintendent and some former board members who take a look at all the completed applications. Uh we look for all of the standard things like lensure, recommendation letters, history of education and work etc. And then we hold those candidates up against your leadership profile that is in the vacancy brochure and against that public survey report. So those are the the measurement tools we use to see who's aligning best with what Albertly area is looking for in the next leader. Each individual
032on the team then scores each candidate on a scale of one through five. Basically from yes down to no. Yes, maybe, yes, maybe, maybe, no, and no. So every individual does that and then in uh the the system it coaleses them together and we then meet virtually and take a look at each candidate and see how strong the support was among the group for each person in your pool. Then we sit and talk about them. There are always some people that there are very strong indicators they're a great candidate. So there's usually agreement on some people as yes. There also is agreement on some people as no or maybe no for various reasons. There are quite a few often in that maybe category. And so that's where we have a very robust conversation about those
033people kind of in the middle. Do we want to look deeper into their information, call their references, do a pre-in or do we feel that there are simply stronger people in the pool? So we winnow it down to anywhere from maybe five to eight, maybe five to nine people that we do investigate further. We also do a social media sweep on everybody in the pool. So we know what is out there if someone were to Google any of these individuals. And so that's a part of it for every single applicant in your case. And then once we've decided those that we want to look into further, our service providers make uh follow-up phone calls with each of those people to do the pre-in, ask them questions, compare their answers to the leadership profile again, and
034then also we ask if we should contact or if we can contact their references. So then we call people who've written letters of recommendation and or people who are listed as references. Now, one of the challenges for us is this is still private data. So, we are not able to go outside of who they've listed as references or letters of recommendation because we cannot out their candidacy to someone who doesn't know that they might be looking at the opportunity in Albertly area. And generally speaking, references do speak positively of the person, but not always. Not always. But those are some of the limitations we have in doing our reference checks. So then once we've uh decided who really moves to the top, we put together a list, which I call the highlighted list. You as
035board members will receive a copy of that tonight from Darcy. She's going to need to collect those after the meeting because she does need to shred them immediately. It is private data, but you've also seen it electronically. So, I want to be sure that tonight when I read our recommendations, you know that we have done our homework. However, as the board, you've seen everyone's application materials, you have three options. The first is to accept the recommendations we've made, and that is the slate of candidates you will interview. You might accept some of ours and replace them with others that you would really like to see that maybe we're not recommending or you can ignore our recommendations and bring forth your own candidates to interview. Keep in mind that MSBA's uh search guarantee if for whatever
036reason the person within the first year does not work out either by board decision or the candidates's decision. If they are not in our recommended pool, we cannot guarantee the search. But if anyone who is in our recommended list leaves within that first year, we'll do another search for free next year at no cost to the district. So I just want to make sure that you are aware of that. Uh tonight you're going to make a motion by alphabet identifier only um as to who you want to interview and then tonight of course I will call them, congratulate them, schedule interviews, confirm they're still interested in all of those things. So this was our vetting process and I just want folks in the audience as well as the board to rest assured that we're very
037comfortable with our recommendations. However, we do not live or work or pay taxes in Albertly area. So, we want to be certain that you are making the best decision for your district. Our feelings will not be hurt if you select candidates that we are not recommending. So, I just want to make sure the board's comfortable with this is your decision and your decision alone. And that being said, here's the uh motion you might want to make tonight. Uh please note it talks about candidates A, B, and C. the motion must be by alphabet identifier. And then once we have a motion that has passed, we'll circle back circle back and figure out the um interview times if we want three, four, five, six, seven, or eight. Um and then at the end of the meeting,
038I'm going to read the names out loud. Every other name on that that highlighted list remains private data forever. So please, as board members, hold that in confidence and make sure that you do not share any other names outside of the ones you're going to interview. If you want to keep this information, you could then use this one after round one next Wednesday. Obviously, names are being used after tonight. You can throw away the alphabet identifiers completely. You could make uh this motion if you want to for second round interviews. And then when you select a superintendent, you could use this. You don't have to. Uh but this is a motion you could make to actually offer the position to someone. It's very important in our opinion that the motion be contingent on a mutually
039agreeable employment contract and the criminal background check with results acceptable to the board. Those two things could allow you to resend an offer if either of those things are not acceptable. The only other thing I'm going to mention and then I'm going to stop screen sharing is we have something called the AB plan A plan B. This is if you have, for example, two very strong candidates. You could see both of them serving as your superintendent. It will save you time if you make a plan A, plan B motion. If negotiations fall through with perhaps your first choice, you at the meeting after round one on the 31st could make a motion that if the employment contract is not attained, the chair is authorized to extend an offer to a different person contingent on the
040same two things. If you don't make this motion and if negotiations with your first person fall through, then you need to have a 3 days notice to call a special meeting simply to make a motion to enter contract negotiations with the other candidate. So, it can save you 3 days if you roll them into one motion. You don't have to do this. It's just an option that some districts find helpful when they're they really like two people and they don't want to lose time by having to call a special meeting at the end of uh round two. So, I'm going to stop screen sharing. That is all I have. But let me see. All right, I can see you again. Any questions on that packet of materials before we get into the actual candidate recommendations?
