School Board Initial Planning Meeting for Superintendent Search- December 9, 2025

001Good evening. The time is now 5:35. The Visetta Public Schools Board of Education special regular meeting for Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 will please come to order. Will the clerk please call the role? >> Thank you. >> I'll call it in a second. I'm going to wait for her to finish passing those out. >> Thank you. >> Okay, calling the role. Heidi Kedar >> here. Sheila Prior here. >> Sarah Johansson is absent. >> Paris Bendy >> here. >> Valentina Ays >> here. Dan Janestra >> here. >> Milan Sahonyi >> present. >> Thank you. We have a quorum. So, first of all, I want to thank everyone who is present here for coming on on a night like this. Uh it's pretty heavy snow outside. Roads are kind of slick, but you took the time. So, I

002really appreciate the time you've taken. And, you know, let's let's see if we can get this done as soon as possible. So, so we can all go home before the freezing drizzle starts. But thank you all for coming. Uh the first item on our agenda is the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda items. There is no consent agenda. There are two items on the agenda. Is there a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Moved and seconded. Will the clerk please take a roll call vote? >> Heidi Kedar, >> yes. >> Valentina Ays, >> yes. >> Dan Janestra, >> yes. >> Sarah Johansson is absent. >> Paris Bende, >> yes. >> Sheila Prior, yes. Milan Sahony, >> yes. Thank you. We have an agenda. So starting with the first item on the agenda, it

003is the discussion of the superintendent search timeline, hiring criteria, community involvement and procedures. A very important process which sets the tone for the search. This will be facilitated by MSBA's director of leadership development and executive search, Barb Don. Take it over, Barb. >> Thank you, Chair Sony. Members, it's very nice to see you this evening. I appreciate the opportunity to visit with you about kicking off the superintendent search for Weisetta public schools. I know on a night like this it's tempting to uh prefer hot chocolate in a movie, but I tell you what, this is going to be almost as fun. Um it's a very exciting time for Weisetta public schools and I'm really honored to be here with you tonight to plan the next few months as to what's going to happen in the

004search for the next leader. So you do have the packet in front of you, the meeting packet. I want to thank everyone for reviewing that in advance. I know you brought your calendars. We have a lot of things to discuss and decide. So, we're just going to go ahead and get started unless anyone has any questions for me. Not yet anyway. But as you do, please feel free to ask me as we proceed to clarify and to explain things that you might be wondering about. So, on the planning meeting agenda, the first item is introductions. However, I had the pleasure of meeting you at the training workshop that we did and so I'm going to bypass that in the interest of time and move on to discussing the process. So when we talk about the

005superintendent search process, there's a couple of key things we want you to know. The first is the role of Minnesota state statute. And there are two statutes that will affect the search process. The open meeting law and the government data practices act. So the open meeting law says that you cannot close a board meeting for any part of a superintendent search. The only time you can close a board meeting relative to your superintendent is for the superintendent evaluation. Otherwise, the open meeting law will apply to all board meetings during the search process. Also, the government data practices act comes into play because the data privacy laws in Minnesota are very specific and that says that the names of any applicants for this position are private data. Must be held in confidence. That's important because you

006as board members will have access to all of the application materials. You will know who's applied for this position. Those names are private data. The only names that will go public according to statute are people who are selected to be interviewed by the board and that will be a key phrase if they're going to be interviewed by the board. It must be done in an open session. Those names go public. All the other names will remain private data. So those statutes are very important and my role is to make sure that we're aware of them at each and every step of the search process. The other thing I want to talk about the process is that this is your search. This is not a search being led by MSBA. This is a search being led

007by the school board of Weisetta public schools. We are here to guide, to answer questions, to provide options, information. We will make recommendations at various steps along the way. In the end though, you are the elected representatives for Weisetta Public Schools. So, this is your decision and it is your search. We'll make sure to make um to ensure that you have the information you need though to make every single decision in the best interest of the students that go to school here. So those two things are really in terms of process the most important things I wanted to at least share with you as we open up the search process. Any questions on either of those? >> Yes, chair. >> So Mark, so can can we ask questions as you go even if we see

008appear like we're interrupting but but really not. So so we can ask questions at any time, right? Okay. Thank you. >> And feel free to interrupt me if I start talking and you haven't got your questions answered yet. So make sure you just interrupt me. I'd like this to be your planning meeting, not mine. And I'm happy to make sure you're clear on everything before we adjourn tonight. So, the very first thing we need to discuss is the timeline. And this is what usually takes the longest. There's a lot of information in here, but this one tends to be the most thorny because it does involve your calendars looking out a few months. And so, we've offered you two options. I think what I'm going to do first, if it's okay, is review the process

009overall so you know what these meetings are, how long they might last, what the purpose is. I have suggested a timeline option one that is shorter that involves the uh input from your public and your school communities being conducted while the position is posted. Option two sets it out a little further because we wait until we've gathered all of the school communities voices before you post the position. So there's two things for you consider here and I wanted you to see sort of the implication. If you chose to go with option two, the search will take approximately a month longer than if you chose to go with option one. So, I'm just going to walk through the scaffolding of this timeline. And please do ask questions because there's several meetings we're going to have throughout

010this search process. Uh the first board meeting is tonight. This is the planning meeting. It is a special meeting. Option one, we are proposing opening the survey on Monday, December 15th, and leaving it open until January 7th. During that window is when all members of the community, staff, students, parents, community members have an opportunity to fill out the survey both um either online or in hard copy. And we'll talk more specifically about the survey. During that same time, uh we could also conduct focus groups with groups that you feel uh we want to meet with individually and just pull out of them some more information. So, we're suggesting that window the 15th to the 7th for that purpose. We are going to be holding search preview meetings and I've been working with your staff to

011already set those up. I believe we're going to be able to hold all of the search previews next week. We wanted to wait and hold those until after the planning meeting because tonight you will make be making decisions about the timeline, the brochure, the leadership profile, the survey. All of those things need to be decided before I conduct those search preview meetings with district leadership. But we do have, I believe, five of those ready to go. uh there'll be online sessions that people can join to get their questions answered. Similarly, then there's a Q&A session. I haven't chosen the date for that yet though. The Q&A session is very similar to search previews except it is open to the public. Uh people can join us that day that I hold it whenever we identify the

012exact day. Um ask questions. I'll talk about timeline, brochure, survey, etc. We do record that though the vast majority of people will watch it at a later time on the district website. Not as many people join us live because people are so busy, but we do have an opportunity for them to send me questions in advance. If they cannot join us live, there is a link and we've already talked with Amy and Zach about getting the word out to make sure people know. If you have questions about the process, click here. Barb will see those. She'll answer those during the Q&A. And if you can't join her that day, you'll be able to watch it later and hear your questions answered. So the Q&A is very similar. It's just a much broader audience. anyone and

013everyone can join us that day or watch it on the website. All right. Uh we are suggesting with option one to post this position on Monday, December 15th and run it through January 26th. That's a good window. I think it does allow people to prepare their application materials during the holiday break. There's a lot that is involved in applying for this position and for them to gather all of that information. Some people appreciate being able to do that uh beforehand. So, you could do that. that they'd do during the break, but also they'd have the entire month of January almost to get everything uploaded before they hit submit. So again, this is our proposed timeline. We'll turn it back over to the board to discuss and decide for sure. The next board meeting um that

014we would see here in person again would be for interview training. I've suggested some dates in January for that. Because you are conducting your interviews in the public um in particular round two, you need to be very aware of how you interview, what questions you can and cannot ask. you have to be very careful with protected categories that you're not inadvertently breaking the law with the hiring process. So, we want to be careful with that. The interview training takes about an hour at least, if not a little bit more. Um, but we also that night would discuss the public input report if we go with option one. So, if we close on January 7th, our staff needs a week or two to pull all of that information together and prepare the engagement report for your

015review. So, we are proposing sometime in the last week or two of January to review that report and do interview training. Um, as well, we'll have a first uh first blush at interview questions that night. We designed those questions specifically for your search based on the leadership profile and the results of that public summary report. That is something we don't want to do. We don't want to craft interview questions until we've heard from your community. So, that will inform the questions that we are developing for your consideration and we'll share them at that meeting. That's usually about a 2hour to 2 and 1 half hour meeting. Some boards go longer if they have a lot of questions. Some boards take less, but on average I'd say two hours for the meeting we're proposing in the

016end of January. Uh below that you would see a deadline of the 26th, the 27th. We'll take a look at all of those, make sure that they are complete, and we'll give access to board members on the 28th of January. Again, private data, so you'll want to be very careful where you review that information. You'll have a secure link up in the cloud. Create your own username and password, but please don't look at those applications in a coffee shop or at your kitchen table where anyone who walks behind you might see a resume and know who's applied for the position. But you will have access to those uh so you get familiar with the pool while we are doing our vetting because MSBA's team as I discussed at our interview will be um reviewing all

017of those and looking for alignment between the applicants with your profile and the results of that survey. Uh so that is the time between the 28th and potentially the middle of February. So February 9th, etc. is the night you might potentially choose your semi- finalist. Only those names would go public if the full board is going to conduct round one in round two. Everyone else who's applied um will be forever private and in fact at that meeting you'll talk about candidates A, B, and C. no names, no identifying information, no gender pronouns, nothing that can help someone figure out who you're talking about. But we will come to you um ahead of that meeting with recommendations so you'll know who we're going to recommend out of the applicant list so you can compare it to

018your own notes and come prepared to discuss it. So that's the majority of that night and it can take half an hour or less. It can take an hour and a half or more. It depends upon how much agreement amongst the board um based upon who's in the pool and who you want to bring in to interview. And you can certainly ask me questions about who we're recommending, but I'm going to have to be very vague because it's a public meeting, candidate B, C, and D. So, I can't say anything about them as well. If you have questions in advance, I can talk to you one-on-one if you give me a call. I can answer some questions in a private phone call that I cannot do in a public meeting. So, I would um be

019very available to you before that meeting if you want to talk about that. So, that's a board meeting. Again, that takes half hour to two hours. Uh then round one, I'm suggesting the end of February or early March. And there's one thing I want to mention on this. It says uh board or subcommittee, which is an option for you to consider. Some districts, particularly in high-profile uh districts like yours, they want the option of potentially a subcommittee conducting round one interviews, in which case names do not go public because it's not the board interviewing those individuals. So, one of the things I will ask you to decide tonight, maybe as we go through the timeline, is which option do you want? And so, um, there's obviously pros and cons to all of those things. Sometimes