041One question, Barb. Do the candidates know what their letter is? Just out of curiosity. No, they do not. Any other questions? Thank you for asking that. Okay, so we're going to get to the fun part of the night. This is really exciting and I want to congratulate you on the strength of your pool. Um, our service providers were very, very impressed. And so I'm going to give you first of all an overview of the pool. Very high level. Again, I'm bound by private data as well, but I will share with you and the folks in the audience, you did have 14 applications. Um, the 14 applications came from four different states. Uh, the majority were from Minnesota, which is always to be expected, but you did draw from four states, which is wonderful. Of those
04214 people, more than half have served as a superintendent. In fact, eight of 14 have superintendent experience. That's quite unusual. Um, and it's partly why your pool is so competitive is folks who have served as superintendents are in here. Of those eight people, their average length of experience as a superintendent is 10.3 years. So, you have people in your pool with a significant amount of experience as a superintendent. So, that's also good news. Uh, you did have five female applicants and nine male applicants. And of the 14, you have six applicants who do already hold doctorates and two are in progress. So you will have eight of the 14 who have PhDs as well. So congratulations again. Um very strong pool for Albert Lee and you should be really pleased. We were quite impressed. So,
043if you look at the applicant list, now if I could ask Darcy to distribute the highlighted list right now. And please remember, you need to turn these back into her so she can shred them. Also, board members, when you look at the list, can you please keep it flat on your uh table. Sometimes if you kind of pick it up to read, I know your your setting is pretty good, but sometimes if you hold it up like this, people can either see through the paper or they can walk behind you and see it. So simply try to keep flat on the on the paper if we can with these names. All right. So I will tell you that in going through the list of the 14 applicants 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
044uh MSBA decided there were eight people we wanted to look at in more depth. So we did that and after the pre-ins and the reference checks we did come up with um five that we felt were stronger than the others. So we have five candidates in yellow which would be our top recommendations but we also have three people we call it on the bubble. It means that they are also good solid candidates. We simply didn't feel they were as strong as the others. So we are recommending candidate D, candidate E, candidate K, candidate L and candidate N. So I am going to take just a few minutes and read for you what we call presentation forms for each of those five applicants. So what this is is an overview for each of these applicants of
045their experience, their current licenses, um their education, and then we have a short paragraph of what their references say about them, and the reason for MSBA's recommendation. So, I'm just going to read these aloud and board members, you will know who I'm speaking about, of course, but no one else in the room will. So, I'm simply going to tell you that all of these folks are very interested in the opportunity. And I will start by telling you about candidate D. Uh, candidate D has experience as a superintendent, director of student programs, special education coordinator, and a staff development coordinator, as well as a teacher. Their current licenses are as a superintendent, principal, and teacher. Their education includes a doctorate, an educational specialist degree, master's degree, and a bachelor of science. References describe candidate D as
046an exceptional leader, an innovative educator, and a dedicated advocate for student success. They have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to academic excellence and community engagement. Under D's leadership, references say their district has seen measurable improvements in student achievement and teacher retention. Candidate D has implemented forward-thinking initiatives that have enrich enriched educational experiences, expanded opportunities for students, and fostered a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. MSBA's recommendation for candidate D is because they are a successful superintendent whose skills in communication, transparency, and approachability are their hallmarks. Candidate D also demonstrates the ability to develop effective district leadership teams that move the district successfully forward. They are an exemplary relationship builder, are honest, motivating, and an excellent CEO. Candidate D models integrity, offers insightful, well-ressearched ideas, and continually strives to help staff, students, and the district excel. That
047is candidate D. Moving on to candidate E. This candidate has experience as a superintendent, principal, teacher, activities director, and coach. Their current licenses are as a superintendent, principal, and teacher. Their education includes a doctorate, a master's degree, and a bachelor of science. References describe candidate E as team oriented as well as a visionary, creative, ambitious person who leads with exceptional integrity and sincere listening skills. This candidate is noted for a strong ability to create relationships and excels at community involvement and commitment. Candidate E is also seen as a strong instructional leader who has created a robust framework of professional development, programming, and assessments. They communicate effectively and promote strong relationships between the district and the people it serves according to references, reinforcing a culture of trust and transparency. Uh, candidate E is being recommended by
048MSBA because of their skills, integrity, and successful experience as an educational leader and superintendent. Um, also because this is a candidate who is highly regarded across their current school system, being seen as both prominently visible and widely connected in the community as well as with the school staff. Canada E has a strong background in developing and implementing strategic planning, is someone who communicates very well with the school board, and is described as possessing exceptional fiscal acumen and financial common sense. That is candidate E. Moving on to candidate K. This candidate has experience as a superintendent, principal, and teacher. Their current licenses include a superintendent license, principal, and teacher. And their education includes a specialist degree, a master's degree, and a bachelor of science. References describe candidate K as someone who is passionate, collaborative, and relational.
049Candidate K is known for being ethical, honest, and transparent with excellent communication skills and is very, very innovative. Candidate K has solid administrative experience, is very student focused, and according to references, has a deep understanding of what it takes to lead and succeed as a superintendent in a rural Minnesota public K12 school district. MSBA recommends candidate K uh because they are a successful successful pro has successful proven experience in leading a district through difficult circumstances with positive results. Candidate K highly values their relationships with the school board staff students and the community. They are innovative and understand the role of both data and strategic planning to foster student success. Candidate K has a core belief in the values of meaningful relationships, communication, and transparency. This contributes to their reputation as a trusted and effective leader.
050That is candidate K. All right, moving on to the fourth candidate. This is candidate L. They have experience as a superintendent, principal, assistant principal, teacher, and coach. Their current licenses are as a superintendent, principal, and teacher, and their education includes a master's degree, and a bachelor of science. In terms of what references state about candidate L, four different school board chairs shared the following comments regarding candidate L's qualifications as a leader. One, they are an outstanding superintendent. Their passion for students, staff, and our community is amazing. Two, candidate L's people skills set the example for others to follow. Three, they are a visionary leader who inspire and motivate others and they are very visible in our schools and community. Oh, that was four. They are very visible in our schools and community. We are blessed
051to have them as our superintendent. MSBA's recommendation of candidate L for your position is because they are a very positive, student centered, visionary, highly effective communicator and school leader who strives for excellence. Uh let's see. I can't read my own writing. They are also a passionate educational leader who builds a positive culture and climate through strong relationships, leadership skills, vision, experience, and dedication. Candidate L has also experienced financial challenges in districts they have led and together with their school boards have successfully navigated those issues. That is why we're recommending candidate L. And finally, uh we're recommending candidate N. Their experience is as a superintendent, principal, assistant principal, dean of students, teacher, and coach. Their current licenses are as a superintendent, principal, and teacher. And their education includes a doctorate, a master's degree, and a bachelor
052of arts. Uh for references, they describe candidate J um providing very strong letters of recommendation from three schoolboard members as well as a direct report. These descriptors include someone who has high integrity, is very calm, approachable, communicative, collaborative, and forwardinking. Another reference describes candidate N as reliable, honest, personable, consistent, kind, and yet another reference has stated the nest next district will be lucky to get this person. All board members MSBA spoke with also indicated they would rehire this person as a superintendent. MSBA's recommendation for candidate N is because they have the experience, qualifications, and professional skills the district is seeking in your next leader. MSB also believes this candidate has gained valuable superintendent experience in challenging situations and throughout those situations has exhibited honesty and integrity as a district leader. They are prepared to hit
053the ground running and will bring a collaborative lens to their work as superintendent in your district. Candidate N. I will stop now. Those are the five candidate U presentation forms that MSBA is recommending for your consideration. And I'll now turn it back over to Dave um to start the deliberations or ask me any questions. Does anyone have any questions for Barb? Okay, seeing none, um the one nice thing about our uh our community survey and it seems like the things we've talked about here and even hearing some of the MSBA results there seem to be pretty consistent. So, what I decided to do was my own little straw poll. And I'm going to hand you Keep them flat on the desk. Now, I'm going to hand you a sheet that's got each of the candidates