020candidates have said, "If I can do round one in private, I am more apt to throw my hat in the ring. Once I'm a finalist and I'm interviewing at the full board, I'm one of two or one of three." Sometimes, if I'm one of six, I'm not quite ready to take that risk. So, it is an option for you to consider. Um, and those interviews can take quite a while if you have six people. Um, this is a great opportunity. I'm anticipating you're going to have a very strong pool. So, you may very well have five, six, or seven people you want to visit with. So, that's round one potentially by March, uh, early March. Um, if you go with the subcommittee idea and only if you would have a meeting in the middle sometime

021for that subcommittee to make their recommendations to the full board. Again, you would still be speaking of candidate A, B, and C. If the full board accepts the recommendation and there does need to be trust placed in that subcommittee, you would need to that night announce the names of the finalists that will be interviewed by the full board. So that is the night those names would go public for round two. And I'm suggesting perhaps in early March to middle of March is your round two interviews. And you could do those separately on two different days or three days if you have three. Most often we see all in one day sort of a roundroin where a candidate has a full day in the district from 8 or 9 in the morning until 4:00 or 5

022in the afternoon or 10 or 11 until 8 and then noon until 10:00. You can do all kinds of stuff with round two. That is also when you may possibly have additional input from your school communities, but that's a decision you'll make after you've seen the engagement report. So, we're not going to decide that tonight, but in round two is where if you have additional need to include staff or parents or community members in the interview process, you can do it in round two. And we'll make that decision at one of these other meetings. So, if all goes well with uh round one, excuse me, option one, you would begin negotiating your contract in March and you would potentially sign a contract and have it approved by the full board in March and your superintendent

023would start on July 1st. We would return uh within the first six months of their time in the district for that transition workshop to make sure that everyone's comfortable with the expectations for the first year to make sure that you agree on a performance review process for your superintendent's first year and what priorities you want them to focus on and what metrics you'll be using to evaluate their effectiveness. That is the timeline at a glance. If you look at the second option, the differences are we would still open the survey on the 15th of December, but we would leave it open a little bit longer till February 3rd because we think um if we're going to be including that information in a uh recommendation for a leadership profile, there's going to be more need for

024community input and that can take a bit longer than the first window that I suggested. Um, also let's see. You would meet for interview training in midFebruary instead of middle to end of January. And the application deadline we're proposing would be March 18th versus January 26th. You can do any of this though. Um, there's kind of a ripple effect. If you want to move everything up faster, you certainly could. Sometimes the most challenging thing to identify are the dates that all seven board members are available. And sometimes that feeds into the timeline. But generally speaking, option one, you run the survey and the focus groups concurrently with the position being posted. The board has developed the leadership profile and then we confirm the leadership profile with the results from the survey in the focus groups

025before we do the interview questions or interview screening and things like that. Option two, it takes longer because we're doing a lot more gathering information before you create your leadership profile. So, does that difference make sense to everybody? I know we talked a little bit in training about the options you'd have with a timeline. So, I think I'll turn it back over to Chair Sahony to facilitate a conversation on which option you might prefer and then we can start finding some dates that work for >> Thank you, Barb. That was that was a very good explanation of everything. So, I'm going to start with uh opening the I guess the floor for comments, questions from board members if they have any. I know most of this was discussed at the training during the workshop but

026if there are additional questions that came up during that time and today uh based on the timelines this is the time to ask. >> Do you want to give the feedback on both items together? Go one at a time. What what's the preference? >> Um yeah we can we can go one at a time. >> I have a question before we do feedback. >> Yeah. >> You have a question. >> Okay. I have a quick question for you. So, I know that there are several other districts that are um doing searches. I won't comment on names or anything like that. Um but my question is, does one option put us at an advantage versus the other in comparison to other districts that might be doing a search >> perhaps? It's hard to say because I

027don't know who would be in the pool. there are some similarities between your district's opportunity and others in the metro area and in that case there may be candidates in interested in both. However, I also know of a number of candidates who are interested in one or the other. So, it's hard to say that you would have the same pool because I don't know that you will and if you do, it might only be a few folks. Um, generally speaking, districts would prefer to move more quickly as search season heats up because January, February, March is high season. We have successfully done searches in April and even in May. It's just getting a little bit late and some candidates may have committed to other positions that would have been interested in yours if you had

028had an earlier opportunity for them. But it's hard to predict. just in general, most districts by now are saying we'd like to move more quickly. I just wish I had a crystal ball. >> I'd also add uh to that uh members of the board, uh if you do make an earlier hire, uh there's then opportunities for transition that you might not have on a later timeline as well. So, your candidate being known, you know, prior to your current superintendent departing um also gives them an opportunity to get to know the district a little bit more before the official start date. Thank you. >> Since since we are at the question stage in instead of feedback may I have a couple of questions. Um so leaving aside other districts that are competing with us kind of

029what is the main difference that we would see in choosing option one where we are not we will not have to wait or we will not wait for the community or the survey from the community. Is there is there like a big difference in between what you have seen from what the community tells us versus what we think the superintendent's qualification should be. Is there a big difference uh on that? >> That's a good question. So in my experience, and I've been doing this for almost seven years now, as elected representatives of the community on the school board, I almost always see significant alignment between what you think and what your in input is from your public communities. I have not had a board out of step with their community or their staff or their

030students in a very very long time. So most of the time boards are comfortable moving forward with the leadership profile prior to gathering all of the information. However, there are circumstances sometimes when there's a very complicated circumstance in a district where they want as much community input as they can get because there's something looming. Maybe it's something financial or it's a referendum or it's a trust issue or something. But sometimes there's an issue where especially if they haven't done a survey for a long time on any other topic, they want that input before they make the next decision. Most commonly though, it is to just go right ahead with the board posting the position. You are in touch with folks. Um, but we will always verify with your community and your staff that their input

031aligns with yours and if not, we're going to still use it heavily in the search process. So, I don't know that you're missing very much unless there is a big question you need answered before you post this position. And you do have some time. You know, if it were January right now or February, I'd probably recommend you should get this posted and we'll do this. But you have the luxury of time and that it's early December. So, if you did choose to delay posting it until after all of that input, you would still be able to conclude the search process by um the middle of April. So you're not late, it's just it's getting later each week. >> But I I think yeah, you brought up a good point and I strongly believe that we

032are it's this is a representative form of government. So we represent our community's thought process. That's why they put us on this on the in this table, right? And if we if we are thinking very differently then then you know then uh I guess I don't know but but you're right we are representing the communities all seven of us and would bring hopefully their their thought process and their uh requirements so to speak but as long as there are no major differences I think we should be okay doing the option one but the second second question is what if does that does not happen. So we find out that there is a major major shift between what the community really wants versus what the board has uh offered. If uh and that's a big if

033uh we would know that prior to the recommendation of applicants to the board. So we would use that information if there is some sort of um dissonance between the board and your community. we would use that information in screening these applications a little bit differently. So, we're using the leadership profile of course that perhaps you've developed as a board and we're putting a lot of weight on the public engagement summary report and using the voices of those folks to help us select the people to recommend to you and we would use that information not only to recommend candidates but also develop those interview questions. >> So, it would still be a very big part of the search. It's never too late ever to involve that information in the search process. um it would just be

034used a little bit differently than doing the leadership profile first and then all of the rest. It's just after that, >> right? Okay. >> Thank you. I don't have any more questions. Yeah. >> Um so I have a comment though about the length of time the survey is open. Um December 15th to January 7th number one is not even a full month and is over a holiday. So I don't know. I mean, from my perspective, over the holiday, I'm probably not going to do the survey. From the candidates's perspective, it gives them time to submit their application. But from a family perspective, I worry that that's too short of a time and that people are not paying attention. And by the time the survey is closed, we will have community members who maybe don't disagree

035with board members, but who will feel like they didn't have an opportunity to have a say. So that's I I'm I'm thinking that's not enough time for a survey and I don't know if that February 3rd date for closing the survey is set in stone even if we could just say you know at least give if it was like December 15th to January 15th or I don't know but I'm feeling like our community is going to feel like we did give them an opportunity And we can definitely lengthen that. The the main thing would be the interview training and discussing the public input report. We would just want at least um a week and a half to two weeks between like if we wanted to close it January 14th or January 20th, we absolutely can

036do that. If we lengthen it to the 14th or the 20th, then when you're looking at the interview training, we would not want to use that first week, the 20th, 21, 22. we'd want to be toward the end of that or even even into early February before we discuss the public input report. So, it's fluid and I think you make an excellent point. People's focus during the holidays is not on this process. So, we can lengthen that and then push the next one back a little bit and that would not cause any disruptions. >> When you say not cause any disruptions if we chose option one, is that what you're saying? >> Correct. >> Okay. Now I'm ready to share my comments. So I'll wait if there are any more questions. >> Go ahead. >>

037All right. So uh in terms of options definitely my recommendation is to go with option one and for three primary reasons. One is again we are getting the leadership profile out but as you correctly stated we will be engaging community members getting their feedback constructing interview questions. So the inputs will be taken into consideration. So again, we're not losing that opportunity. Um that's primary reason. So community engagement will be there no matter what. Second, uh this time of the year is really helpful for candidates to think about it, put their hats in the ring. So again, the the time frame completely works well. And the third is again it's March versus April time frame but given schools will be in session. I think we need to get somebody in March that will allow us more

038transition between Dr. Anderson and new candidate. So given those three aspects again I would definitely recommend option one. That being said thank you Sheila for bringing that up because that was one of my ask. we got to extend that survey like January 7th is too short time like it it helps candidates but on the flip side from community member standpoint um that's too short time with with holidays so at least two weeks we'll have to extend those to be able to get all the inputs so >> I like u what Paris said and sheila said about timeline uh because it's yeah people will be in holiday mode and um that and it's nice to know that we can push it a little bit so that community uh can feel at least that uh their opinion

039can had been considered and to be honest there are some backgrounds who have a whole time my background celebrates till January actually um it will be um [clears throat] orthodox Christmas too so that people in a celebration mode and I would like people to celebrate and then uh give a time for input. uh for me um I wanted to ask um when I look at first option and second option uh the application deadline for example in first one it's January 28th the end of January but second option is March 18th so it's um almost um well two uh tuck March uh February um almost two month difference uh why is that. >> Thank you for asking that directors. So on the second option, it wouldn't be posted until February 27th. So that's when the leadership