054numerically on there, and I want you just to go ahead and vote for five of them because if we're sitting here with all the same five, and that doesn't mean we don't go to six. I'm just saying put in five and and I'll do a little calculation up here and then um we will open a discussion from there because again seeing some of the qualities that we've seen and the experiences maybe we all decide that there's four or five or three or two that are good and then if we want to add to that list we sure can. Um, any any thoughts on that? As I I had Darcy put together a a little sheet. And again, I just thought since it was we were pretty uh seemed pretty uh had had the same same
055uh type of um candidates in mind, I thought maybe this would facilitate. So, I'll hand these. When you're done, just pass them back to the middle. Dave, while you're doing that, just to clarify, the five of us are doing this. This wasn't people that aren't in attendance. The two board members are not part of correct this. Okay. If they were able to zoom in, then they were able to do votes. If they weren't, they're unable to vote. So, the five of us will Yes. vote for the uh the semi- finalist. David, in that same vein, when we I know we have a consensus, I mean, we have a quorum, which is good. I'd like to at least have you and or Barb touch base with the two that aren't here to say this is the
056direction we're headed. Are you you know, are you are you are you okay? I just like to I don't want to miss out on the feedback of two board members. Fortunately, you're correct. However, legally, this is how we have to do it. Okay. Now, um Barb, I I did I will say I did receive today and and I'll just give numeric I'll give the uh the letters. I did have one uh person reach back out to me to give me their feedback on the way they were they were uh looking. And um I can do that, can't I, Barb? just give the numeric the sorry the alphabetical okay so I'll just without any other comments I will give you the letters that they had they had uh D E K L N and B so
057that person listed six I asked for five again just information on the side but you can see some coherence there So, let's go ahead and mark them. We put our names. No, no, that's just five of them and then we'll expand. Rank them though. Just No, don't rank them. No, just just X's. Yep. That's how I saw my name. Probably could read them better. Okay. Did I make you? You're way taller than me. All right. And all I'll do is I'm just going to make little hashes by the ones that were picked. [Applause] Sorry music. Yeah, I don't Let's take a 15minute break. I'm just kidding. You all just All right, enough. We just got to lighten this up a little bit. It's kind of an exciting time. And thank you for everyone that's come
058here at the spring break, even taking some extra time. So, um, the results that I have, I I and Barb, I do and I'm not going to give any letters. I'm just going to say I've got three of the candidates that had five votes, had uh one candidate with four votes, and I had one candidate with three votes, and I had two candidates with one vote a piece. So, we were thinking a lot alike. Anyway, um what um I can I can again I can do the numeric the alphabetical right Barb and just say again long as we're okay. Well, here's what we got. So, um the the three candidates with five votes a piece was a candidate E. Easy. Yes. K is in Kevin and L is in Larry. The candidate with four votes
059was D as in David. And the candidate with three votes was N as in Nancy. And both candidate A as an apple and B as in boy had one a piece. Let's see. So Gary, go ahead. Well, I'd just like to say that um and maybe this is true for all of you, but the filter I used in looking at the candidates were the survey. That was pretty powerful information like I said before. And I think um being a superintendent is pretty critical. Uh having experience as a superintendent pretty critical. And the five people with three or more votes in my mind met what we're what that survey told us, what the community is looking for and the and the employees of the district, the the five people with three or more votes to me
060fit that survey. And I that means a lot to me as far as I want to I want to talk to those folks. And they're all and they all have been superintendent, every one of them. So, I think we've done I've done well. Yeah, I truly agree that uh like we had talked a lot about the experience factor and and as Barb said and I I wrote it on here somewhere, what do we have? Uh uh was it eight or nine? Well, was it eight or nine, Barb, that had superintendent? We had eight of them. That's what I was So, again, you know, very happy to see that. Neil, did you have a thought you had over there? Yeah, I think um for me it's pretty telling that we're all on the pretty much on
061the same page when you have three candidates that we all feel very strongly about and the fact that we have two more that is the majority I think is is pretty telling for me and I would agree. I think I used a survey and I also those questions the additional questions I felt like um you you could have people that indicate I do this I do this but those examples that we heard in those questions really helped me with those decisions as well. I like the the uh initial questions too. Even though there was a little bit of redundancy in some of it, I think that's truly an indicator of experience. You know, something that seen it, done it work this way. Maybe doesn't always work that way, but at least we've got some guidance