040profile would go public and people could start applying. So the 27th of February to the 18th of March is about 3 and a half weeks. Uh so that the length of the posting is a little shorter than the December 15th to January 26th, which is about 6 weeks. So it's open later because you're posting it later. Does that make sense? Okay. >> if I'm understanding correctly, option one, we post, sorry if my microphone is being weird. If we post um the opening and have the application deadline like what to what is an option one, but we extend the survey opportunity. Is that kind of what everyone's leaning towards with the understanding that you need a week or two to go over the public survey results? Okay, >> that sounds great to me. >> Yes, option

041one with the extension of the survey. I'm aligned with that, Sheila. Um, also I think another thing that we should consider is our school calendar and um the end of March brings us into spring break and so I think option one is a better option um versus two just because of spring break as well. >> Okay. So so I I I'm glad you mention you you said Barb that the comm we are the community's voice right obviously. So hopefully we are close to what the community feels and that's what they would recommend for us to look for in a superintendent. So I think I think it's it also helps us feel the pulse of the community right it gives us an indicator whether we are actually doing what we said we would be doing. Um

042also from Sheila's um narrative I think you know it clearly tells you that what what's good for the goose is not good for the gander right the candidates it's great great opportunity but for the community it's not and therefore I I would go with option one with uh the change in the schedule for the community feedback I think we have a consensus on that >> all right great thank you very much I appreciate that discussion so Let's look at look at a different date to close the survey. And again, this isn't a board meeting, so it's not that relevant, but how long would you like it open if it's open on the 5th of December, which is next Monday? Uh let's see. >> We are looking at line three, right? >> Line uh line two,

043public input survey open online. So line two, >> the 14th is a 15th is a Thursday of January. So, I would propose we either do the 16th or the uh the 19th is MLK Junior day. >> I'd propose the 16th >> because that gives us exactly almost exactly a month. >> Um is that enough time too? I mean, if the further we extend it, then what is that delay? that delays when >> actually would we >> then I would actually propose the 12th >> because that puts us at four weeks. >> Sorry. >> We we could because that week is leadership conference. So my staff won't be working on the report anyway. We could close the survey on Sunday 18th of January and on Monday we start working on survey results. So that week of

044leadership conference we're not going to be able to do anything anyway. said, "I'd rather leave it open for your community to have a few more days." So, >> yep. 18th is fine. >> That work? Okay. >> Mhm. >> So, it would close on January 18th, midnight on the 18th, and on the 19th, we would start working on it. And >> 15th, right? >> December 15th. Yes. So, the survey now will say December 15th to January 18th. >> Yeah. But realistically, are you really going to work on 19th or is it 20th? Because 19th will be holiday. It's uh MLK. >> Okay. >> So if you guys are not working on 19, if we can keep it open till 19th, so community gets the whole long weekend. >> But if you are working and you really

045going to start working on 19th, then 18th is fine. >> Yes. Why don't we keep it open until the 19th? >> Thank you for pointing that out. January 19th at midnight on that Monday. So then the what that does that the little cascading effect means that the interview training meeting we would not want to meet the 20th 21st or 22nd of January even the 26th and 27th that's pretty tight because I'm expecting a very robust response to this survey with a lot of people. So we're going to have to give our staff some time to pull together the quantitative and the qualitative results. So, if we were to talk about interview training and discussing the results of the public engagement survey and focus groups, we could look at moving those dates back from the end

046of January to perhaps that first week of February. >> Which line item are you looking at now? >> Uh the first yellow highlighted meeting. That's the next board meeting. So, proposing the 20th through the 28th. that won't give our staff enough time if we're closing it on midnight of the 19th. So, if we look at the week of February 2nd instead, that would give us enough time. And I'm currently wide open that week, the 2nd through the 6th. >> So, that would be special. >> It would be a special meeting because we have a work session that's scheduled on the 26th. >> Yeah. So the week of February. >> So the week of February 2nd, right? >> Okay. Just saying. Yeah. >> 2nd February. >> Now, is this is this something that's live streamed as

047well? >> Every district has different protocols about live streaming or recording special meetings. Some do not live stream nor record special meetings. Some do, some don't do either. The reason I asked is because Amy guys and Dave is have to have to be aware of the dates because they are the ones that that handle the technical aspect. So just want >> Okay, good. Okay. >> Do you typically live stream your special meetings? >> Do you record your special meetings? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So I would say just do the same thing you've always done so that a special meeting for the search is no different than other special meetings. >> Okay. So February 2nd Barb at this point do you want to invite Alicia also? >> Thank you for asking. Yes, >> we have just

048so that the viewers know Alicia little our board member elect is here in the room and she will she has been invited by Barb to make sure that she has availability on her calendar because once she's sworn in in January she will be at the board table sitting here. So, >> so the week of the February 2nd, when are all seven of you available? We could do days or evenings. It doesn't matter. >> Mine is wide open. >> I'm good on second, but it needs to be in the evening. >> Mhm. >> Or four and beyond. >> I'm good on second, too. >> Anytime, Valentina, or do you have evening better? >> Yeah, evening. Okay. >> How long is it is this meeting expected to last? >> An hour. >> Usually about two to two

049and a half hours. >> Okay. I'm good. The whole week, so anytime. >> Let's go with the second. Are you good with it, Alicia? >> The second works for me. >> Okay. >> Yeah, second's good for me. >> And you also in the afternoon is right. Is that >> Yeah, second. My only barrier um you know really these next few months is going to be the fact that I have a evening class on Tuesday. So that kind of knocks out Tuesday for me. >> So Monday the 2nd. >> Yep. >> And did you say any time? What time? >> Four. Good. >> Five. >> Okay. >> Five. Five is okay with me. Yeah. >> Five. Yes, please. >> Five o'clock. >> All right. I thank you. I think I'll turn it back over to the

050chair to facilitate. The other meetings that we'll need to decide when are all in yellow. >> Okay. So, so all the dates stay the same then through the rest of the yellows. >> Yes. Unless for whatever reason the whole board's not available. Sometimes people will have train right country or something. So these are my suggestions that is because the previous ones were pushed from January to February 2nd. >> Yep. >> So that will not affect the other >> that does not affect the rest of the the search. know is mainly that report but otherwise if these dates don't work for your calendars we can absolutely find other dates. >> So the board needs to determine semi finalist interview questions and procedures. So this will have to be an open meeting right public meeting if the

051whole board sits to now is this where we have to decide whether we want a committee to committee to do the interview or the board to do the interview. So tonight when we get down to the first round of interview dates, I'd appreciate a decision from the board about the option to have a subcommittee interview candidates or the full board interview candidates in round one. That decision does need to be made. >> Okay. >> Who's going to be on that committee can absolutely wait until perhaps the meeting on February 2nd. We could discuss it that evening. Um or we could discuss at the evening that you choose semi-finalist. I'd prefer perhaps earlier. So on the second we would discuss the membership of the subcommittee if you go that route >> right but for now you

052need to know whether the whole board should do it or the committee. >> So if the whole board does it then we are looking at the February 9th 11th 12th those dates right that yellow highlighted part >> actually that meeting of the I've suggested the 9th 11th etc that meeting um is not anything other than identifying candidates A B and C to be interviewed in round one. Oh, >> that is not the interviews. The interviews would be the end of February, the next line, and then early March. >> So there is no question of dulging any private data in that in that February 9th, 11th meeting. >> Correct. This the night of I'm suggesting the 9th, 11th, etc. is the night that you'll discuss candidates A, B, and you'll know who we're recommending, and I'll

053tell you why we're recommending those folks. You ultimately make your own decision. You have seen all of the applications, so you may not choose the slate we're recommending. Most boards do, but you may not. That's the night that you actually choose to interview ABC, etc. But then you don't interview them till the following week or two. >> Okay. How long that session is expected? >> Uh this meeting the when you determine semi- finalists and interview questions if there's consensus among the board pretty quickly that aligns with our recommendation. It can take 45 minutes, half hour, 45 minutes. >> That board members meeting at >> Yep. Go ahead. You got it. >> Yeah. So that night is the board meeting at 7 o'clock. So it might be ideal to do it on the >> on the

054on 9th. Just meet an hour earlier before the board meeting >> because you have a meeting on the 9th already. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. We have a 7:00 to uh 7:00 start regular board meeting on the 9th. >> Okay. So would you want to start at 5 or 6 that day? >> I would say 5:30. >> 5:30. Yeah. Just to be safe, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because we don't know if we >> And that makes sense because we also have President's Day. I'm looking at the school calendar as well. So, we've got President's Day coming up right after that. So, the 9th is ideal. >> Everybody okay with that? Dan, Sheila, >> does that work? 5:30. Okay. >> Are we sure that's going to be enough time? Like I mean, we're assuming Well, I

055mean, we've had some pretty long meetings. I I don't know. I if we have a a definite stop time, >> do we want to push it back to five or >> maybe five start? We can take a break if necessary. Right. So, let's let's do five. >> Five. Okay. Does that work for you, Amy? 5:00 p.m. that day. >> Okay. >> I know. It makes for a long day. Yes. >> Yeah. 5:00 p.m. 5 is fine. On the 9th, >> February 9th. Okay. >> So, Barb, the next one is where we decide whether we want the whole board or the committee. I think we we talked about this a little bit during the uh workshop during the training. Um >> we had a survey that Dave >> We also had a survey. Yes. >> Do

056we know Dave? >> Yeah, >> Mr. Luke. >> Sorry about that. I was discussing the last meeting we scheduled. What was the question? We had uh we had a survey in which um you were going to get an opinion from you know from the board members as to which one they they have a preference for uh the the whole board interviewing the first round of candidates or whether they would be okay with the committee. And what did you find out? >> Oh yeah. So, uh, the the general consensus from the board was that the the preference was to utilize uh uh um subcommittee of the board for that first round of interviews. Um, I I believe, you know, as we discussed um in our our workshop, there's pros and cons to either way that you

057would do it, right? Um and and Barb, is it appropriate for me to share what those might be? Okay. So the the um advantages of of running that that first round as a private process um are that you might attract candidates who are willing to apply from you know a current superintendency etc. they're they're in a in a current district. Um, and so they might be more willing to apply um if they know that that first round is uh a private confidential um versus um if if you open up that that first round publicly right away, you might have some candidates who decide h I don't know. I don't know if if uh I will throw my my name in the ring for a process that's that's uh public right off the start. Obviously, all

058the finalist rounds uh do need to be public as well. So, um the there is advantages, I think, to either way you choose. I think the board felt like um the the biggest advantage goes with with uh utilizing that that subcommittee and and uh keeping the the candidates private during that first round until those finalists are declared. >> You want to take a quick call on this? Uh everybody agree? Yeah and most importantly I think in our last session we also talked about the process right so just because certain members are on the committee um that's not the only deciding factor everybody's contributing obviously we will look for MSBs help to put together those questions rubric you know anything that can help us so again it's a data collection datadriven decision and three of you

059know seven members are representing it so again um I trust the process I trust my colleagues. So again, I don't see any issues in that. Uh listening to what was presented during training uh it sounds like we will have better chances to get better fish so to speak [laughter] candidate who would be willing to apply because understandably for um to put your name and then to go public and then come back to work. it can uh I mean you have to consider do you want to especially in this environment that's the reason I'm willing to go with um the option of having a a subcommittee >> I'm in favor of a subcommittee for round one 100% I think it's going to give us the most competitive um the most competitive uh process that we can

060get and I want to be able to look at everybody in the eye and tell them we got the best candidates that we possibly I agree um on the subcommittee to make it, you know, make it more attractive for candidates to apply um who might not otherwise. Um we as a board will come up with questions together ahead of time. So, whoever's on the committee will be representing what the board as a whole would like to ask presumably. Am I understanding that correctly, Barb? That >> yes. So, if you went with that option, um the full board does a couple of things. The full board decides who would be interviewed in round one, and the full board would select the interview questions for round one, and then the full board would act on recommendations from

061that subcommittee to then interview those finalists as a full board. So, there's still a great deal of input and reliance on the full board. It's just a matter of uh the interviews could be done in private. Um and and remind me again if you would Mr. Loots, this is a precedent. Why did Weisetta did this? >> Yes, this was utilized the last time that super similar process. >> Okay. >> So, yeah, I would be in support of the committee. >> I'm good with the committee. >> So, Barb, help me understand again. No, Alicia, you you I guess you don't have you don't have you don't have a say in this. Sorry, just for the timeline. So, help me understand again now. Everybody on the board, even if we choose a subcommittee, everybody on the board

062sees all the applications that the subcommittee will be interviewing, correct? And then setting up the question. So, that's good. And I also appreciate Paris you you stating that because this is very important stating that the that you are in you are confident that the subcommittee will do the best job possible. So I hope everybody is is in sync with that and I think we should just go ahead with the subcommittee then. Yeah. And then we will we will we still haven't >> given it a a thought. We will decide in the coming days if it's not really necessary to do it now. Right. Thank you very much. That's really helpful. I just realized something also and I want to offer my apologies. I didn't have an internet connection when I was looking at my calendar

063when we changed the dates from the end of January. >> I am unavailable on Monday the 2nd. It just popped up. I have I have internet and suddenly I'm I'm gone Monday and Tuesday and 3rd. I apologize. >> That's okay. >> Uh is the board available on Wednesday the 4th? >> This is February, right? >> Yeah. February 4th. Yes. >> Yes. February 4th. I I am sorry. I thought it was odd. My whole week was blank, but as soon as the internet kicked in, I discovered that I was booked. >> And this is 5:00 p.m. again. >> That works for me. >> Worked for me. Yep. >> Can we do it on the 4th of February instead of the 2nd? >> Does that work for everyone? >> Works for me. >> Okay. >> Works for

064me, too. >> Yeah, the fourth works for me. And then I think we could be flexible in timing. Five is still fine, but we were going to do that because we were trying to get it done before the previous meeting. So, that's a good point. >> Oh, yeah. If >> you guys are good. Good. Okay. Do we want to do 5:30 to give Why do you decide on 5:30? >> So want it to be such a long evening or no Valentino. >> I can make it five o'clock or make it five. >> Okay. >> I think let's do it earlier and be done early. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you very much. So February 4th at 5:00 p.m. we'll be interview training discussing the public input report and we'll discuss uh membership on that subcommittee then

065since you just made that decision as a board. will all occur on February 4th at 5. Then the board will meet on February 9th to determine the semi-finalists, >> the interview questions and procedures, which now indicates you'll have a subcommittee conducting round one offsite. And we'll do a brief review of interview training. That won't take very long, but February 9th at 5:00 p.m. still works. So then the question is, uh, board subcommittee conducts private first round of interviews. which dates would you like to do? So, I've suggested starting with the 25th, but even though you don't know who's going to be on the committee yet, it does help to identify the dates for >> So, that then again poses the question just it it depends on who is in the subcommittee, right? Can we can

066we hold off on that? Is it possible? >> It's really up to the board. If you if you want to have that conversation tonight about who might be on that, you certainly may or you could wait until the new board is discuss it in February. Um the biggest decision was round one >> whole board or subcommittee. So that decision at least is helpful. But you are correct. >> Uh depending on who's going to be on that committee might dictate the dates that you set aside. I'd suggest at least two days set aside. Yeah. >> Because these might be much longer interviews than traditional. Instead of a one-hour interview with the whole board, it might be an hour and a half to two hours with a subcommittee. there's just more room >> for in round one.

067So it's going to be more time commitment for those people. >> So what if we decide in the near future the subcommittee and then that subcommittee then between themselves decides which date they want. Is that okay or >> the challenge with that is the date for round one needs to go in your vacancy brochure which we would post next Monday the 15th of December. Candidates look for the dates on your vacancy brochure and hold them in hopes of getting an interview. If they don't know when you're going to interview, they may have other commitments and not be able to interview the dates that you want them to. So, it's combination I believe chair of availability of the subcommittee members and your semi- finalists. >> Could we just all share our availability and just across the

068board all seven of us for now and then if there's any that are conflict we just make a note. >> Yeah, that's that's good. That's fine. Yes, that's >> I have availability on any of those days. I have availability on any of those days. Um, but looking at the school calendar, we have high school conferences on February 26th. And so I don't know in the evening. So I don't know if that's anything we should consider >> for now. Maybe we should put that aside, not not use that date. >> Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. >> So 25th and 27th and then we go to March, right? Or 28th also and then March 2nd, 3rd or 4th. for me all dates are available. So you you >> Yeah. Uh so that last week of February, first

069week of March right now I'm good too. Okay. >> Yeah. Just second. So I need to check February and March the beginning. Correct. >> End of February, early March. Yeah. >> And you had mentioned Barb that this could be during the daytime as well, right? These interviews. >> Yes, correct. And I did include a Saturday in there. If you wanted to do an all day Friday, all day Saturday, it's entirely up to you. But yes, >> I have something on 5th of March at the event. >> That's not a date on there, though. >> We're discussing about February 20. Oh, sorry. It's got it. Okay. Looks like I'm um >> This one would be a committee. So it would >> then >> uh would that be in our or meeting? >> That would be on

070December 4th. >> No, I think we would determine that on the 4th. >> What did she say? What did Amy say? >> Amy's wondering the determination of who the committee members will be for the subcommittee. When would that decision be made? It needs to be made in a public meeting >> February 4th. >> Yep. >> That's an open meeting. >> Yep. >> The um first round interviews, would those are those done conducted at an offsite location. So, there's potential driving involved, just FYI. >> Plus, during the daytime, several hours during the daytime, during the weekday also. So Dan, are you available on most of the dates or all of the dates? Yeah, Sheila. >> Yes. >> Okay. So I think except 26th, we we can pick any two dates. >> So let's all in in

071that case everybody just block your calendars just for now. Well, hold on. >> Not to interrupt or anything, but if we are considering, are we talking about the March the 2nd week of >> Yeah. >> the second, the 3rd, or the fourth, >> right? Okay. Yeah. Third would be off limits for me. >> Okay. >> I got it. Yeah. >> If possible, could we identify three dates? Two or three. So, we winnow it down for candidates to only have to hold two or three dates. Was February 25th, 26th, and 27th available for everyone? >> 26th, I think Heidi brought up a point about >> as conferences in the evening. I don't know if that matters at this point. There's high school conferences that day. >> So, how about 25th, 27th, and 28th? >> I can

072work around it. It's [clears throat] not about >> But my question was, was the plan to run daytime interviews the 20 And if so, could you schedule those three days consecutively? Is there any advantage to to having them non-consecutive with a weekend gap in between? >> I'd like them as close together as possible only to try try to create a level playing field for the candidates so that it's fresh in your memory as the subcommittee and you're interviewing people. Two two consecutive days would be great. Three consecutive days would be great. I don't know if you'll need all three. Just depends. If you want to do twohour interviews, two on one day, two the next day, and two the next day during the daytime hours, that's three full days. It'd be nice to have them

073in a row just so you don't lose your train of thought and jump into the following week and you've sort of forgotten the impression someone made on you in their interview. So, that's ideal, but anything really >> then let's keep the 26th on the table. It'll be fine. We don't need >> Or we can do 25th, 27th, 28th. >> No, no, no. Let's keep the 25th. Yeah. >> 25th, 26th, 27th or March 2nd, 3rd, 4th. Can I ask a quick? Do we need to check with administration? Will we have an administrative? That's right. >> Yep. We checked. >> Okay. >> The um is your intent or or desire, Barb, to schedule because [clears throat] I hear what you're saying. As soon as we post this position, you're going to get the follow-up question from candidates

074of when do I need to book time, right? And if you can give specific days, so you could you feel comfortable with the 25th, 26th, and 27th sometime during the day. Is that enough of a bumper to give candidates? >> Yes. >> Okay. And that's good for the board to hold. >> Yep. >> Okay. Question um about the availability of candidates if they have, you know, their day jobs. Um and we have that one weekend option of the 28th. Um are we like do people will we be doing evening interviews? I guess we're just setting aside these days but like in terms of times what what does your experience tell you that people will want which you know appointment times people will make it work their schedules. They'll take a vacation day or use PTO