062that we've seen work. So, so Chair Clatt, I would like to make the motion that we move forward candidate D, candidate E, candidate K, candidate L, and candidate N. We have a motion and a second to move forward with candidate D as in David, E is in Edward, K as in Kevin, L as in Larry, and N as in Nancy, and a second. Is there any discussion on that group? Yes. Uh couple of thoughts. um one I it is a you know great to see such um agreement on the three candidates. I'm very excited for those three. I did have a concern about N um I'm fine interviewing them. Um but I did have a concern that came up based on some some Google searching there. Um, I I do think we should add a
063sixth candidate just because one of these recommended candidates looks very likely to be hired elsewhere and that would leave us um just with four and it would be nice to have at least five. So, I would say we should add one more. Um, if we factor in the votes from the person you had mentioned that you talked to, Dave, that would give B two votes. Um, so I would say add B. That's my thought. That was only a discussion. That's not a vote. And, uh, we have a motion on the table. I'm not saying there can't be another one afterwards, but we have the motion for the five that we've listed. And I so we'll have to vote on that motion first, but then we could come back with another one if we wanted to
064to add also unless the motion was amended. So that's that's motion could be amended. I my contribution is it's not strong enough for me if we have two board members that are looking at one of the candidates uh as an alternate or as an additional one. It's to me it's not strong enough. Just looking at the needs of the district and um that's that's where I'm at. Any other thoughts on the amendment? letter. I was suggesting adding B to the list. Yes, that would require a second. Well, I think I think it would require Kim to amend the motion if she wanted to and then Gary would I think originally my statement would stand that I feel like it's pretty powerful that there was that much of a gap in in what this this these
065folks here felt. So I would want to stay with my motion. Okay. So we will uh stay with the original motion then to uh offer the offer semi- finalist interviews to D as in David, E is in Edward, K as in Kevin, L as in Larry, and N is in Nancy. Any other discussion? The only can comment that I would make is obviously I don't know these people. Well, some of them perhaps, but um I would have to uh concur with the advice of the people at Minnesota School Board Association who uh are in a position to have the wherewithal to make some pretty sound recommendations and vet these candidates pretty well. And uh the five that uh are in Kim's motion are those five that were recommended by the MSBA. So I I guess
066I would have no problem with that. There there were perhaps a couple that I would have liked to have had included but uh uh I I I think that that that pool is contains some very excellent people and uh I don't think we are eliminated anybody that is that stands out. If they hadn't stood out they would have been among the five recommended. Okay. Any other discussion? I I guess I might also add that um one of those five u I have some issues with also, but we'll find out in the interview. Okay. Anything else? All right. Seeing none, then uh all those in favor of the five semi finalists signify by saying I I and oppose the same. Okay, carries five to zero. Uh Barb, do you want to read those letters back so
067we can confirm the letters you have selected and passed are D as in dog, E as in emu. I try to use animals instead of names, but it's tricky. Uh K as in kangaroo, L as in lion, and N as in nesting birds. That's the ones we've got. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Is there any additional motions or discussion that's going to be held? I don't want to rush. Um anything else? uh one just one point that I would and make sure all these get into uh Darcy. One uh thing that I would like to uh mention is and this is a little bit ahead, but when we get into uh the second finalist interviews, um I would like to uh hear in addition to when we pick out questions about their transition schedule because I would
068like to see I mean everyone starts on 71 if we if we get that candidate. Some may be able to come a little earlier. Um, but we do have quite a gem here and Superintendent Kren that is really would like to help with the transition. You hear him talk about that. So, I'm just asking that not requiring anyone one to come in earlier and thing, but he's very willing to help and I just was kind of wanted to see they've all every one of those people have been transisted before. So, it might be interesting to hear. Just a thought. And we can talk about that at the end of round one. When you're looking at round two questions, you can talk about whether or not to invite each person to present a transition plan. That