075in order to interview during the day if there's a conflict. more often administrators have conflicts at night. Have an existing schoolboard meeting or something. So for school administrators, days and nights are both sometimes not great. They will make the time for this interview though. Um if they know that you are interviewing that they would be one of those three days if they're in round one, they'll make sure they set it aside. And and keep in mind if the committee is able to after two or three days, they'll need to come back to the board with a recommendation that following week. Does the board meet March 2, three or four already where it could be part of a regular agenda item? Because it won't take real long. It doesn't need to be an entirely separate special

076meeting for the committee to come and say we interviewed candidates ABC and we're recommending A and B. >> That would have to be a special meeting though. We don't have Yeah. >> Nothing that week of the 2nd of March. >> We have it on the 9th. >> March. Yeah. >> Yeah. 9th March. You could do it then and then you would interview after that. If you make your decision on your finalists March 9th, >> you would then interview your finalists as a full board potentially on uh the 13th or 14th, Friday the 13th or Saturday the 14th, only because I'm >> I'm booked. But if you announce it on the 9th, you do want to interview within a week or two. your finalists. So the 13th or the 14th, >> how many hours would that

077be? >> If you have two candidates, do you want to block out probably four hours? >> And if you have three, probably five and a half. >> Barb, is that too big of a gap from the uh subcommittee interviews to the selection of finalists? There's a week in change in there. It would be too big a gap if the sub if the semi- finalist names were public and people had to wait a whole week and a half to find out if they're moved forward to round two. If these names are still private data until if you do it on the 9th, I don't think it's a problem. >> But if it was public, yeah, that would be too long a stretch to go between those those times. So, thanks for asking that. Is there a

078potential benefit where um if there was some type of lastm minute scheduling issue, we'd be able to reschedu that following week >> to reschedu the selection of the finalists. >> So let's say you had a issue, you had to reschedu one of the the subcommittee interviews. Right now we have time held the 25th through 27th. I'm saying that gap might be helpful should you have scheduling problems arise of some kind. >> Yes, that's an excellent point. Sometimes the weather in particular >> can really pose challenges for candidates getting to their interviews, especially if they're coming from a long distance away. So, you would have the buffer of the week of the 2nd of March. >> So, would you suggest then uh it's good to have a week of of the 2nd of March just in

079case you >> am I correct? >> Buffalo. Yeah. Am I correct? >> Yeah, I I would I would think maybe just um doing a calendar hold or something once that that committee is determined. Maybe just block it off as an emergency >> one of the days. I don't know if we would need the second, third, and fourth, but um >> I [clears throat] personally like that idea. Uh on top of that, to be honest, we lately have so many meetings uh together, it becomes quite hard. It would be nice uh to dedicate to a specific uh agenda instead of being spread. Um it would be nice because it's quite a big decision to have separate um yes I know it's additional work [laughter] but one time Amy if it's possible >> when we say daytime

080meetings this is getting back to a topic for a little bit ago. When we're talking about daytime meetings, what times would that be? >> I would say that's up to you as a board. Most people, if they hear, "I'm going to interview during the daytime," would probably assume it's be between 9 or 10 and 4 in the afternoon. >> Yep. >> That's the assumption, but everyone interprets daytime a little bit differently, but that might be 9 to4 window. So am I hearing that the the subcommittee would interview candidates right now February 25 26 27 if you need all three days you only really need two if you have less then on March 9th the board would determine the finalists and that is a regular board meeting already correct >> when you say determine you mean

081announce the finalists right >> yes >> determination will have happened before that >> by the subcommittee >> the subcommittee will have come up with their recommendations Correct. >> And then that's >> and then on the 9th we will vote on it or whatever. >> The full board votes on it. March 9th. I'm sure you could send them >> I could send them one way to the board. >> Okay. >> And here are the recommended candidates from round one interviews from your subcommittee. Please call me with questions. Yes. >> Don't talk amongst yourselves about it, but call me and I can certainly answer any questions. Then you would vote on March 9th. Okay. And that's the name that's the night those names go public. Who's going to be in round two? >> Okay. Are we Are

082we blocking time in that first week of February just as a backup or no? >> First week of March. >> Sorry. First week of March. Yes. >> Second, third, and fourth. Okay. >> I don't know that you need to block all that time. I think that's just a super contingency plan. If we needed to, we'd we'd use it. But I I don't know that you need to hold six days for two days of interviews. >> Yeah. >> That's just my feedback. >> Would agree. I would pencil it in. Yeah, we'll figure it out. >> Exactly. Yeah. No. >> Yeah. What are the order that all six candidates will not be able to show up on 25th, 26th, and 27th, and they'll come on to second, third, and fourth, right? >> Okay. So, on March 9th,

0832026 at a regular meeting beginning that meeting starts at 7 p.m. >> Yes, it's a regular meeting >> is when you would determine your finalists names go public that night. And then you'll need to now only choose round two. When would you like to interview the finalists in round two as a full board? If you name them on March 9th, >> when would you like to interview those two or three people? >> How soon do they have [clears throat] that? >> Yeah, my preference is that week itself because the following two weeks are spring break. Oh, >> and as a heads up, if Heidi, you're probably seeing it, too. There's an at home learning day that Friday the 13th. >> So, yeah, if we do it that week, then it will have to be a

084special meeting obviously again. Right. So, >> correct. >> I'm currently booked the 10th, 11th, and 12th. That doesn't mean you cannot go ahead and interview, and we'll have someone from MSBA here. Our role is pretty minor during the interviews. We hold up the time cards to let candidates know how much time is left. We work with administrators to greet and escort people in. We're not very involved in the second round of interviews unless you get stuck on your deliberations and we're there to help you decide. Um if you have two extraordinary candidates and can't make a decision, we'll help you with that. But we have a number of people at MSB that could that if I remain booked. >> Yeah. And I I heard March 13th and 14th a few minutes ago. What was that

085for? >> For the board. >> Yeah. What were we going to do? Interviews on the 13th or the 14th or >> you could >> if you name them on the night of the 9th you could interview the 10th, 11th, 12th, the 13th or the 14th. Okay. >> I could be here on the 13th or 14th. Otherwise, another member of my staff could be here earlier in the week if you want to do them on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday. >> I I would request Friday the 13th. >> Okay. I'm okay with that. >> Yeah. And again, it'll be during daytime, I'm assuming. >> Yes, this will be a full >> five hours. Yeah. Like pretty much the entire day. >> Whole day. This will be the whole day. >> And candidates would be here earlier

086in the day for tours. You know, they might be getting building tours at 9:00 or 10 in the morning and 10 or 11. And the board interview might not start until 3:00 or 4. >> It' be okay. >> As Alicia mentioned, it's an at home learning day. >> So, there will not be students in the buildings. Um, and teachers will be occupied with other responsibilities that day. Um, and I don't know that the I know there's several members of the board with full-time jobs. So, I don't know that a daytime with children home is going to work for >> in that case. You know, I don't I hope they speak up and say I cannot do it on Friday the asking. So, um I mean I'm I'm going to take day off. I don't think

087that's not have to do it on the 14th then on a Saturday because >> Can I ask a question? >> Yeah. >> So, the day that we do those second interviews, the candidates potentially could be what what else is involved in that day for them. What would it look like? >> I'm certain there will be building tours and if it's Friday or Saturday, it sounds like there will not be students in the building. >> Correct. that is something they really like to see the student traffic between classes and such, but it's not it's not a dealbreaker for any candidates. They've seen schools and you know students moving between classes. So, um they would earlier in the day have the building tours, maybe a communities tours. Now, you have a lot of communities, so taking someone

088around to all of those would take quite a while. So, maybe it's just some representative elementary schools, middle, high school. Um, you may or may not have meet and greets with staff. Sometimes districts like to plan meet the candidates from 1 to three in the cafeteria and it's a very informal mixing and mingling and shaking hands and trying to get to know them. You could do a more formal uh Q&A with the candidates that day or you could do it Saturday. You could do a Q&A with the community on Saturday and then do the interviews the following Monday or Tuesday to give community members a chance on a Saturday to ask people questions. So, lots of things to structure. Maybe you'd have separate groups interviewing the candidates or not. And that's a decision you make

089at the meeting when we talk about the public report on February 4th. You may or may not have additional input from your public communities during round two. That's up to you. But I don't know yet what you'll decide. I actually think meet and greets are better during the week. >> Yeah. >> Like a Wednesday, Thursday, >> right? And given 13 there won't be any students. I mean, if we want to shift it sooner, yeah, totally fine. But I think that week would be my preference because I think the next two weeks will be challenging >> because of spring break, right? >> Yeah. >> Are board members available the 10th, 11th, or 12th? I'm certain I can find other folks if I remain unavailable. I'm certain other folks from MSBA could join you that day to

090help. >> I think it's I also think it's important to see not just for the candidate to see the flow of the schools and all of that, but for us to see how the candidate is h >> how they hold themselves in the buildings with our students there. >> Now, when we say um 10th, 11th, and 12th, is that the full board conducting interviews or this? >> Yep. >> Okay. We may have to put a pin in that. I'm a team player, but um 10th, 11th, 12th, I would prefer the 11th, but I will be a uh I'll be a team player. >> Wait, help me understand what what do you mean? >> Well, I have I'll be at the University of Minnesota. Um you know, Tuesday, you know, whole day. Um I could be

091back by um you know, 4:30 or so. Actually, no, not even that. >> We can go with 11. Wednesday will work. I mean whatever you >> 11 would be better for you. >> Well 11th is better. >> 11th is better. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Sure. Yeah. >> Um but we might need more than one day. Is that right? >> Yes. Your options will be to do one candidate per day >> or both of them in one day. >> Yeah. >> Most people do both candidates in one day or all three candidates in one day. That's most common. >> Yeah. Some districts though say they want an entire day with one person and one person only and then the same thing the next day and the same thing the next day. You could do that

092too, >> you know, because it makes sense, right? Those three c two or three candidates will have already been interviewed once in the previous round. So most of the questions have would have been asked and all that. So I think yeah >> Barb, can I ask a question? What was your availability the prior week? the end of the the week of the 2nd, so the fifth or 6th. >> I'm making sure my internet's on. Um I am completely open the fourth, fifth, and sixth. >> Okay. So, >> one of the the considerations I think um I'm thinking through and this is something the board might want to consider. I think Barb, your leadership has been awesome through this and I know, you know, MSBA does take a little bit less of an active role in

093that second round, but it might be beneficial to have, you know, you see that process through and and be there for those final interviews uh for feedback with us to the point where would it make sense to take uh special action earlier on the week of the 2nd. So, if you had a instead of approving at the board meeting on the 9th, if [snorts] we could pull together a special meeting sometime that week, even if it's the the 4th or whatever it is to make the approval, that then frees us up to run interviews, you know, on Friday the 6th. Um, and that that's something I just wanted to throw a concept out there. it's another night and the day with with students in the buildings and staff in the buildings, all that type of

094stuff, I think is a valid point. Um, and also I' I'd just really appreciate the work Barb's been doing with us. So, um, if we can get get Barb in those second round interviews, I think that'd be awesome. >> So, you would not be available on the dates we talked about earlier, 10th, 11th, 12th. Not March 10th, 11th and 12th. >> No. Okay. >> And booked somewhere else. >> Okay. >> So then the question for the board is do we have availability on the 2nd, the 3rd, or the 4th to come together for a special meeting? >> Yeah. >> You already have a special meeting planned on the 4th. >> Yeah. And I think we blocked those back >> contingency. So sure. >> What's on March 4th? >> Yeah. What is on? >> Sorry. February.

095Sorry, that was February. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> you're okay. >> Yes. Can I Barb, can I ask a point of clarification? When we're talking about these building walkthroughs, are we talking the candidates individually or the candidates as a group? And are they going with the full board? Because I'm just picturing an entourage that I I I think we need clarity here. Not everyone needs to be available during the day to walk these candidates through. >> Correct. Thanks for asking that. So, uh, the building tours are one at a time, and there's usually, um, some ambassadors or some hosts that go with them from building to building. One of the things we'll talk about is involving students in that. Student ambassadors really enjoy maybe two people per candidate to go with them from one place to

096another. Obviously, you need transportation provided by the district, so they're not driving people in their own cars, but then in the buildings themselves, the building administrator would greet them and tour them through the building as well. So, board members are not on the tour. I apologize if that wasn't clear. Board members, you're not on that tour. >> Barb, is it common that you would use that tour to offset the the c the other parts of the process for a candidate? Right. So, while one candidate is on a tour, another one might be interviewing with the full board and >> kind of a multi-step process like this. >> Yeah. >> During the day, >> so it's all happening at the same time. It's a rotation type of a thing. >> Okay. And that might be how

097many hours of a board the board being together to interview. Then if we have three candidates, say probably four to six total. If you have three, you'll do an hour to hour and 15 minutes with each of them with a 15-minute break between and then a half hour break after the last candidate so that we can tally all of the rubric results that you've put together. And then it's the deliberations. And sometimes deliberations go very quickly. It's clear amongst the board. you have strongest support for one person and sometimes you have such a great final round that deliberations can take a while because you just have a very difficult decision when you have rockstar candidates and so it could take I've gone till two in the morning with some boards unable to decide who they

098want to make an offer to because they're all so good. Um most often though it does not take very long. I like that idea though actually if you don't mind a special meeting to name your finalists that it can be 20 minutes to half an hour if there's not a lot of discussion if you could do that on the second third or fourth we absolutely can do round two on Thursday or Friday Wednesday Thursday or Friday I'm available all three >> thanks for thinking of that Mr. boots. I think we originally said we were going to hold those as like >> in case. So if we're not going to do that, then >> we have that as I mean that really if if we have the 25th, 26th, and 27th, we could plan the the

099subcommittee interviews on the 25th and 26th with the 27th as your backup, right? Your contingency day should something happen. Um and then you're moving forward with the next part of your process that week. Um, I also, you know, do like [clears throat] being able to get back to candidates on an answer about that next round. The week plus felt long to me, but that's just my own feelings. The board might have their own on that. So, that's why I suggested the think about maybe it's another night, but it might set you on a good trajectory for your timeline. >> Can I say, thank you, David, for clarifying. I actually wanted to ask the same. As I said, I like the idea of one time having just something separate uh not um packed together and if

100anything fails then we have some room to breathe. And another one what I like is um that uh it'll uh if on second uh of March looks like we have time to and I really like at least my preference would be that you will be um with us not someone else. It's not like I don't like someone else but you got familiar with us. you know our preferences and all it it'll be nice to have the same person with us. >> So special meeting on the second then and you know announce the the finalist and then then from there which which dates do we pick for the final interviews? I >> March 6th is March 6th. Uh I have I have a doctor's appointment but I can change that. So So I'm open all of

101that week. I'm open all that week too. But again, my request would be to pick one day if we going to like it'll be hard to take three days away from work. >> Yeah, >> I would prefer to not book something Thursday night if possible due to a couple of kid activities, but otherwise I'm open. >> So 3rd, fourth, fifth, sixth during the day you are open, right? Okay. How about >> is Friday the 6th open? Friday the 6th is open. What would be the ideal day for and I'm looking at Amy because your communications. What would be the ideal day for a meet and greet with our community. Do you think a Wednesday or a th I feel like a Wednesday or a Thursday is ideal in the middle of the week? No. In

102the evening or the afternoon. >> I think we typically try to Okay. So then a Thursday would then >> I think Thursday is better. >> Okay. >> So fifth for the meet and greet and then sixth for the interviews. >> Yeah. >> Would that work? >> I think that makes sense >> then. >> So sorry the fifth would be the evening. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Sorry. >> That wouldn't be a board meeting though. That would be the community interacting with the finalists. Board members do not need to fifth. >> Oh, gotcha. >> Yeah. >> So 6th is when when we will have the final which is Friday. Okay. >> Any wiggle space in it >> on the 5th, >> right? >> You don't need to be here. It's fine. Right. Is that what you were

103saying? And then the sixth would be the day that we would do >> but just in case you wanted to see some of the those interactions. I think sometimes that's >> I could I'm missing a band concert, a jazz band tomorrow to do training for MSBA. So I don't want to miss his last one. So that's at like 7:30 p.m. So >> we'll work it out. >> So let me ask you, but we don't have >> a technical question. Let's say four members of the board want to also join the meet and greet. That would be a problem, right, Amy? >> A quorum. >> Correct. So, it would just need to be a posted meeting. >> Which and it would be posted because we want community join, >> right? But it would not be a

104a board meeting. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. >> But I don't that's not an issue like when we go to MSBA conference or that's >> long as you stay away from each other and do not discuss schoolboard business, that's not a problem. >> Great. >> Thank you, Amy. Yeah. Yeah, >> she's good. [snorts] >> So, so fifth and sixth work. >> Yeah. So then, so then have we So we'll meet on the 2nd. >> Is that correct? >> Determine a time. >> Yep. >> I'm good. Anytime after 4:30, >> the second Monday, this March 2nd, >> same year >> for a vote. >> Any anytime >> announcement of the finalist? Yeah. Uh for me preference would be the earliest is 5. Uh 5:30 is the best but obviously I can adjust. >> Let's do 5:30.

1055:30 for me as well. Thank you. >> Okay. >> 5:30. Thank you. >> Okay. >> And 6th would be all day. >> When would the first board interview start? Um I'll plan the day earlier with building tours and things like that, but would you like your first interview to begin? >> Not in the morning. See how they look? say not earlier than maybe two. >> That's too [laughter] early. If you start your interviews at 3:00, that gives time for the candidate in the morning who's here first to get their tour done, gather their thoughts, maybe interview with the board at 3. Then the next candidate can interview at uh 4:30 and a last candidate could interview at 6 and your deliberations would start at 7:30 or 8. >> So >> that's if you have three.

106Even the tour we are not we are not required to be there right the board does not have to be there >> for which day >> on the 6th before the interviews you said there >> so what time you need to arrive that would be the start of the first interview 3:00 4:00 >> can we push it up because I'm looking at the time if it's going to go till 9 at night >> that's just end of the week and for >> working individuals that's too much and this is something very critical I just don't want to >> rush into. So, if we can push it up a little bit, that >> So, if we did twohour blocks, Barb, could you start your first interview at 10:00 a.m.? The first tour starts at >> um

107>> We could do tours on the 5th around the community. >> That Q&A on the 5th isn't going to take eight hours, >> right? That actually >> So, we could do tours on the 5th and community Q&A on the 5th and you could do board interviews anytime on the 6th and that would be the only So, >> I would recommend 10 o'clock. >> 10 o'clock. Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, 10 to four or five >> possibly. It depends how long your deliberations need to go. >> I'm just going to assume we're gonna be in that. We [laughter] will get together all day that day. >> Friday the second. >> [laughter] >> I will I will make all of these edits and send them to um Amy and Dave to review as well as uh chair

108and vice chair just to make sure my notes match. But I'm going to read back what I got. This is what takes the longest and I apologize it took this long, but there's a lot to to the timeline, right? But the edits I'm going to make will be the survey is now open December 15th till January 19th and we'll be doing focus groups in that window as well. uh the week of December 15th is when we are doing the search previews. I will host a informational Q&A session. I'll get that date selected. And again, that's not a board meeting. In fact, I'd ask board members not to attend the Q&A. It's a virtual Q&A. Sometimes with positional authority, people are not going to ask the same questions anonymously depending on who else is on the

109call. So, board members, please don't watch it live. I'll get you the link to watch afterwards. The opening will be posted December 15th to January 26th. The board will meet for interview training and to discuss the public input report and decide membership of the subcommittee for round one on February 4th at 5:00 p.m. >> January 26th deadline, 27th until February 9th, we'll look at them. January 28th until February 9th, you will look at them >> because on February 9th at 5:00 PM, you'll determine your semi- finalists as a full board and you will finalize the interview questions for round one as a full board and I'll review some training. The names do not go public that night. So, you will have to maintain confidentiality even when you know who the five or six might be.