069could be a part of the interviews as well if you'd like to in the second round. Okay. Thank you, Darcy. I'm assuming Darcy has five copies of that highlighted list. Great. Thank you for shredding those right away. I appreciate it. So, I'm not quite going to read the names yet. I just want to do a few housekeeping items in looking at the round one interview schedule to circle back to that. Um the first candidate would begin at 9:15. I would like the board to be there at 9:00 to call the meeting to order because I do want to talk through that that EMD form and some of those things just before you start your interview. So the 26th at 9:00 a.m. we'll call to order. The first interview will be at 9:15. So there are
070five here. So, would you prefer to start later in the morning or end earlier in the afternoon? Yeah. Yep. Hi. Sounds like end earlier in the afternoon. Door B. End earlier. Okay. So, I'm going to eliminate the last interview at 3:45. The last interview slot at 3:45. Yes. Okay. I will contact all five of these individuals as soon as I log off your meeting. I will call them. Everyone else in the pool will receive an email from me uh first thing tomorrow saying, "Thank you so much for your interest. The board has chosen to uh interview others that more closely align with what they're looking for, but thank you for your time and energy. It's a lot of work to apply for the position, and we want to make sure people feel appreciated for all
071the work they put into in pursuing this job." But I will call those five individuals tonight. There is always a possibility between right now and uh next week that one or two people will choose not to accept an interview. I'm still going to read all five names out loud tonight because the board took action and it needs to be reflected in public record who you're going to interview. If someone does drop out perhaps before I get the press release off to Darcy, I'll remove their name from the press release. Uh but in the meantime, you do have five. If someone were to drop out, I'm assuming it would be okay to remove the 2:30 interview slot as well. Yes. And then I'd reconfigure it so it might be two and two with the break in
072between the two or something like that. Are you okay with me shortening the day a little bit if someone drops out? Yes. Okay. Okay, sounds good. Just want to clarify. Um, also want to let you know that uh Greg Abbott will be with me next week um just for the first 20 minutes of the meeting at 9:00. He's trying to capture some footage of our superintendent search team out in districts. So, for the first five or 10 minutes while I'm visiting with the board about what to expect, he'll be there taking some video. So, if that's okay with the board, uh you might pop up in a short video we're putting together about superintendent search services. But Greg Abbott will be accompanying me next week for a bit. So, don't be surprised when you see
073Greg at 9:00 on the 26th. Okay. I think that is all the housekeeping that I have. Is there anything further before I read the names aloud? I will create the press release here shortly and send it to Darcy. Copy Dave. I also will copy Jeff if that's okay. He called me earlier today and said he'd put on the website. So, I'm going to copy Jeff as well on that press release. Sure. Do expect to be lobbied. I want to make sure the board is prepared for that. For those of you who've been through a search before, you know what happens. uh people will start googling immediately and I can assure you that all the Googling that is uncovered with these folks we already know about. We are still comfortable recommending those people. You can refer
074people to me if you want to. Otherwise, just assure them that MSBA has looked into all of these candidates from a social media standpoint and are comfortable recommending them as leaders for your district. But if you are lobbyed for or against people, please thank everyone for sharing their feedback with you. Um, do not engage in lengthy back and forth discussions with people about these individuals. Remember, you've seen a lot more than anyone else. You have seen application materials that took you hours and hours and hours to go through. So, you should listen to your stakeholders and also remember that you as the board have seen a lot of stuff about these folks. So, thanks in advance for your help with that. Um, I'm going to read the names and then we're probably going to be
075ready to adjourn. Correct? Yes. once going twice. Okay. Also, when I read these names aloud, they are not in order of their alphabet identifiers. I mix them up so people don't know who was candidate E, who was candidate N, etc. It's just mixed up. So, it's in no particular order. The uh Albertly Area School Board will be interviewing as semi- finalists next week on Wednesday. I got to find my press release. Here we go. You will be interviewing Dr. Steven Hiley, Mandy Fletcher, Dr. Michael Newbeck, Beth Geese, and Dr. Jamie Joe Thompson. Congratulations. Those are your five semi- finalists, and I look forward to seeing you next week. If you do have anyone who chooses to drop out between now and then, I will email the board immediately. so you will know about it as
076soon as possible. Okay. All right. Thank you, Barb, for your leadership and your help. And uh we look forward to next Wednesday. We will see you here. We will all be here by 9ine or earlier with our with our best interview hats on. So, thanks again. Um that would adjourn the meet. Well, I'll look for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? Second. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose the same sign. Thank you, Barb, and everyone. Take care, everyone. Byebye. Yep.