110None of you can share that with anyone. So, then on uh February 25th, 26th and 27th if needed. The round one interviews will be committ um be conducted by a board subcommittee as a private round of first round interviews. February 25, 26, 27. March 2nd, there'll be a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. for the board to determine the finalists. That is the night the names would go public. And then round two would be with the full board. I've blocked March five and six. I'll put both of them on the calendar because candidates need to be available both March 5th and 6th. 5th for community Q&A and perhaps other tour um other activities including building tour. And then the 6th at 10:00 a.m. the board would have their first interview and we'll go the rest of

111the day. March 7th, if all goes well, you'll begin negotiating a contract. And perhaps depending by March 9th, if you move quickly, you could have a contract to approve or you could do it some other time in March. Does that match your notes? >> Yep, >> it does. >> Congratulations and well done. That's a lot. >> Yes. >> Microphone. >> March 7th is the contract negotiations. Is that right? >> They would begin on March 7th. They will take longer than that. Now, typically the board would work with executive director of HR and council. Maybe one or two representatives of the board will do that. I don't know how you negotiate contracts with the superintendent, but typically the entire board doesn't negotiate. So, it could be begin on the 7th. Perhaps you have a contract ready

112to go that you've discussed in advance and you send to them to think about so they can look at it. But, um, I'm assuming the board would want to jump on this pretty quickly after round two. >> Thanks. So the board has to be available on the 7th >> from what time to what time? >> I don't think so because you want to wait and see. Usually the seventh it's just your first I want say an offer but your first camp contract gets sent via email even to that candidate. >> Okay. >> You don't really necessarily need to meet face to face for a couple of days or the next day or two but I don't know how it normally goes. >> Yeah, we would I don't think you need to hold time on the

1137th. So typically how we do the contract is we kind of work alongside as we're doing an evaluation process. We work alongside to make sure that HR and council has an opportunity to make sure that the contract is in place and it gets sent to the superintendent just like we would be doing for an annual or a three-year contract. Um so we've we have a a good process down for that with the superintendent. >> So the the winner gets it on the on the 7th, right? the contract over is chosen >> potentially. It could also be on Monday the 9th. So the [clears throat] we have a regular board meeting scheduled for the 9th. That might be a quick turnaround. >> Um this might be another special meeting to to approve that hire. >> Um

114but uh if not, it would if if for some reason we can get it in order by the 9th, great. Um, but we probably wouldn't meet the posting requirements of that meeting anyway, would we? The agenda requirements of the meeting on the 9th to the >> So, we'd probably need a special meeting anyway. >> That's fine. >> Mhm. [clears throat] >> We could I mean, >> Barb, is there a reason why we'd start at this is maybe small details, but 10:00 on that Friday and not like a eight or nine? >> Completely up to the board. If we're utilizing the full day, I think to Paris's comment. So, if we're utilizing the full day, I feel like started, we don't have to start super early, but getting started sooner than later allows you to to

115get the bulk of the the work done during a a typical workday. And then if deliberations go along, so be it. But, um, a 2-hour gap, even if you start at 9:00, you could be done with interviews around 3, 3:30, 4. That's still a reasonable time if you're already giving up the day as long as there weren't conflicts getting there and for a nine o'clock start or even an 8:30 8:30. Yeah. >> Yeah. Just I mean superintendents are used to being here early. So [laughter] >> will that help the posting requirements though? I mean it that will still not work right now because if we finish by 2:00 the 3-day posting period. I think I think the sooner you my feedback would be the sooner you get started on that interview day the better. 8:30

116I wouldn't go wildly earlier than that but 10 seems like we're just burning a couple hours for no reason. >> Right. But what I'm saying is will that be an advantage in terms of meeting that posting requirement? >> It could help with your deliberations not going super late. So, as long as you're agreeable to that, Barb, >> I I still I still don't think you'd have between the 6th um 7th, 8th, 9th, and you may not have a contract to approve because you don't know how your negotiations are going to go. >> Okay. >> So, >> I think you're right about >> I just think it's about the inter the interview day. If we started at 8:30 or 9, people would probably be just in my experience a little more fresh in that last interview

117than if we start later. >> Okay. Yeah. 9:00. Yeah. Okay. Now, we've been zeroing in on that Friday, which is the 6th. >> But I'm also hearing about Friday, excuse me, not Friday, Thursday the 5th. >> Yep. >> Um, and that day would be for >> uh tours of the buildings while students are in the buildings, which is a really nice touch. And potentially a community Q&A or m meet and greet, just mingling with people, have a a a place people could go to meet candidates. You could have the candidates in separate rooms and people could drift between the three rooms and just get to know all three of them. >> Very informal. >> Yeah. >> Board members would not be on the tours, but we could attend the meet and greet. >> That helps

118a lot. Okay. Thank you. >> So, did you decide what time to start the interviews on March 6th? >> 9 o'clock. >> 8:30. 9:30. >> I'm vote 8:30. [laughter] Everybody's off in school already and you have like the day has started. >> 8:30 is fine. I'm good. >> 8:30. Okay. All right. I will make that edit as well. >> Uh, we were just looking at the date. Going back to the community survey, did you say 26th or 19th? I think we said we'll open it 19th, right? >> I wrote the 19th. >> Okay. All right. >> Yes. Thank you. Midnight on the 19th. >> That's a Monday holiday, right? Okay. >> President's Day, right? >> Yep. >> Martin Luther. Martin Luther. Yes. Junior, thank you. >> That gives us from the from the 20th of

119January to I want to get the report to you by the end of January if I can. So you have 4 days to review it before that meeting. So that gives us um 10 days to get the report finalized and to you at least 4 days before the meeting. So you have time to review it. Um I don't want to wait and let you see it for the first time on the 4th because it's going to be big. Okay, great. Thank you. That is the most difficult part of the planning meeting. It does take time. So congratulations and thank you. So we're going to move on to the agenda. The next item to talk about is the vacancy brochure. Thank you, Alicia, very much. >> Thank you, Alicia. >> So, in looking at the vacancy

120brochure, I want to thank uh the communications team. Um they got us a lot of wonderful information to put in this vacancy brochure. Uh this document is not intended to talk anyone into applying. It is meant to peique their interest. Uh candidates will look much deeper. They'll look at the uh district website after they see this brochure. They will look at MDE reports. They will talk to colleagues. So, this is a proposed vacancy brochure, the points of pride. Uh, we've run all of this by Amy. She's looked at it from a branding perspective with colors and fonts and such and believes I think we're okay with all of that. I would have obviously include the search timeline as appropriate throughout this. Um, so is there anything on the front page when you reviewed this that

121you feel were missing that you want us to talk about in the vacancy brochure? >> Yeah, so I had a question on that and again looking for your expertise, Dave, your expertise. So it's a fact sheet basically available everywhere right um but when we look at for example uh the levy process that we are going through right the the two new school buildings assuming the levy gets approved so those are some of the I'll call it you know upcoming tasks that the new superintendent will have to lead so shouldn't we be talking about any of those in here somewhere either in this or some if it is going to get addressed somewhere that's fine but this is kind of like pretty much a fact sheet that they can pull up anywhere on internet but if

122we were to talk about smaller class sizes and make sure we have you know experience for each and every student and some of those sort of you know visetta values and I'm not saying challenges but upcoming big boulders that may help or that may give them realistic view into what they are signing up for. Yes, this is the board's brochure. So, if you feel something like that would be advantageous. Um, much of that comes up in conversation with applicants when they're talking about the opportunity. They might say, "What are the priorities of the board? What might my first week, month, year look like?" And I will know some of that from having conversations with all of you. So, it typically comes up in conversation, but if you want to share it, uh, we just need

123to remove some of these other things to make room for something like that. Yeah. And obviously we'll look for your expertise if that's appropriate. Again, most of the candidates will know about levy and you know other things. So if it is not that impactful, if that's not going to either attract or sort of you know um put candidates away, that's fine. I mean I'm just looking for inputs and guidance. What what do you recommend? >> I think that's a great idea. Um, although I think the reputation of Weisetta is strong enough that people are probably already following your district and are probably aware of what will lie ahead in their first year, uh, many of them are watching your board meetings already. >> So, I don't think it would be a surprise and I don't

124know if it would be an asset, but it wouldn't be a disadvantage either. >> Okay. >> Just a couple quick Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Heidi. >> Let me offer something. So, um, I would say that our values and our mission and our they can find all of that on our website, right, in much more detail than we would ever be able to put on this sheet. This is just a call to action, right? Like, hey, come apply. Um, I would also caution us to not put too many priorities in the posting itself because the reality is when whoever it is comes in, we should be working together with them >> to reconfigure anything if we need to reconfigure it. And I want it to be clear that they would be coming in as the leader

125and so we would be looking to them as as our educational expert to do those things. >> Yeah. And that's fine. Like I said, I'm not strongly recommending one way or another, but um totally fine and I totally agree. It will come up in conversations and subsequent discussions questions. So yeah, not >> so much information that's available online. I appreciate that question par because I had a similar thought that you know even in the the surveys um that we're sending out to the community there's like an option at the end that's like you know what are what do you see as potential challenges you know in the future which as a board we haven't in our survey I didn't ask that um and I've heard a lot you know we is an amazing district and

126we have a lot of strengths um obviously no district is perfect um And I I would hope that anybody, you know, wanting to wanting to join our team here would understand that even Weisetta has some things to work on. Um, and I'm sure they do. So, I guess I I appreciate your feedback saying, you know, like that this kind of stuff will come up in conversation. Um, and if if you don't think that it's something we need to put as part of the, you know, of the um announcement, then I yeah, I don't think we should. But I do I hope there's an opportunity to just say like here's some things that, you know, some things that might come up in the future. Like I don't it's not going to be a cakewalk. We are

127an amazing district, but like we have we have stuff that's going to need >> I I I totally agree. Yep. I agree with that. And I you know whether it comes now or whether it comes during the interview, it's going to come up at some point either from us or from the community. >> I was going to say the interview is a great time for you to ask questions about those things and see how they respond to that. if they've done their homework, they'll already know what those issues may be and they can be a really great interview discussion whether round one where you can probe deeper longer with maybe a two-hour interview or round two. So, I think there's an opportunity to do that. I don't know if it's necessary in your vacancy announcement.

128>> So, that was not something you could determine that we could put in the profile from our survey like something that you know the couple of things that Paris brought up. I I don't remember the questions that were asked or the points that you know priorities. >> That's actually a nice segue. So far, if the first page looks okay with the timeline updated and we'll confirm the numbers, the second page obviously comes straight from the district uh strategic road map. Third page, the leadership profile. This is where I do want to get additional input. So, um I will make note of one thing, the district financials. We do have some updated numbers. So, I'll be making those edits, working with Dave on those. So, those will be updated. The profile on the left, those eight

129bullet point, seven bullet points and the paragraph came as a result of the next page highlighted in yellow and green. These are the seven board members responses and you can see everything um more than a more than a majority uh was in green and then a strong three people thought this way as well in yellow. And then that the previous experience is important. You were a 4-3 split. So, pretty close on that. So, this information from this survey is how we crafted the leadership profile. So, I'd look for you to tell me if that leadership profile doesn't feel right because this is the yard stick people are going to use to decide whether or not to apply for this job. Does this sound like me? All of these things that Weisetta is seeking in their

130next leader. And so, this is a starting point. If you want to change the language, it's your leadership profile. So please feel free Barb. Um and maybe I'm stating the obvious but um in terms of collaborating with teachers or students that aspect at least I didn't notice and again like I said it may be stating the obvious um but yes there is clear partnership with community and you know communication all those aspects are covered uh but shouldn't are you considering ing that sort of teachers students part of it or should we be calling out teachers explicitly? >> I think >> there I think you could do whatever feels best to you. We do have room I think um the second bullet about uh building trust collaborative relationships with diverse communities. We could specifically say staff,

131students, families and community. We could also uh place it in the fifth bullet point about equity expertise opportunities so every staff and student thrives. You could do families in there as well. You could include it. We have room. Again, there's not a lot of white space, but we have room to add it to either of those uh bullet points. Um I'd say those are the two where staff and students or families feel like they fit better than some of the other bullet points. But if you want to include it, absolutely. they will find a way to to weave that in. >> Yeah. Because the achievement through evidence, right? I mean, that's where my head goes. Obviously, we have PLC's and teachers are part of sort of, you know, giving that bottoms up information, if you

132will. >> So again, at least to me, I feel we should add teachers, you know, >> I I agree and I I would say the second bullet is where it probably should go. >> Yeah. Second and third. >> Yeah. So, how would you like me to word that? So, instead of saying with diverse communities, should we say with >> staff or do you want me to use the word teachers, students and families and community? What do you want me to include? >> So, when we say staff, does that include teachers? >> Include teachers. Okay. >> My estimation, but >> Okay. >> All right. >> So, diverse communities, staff and teachers. >> Okay. Diverse communities. >> We don't I don't think we separate out teachers from staff. >> No. Okay. Then just staff. Yeah. >> Um,

133can I add a note? >> It is really important in our district that we have strong community partnerships and we spend a lot of time and energy in developing those partnerships. Um, we have an incredible community ed department. Um, partners for healthy kids, all of those kinds of things I think are really important. And so I don't um, it's it's the students and families and staff. And that also to me feels like it's more at the building level when we're thinking about like taking it up a level um and thinking about our actual superintendent role. I feel like community partnerships is an incredibly important piece um that I'd like to maintain for our community because we do have a lot of families that rely on those community relationships for the success of their families. Where

134would you see that fitting? >> I think it's a durable trust >> under the second bullet point. >> Yeah. >> So, community partnerships is the word you think needs to be in there. Community partnership. >> Okay. >> And I wonder if the students and staff actually go into the achievement piece. >> Yeah. Could you do an and? So, builds collaborative relationships and partnerships with diverse communities. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> So, how does the final how does it sound? >> Uh, durable trust colon builds collaborative relationships and partnerships with diverse communities, staff, and students, listening deeply and communicating clearly. Does that feel right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> There's one piece that I felt was lacking. So, in our strategic directions, one of our focus areas is and one of our priorities

135is to ensure the efficient and effective use of district resources. We are the district that has recently come out of cost containment and we work very hard to make that happen. Um, and I feel like fiscal responsibility is one of our hallmarks. Um, and I know that it only garnered two responses uh in the survey, but I just wanted to bring it to the attention of the board that it is not included in our leadership profile. >> It's hard to >> I think can we add another bullet if there is >> Well, I'm I'm so looking at the bullet points if we need more room because I think that's a good point. um the high-erforming team development and accountable delegation. >> Yeah. >> Would we be able to combine those into one bullet point? Because

136it's really about the the team, >> right, >> that the future superintendent would build. And I mean, accountability and developing a team are separate things, but maybe we could just put them in the same bullet point. I could certainly find a way to blend the last two bullet points into one and then you have room for one more bullet point to talk about resource allocation. I think so. How does that sound? >> Responsible. Yeah. Yeah. >> Sound good? Okay. I will find a way to combine the last two and then is there anyone who wants to send me some language around resource allocation that Yeah. feels right? I can help with that. >> Could you? Okay. >> I'm just going to put resource allocation. dot dot dot. Okay. So, if you could >> maybe by

137tomorrow night, would you be able to send me something? >> Yep. >> So, with those changes with the second bullet point including and partnerships and we've added staff and students and then with I'll combine those last two together and um the vice chair will send some language around resource allocation. And again, you will all see this before it goes public on Monday. I'll have all of this to you probably on Friday to give a final look over. >> Blind copied, right? >> Yes. BCCd. Everybody be BCCd. So you can always reply just to me. Okay. Always a good um preventative measure to prevent those serial meetings. So that is the vacancy brochure which would go everywhere everywhere on Monday the 15th. It would go regionally, locally, nationally. It goes on MSBA, MASA, Edpost. It goes

138all over the country through Revelis. um all of those diversity sites we talked about in the interview and I think word of mouth will be the most powerful thing for you. We'll advertise it like crazy. We'll talk to people our networks. Um but I think that this is a really great brochure. I feel good about it. I hope you do as well. So any other changes before we move on? I do need to talk about salary for a moment. >> I just wanted to clarify uh to be honest about financial responsibility. I was thinking it's automatically supposed to come. I mean if you uh being financially responsible it's like must have uh for me it's more important that uh we have rigorous goals because we need to change uh to be honest if we look

139out at our results our results yes they are the best but they are not as best as they used to be. So for me it's more important that we have goals and guard rails and that is the that is where things need to be changed. We need to make sure that we uh changing uh data as it used I mean the results of students um how they used to be. >> Yep. That's a good point and I had a similar thought with the you know trust um aspect like that's kind of what you would expect expect every candidate to have. However, putting the finances on it as a bullet point I think kind of indicates that our district has had financial issues and that we had cost containment. It's more of um that you have

140to candidates will have to be aware that like finances are a constraint in our district. That's what I see it as. I I understand your point and like any superintendent candidate you would expect to have a certain baseline of abilities and that is one of them. But I don't know just to put it as a bullet point to me seems like you should be aware that finances are you know yes why is a great district but we have financial issues as well. >> Yeah and I think there's fiscal responsibility like Heidi said right would come in right >> and I think the fiscal responsibility um the reason I agree Heidi with you is again looking at the levy. So if you talk to community members now that we are going through the levy process, it

141is going to get highlighted more than ever. So yes, it is expected and you know it's kind of table stakes table stakes are much higher given our levy process. So I think it it makes sense to add >> I don't Valentina I agree with you that we want rigorous goals 100%. I don't think we're removing that. I just I'm just hoping that since I will not lose that one. Absolutely not. >> I have a recommendation on that. I was holding off on that until we get to get to the salary and benefit. So, I'll get to that. But yeah, I had it on my list to four goals, but let's talk about it when we get to salary and benefits. One one reason sometimes with a district your size not to list um fiscal responsibility

142in the leadership profile is because you have a team of people that your superintendent overseas. the superintendent themsself does not have to know every piece of school education finance. >> And sometimes if you call it out in a a profile, someone might say, "I'm good at finance, but I'm not the best." And they don't think about the fact that they're leading the leaders. The leaders who already understand school finance are in your district. So, it is still a priority without question. And yet, if you list it, you're going to have some candidates not apply because they're not that comfortable with Minnesota's educational finance system. I think >> it could still be a very successful superintendent if you >> Peterson is an amazing [laughter] I'm gonna disagree. I'm gonna say this is an incredibly important piece

143for Wise I >> resource allocation. Yes, without question. Yeah, correct. But the ins and outs specific depends how you work in >> I think we are using the word accountability not responsibility. So again using resources appropriately financial accountability because yes >> I mean that's where the buck stops at CEO. So >> it's not I mean we're not expecting superintendent to know every ins and out. >> Exactly. >> That's what you have to be careful. Yeah. Correct. >> That's like a football coach, right? The football coach doesn't have to even be a very good player, right? They have to be a good motivator, good manager. >> Sure. >> A good leader, right? And they have to be able to manage that team. So that's what we look for in a superintendent. >> I like >> Dave

144Lutz is an expert in HR. Emmy Parnell is an expert in communications. We have Dana Miller in teaching and learning. We have finance. They are all experts in their own field. Now Chase Anderson just make sure that they all work together, right? >> Yeah. >> But I would like also not to lose that uh district as a district. We are I mean schools are for education >> 100%. that um uh yes we are going to have we will be will have referendum and all but at the same time as uh I guess what uh I would hear from community uh I would be willing to pay but I would like to know for what results >> uh results are important too I mean then we need to hold accountable that there are going to be

145better results >> I agree with and I don't I I don't see that bullet point getting to I mean we still want the rigorous goals, the guardrails and the transparent progress monitoring 100%. >> Yeah. >> And all those details can actually like I said earlier can always be brought up during the interview, right? >> Okay. >> They can't say well it was not in your in my profile. So >> just want to lose that one. >> Fair. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So then moving on to the vacancy brochure where it says salary and benefits. You do need post a salary range. That's a new law that went into effect in January of 2025. You could make this um super simple, post the range and say, "And an excellent benefits package or you can

146mention some things about your benefits that might be unique." It's completely up to you as long as it includes a range. And you may lean on um Dave for this. But then the next page in here also does show you the comparative salary and benefits for other districts similar to Weisetta. Uh this is something which I think during negotiations is always helpful to know and we do have copies of these contracts. But just in terms of that base salary, is the board able to give me two numbers tonight? The floor and the ceiling of your range that will go in this vacancy brochure. >> Mr. Loots, do you have a suggestion? >> Yeah. So I think the uh table 25 26 contracts is the piece that I would look at. So looking at some of

147our comparable districts that that um uh data has been pulled for I would say if you look at weisetta um we are low compared to our our peer districts. Um, and so, um, you know, I would I would definitely aim, uh, well, I don't know that that you always have to be at the top. I think we should stay near the top uh, for this position. Again, to be competitive, we don't know who's going to apply and what salary they're coming to us with. It'd be a challenge to find your top candidate um, would have to take a pay cut to come to Wisetta. That's something we don't want to uh be a reality here. So, um you know, when I look at the numbers, I think, you know, what would the the floor be?

148I don't think your your your floor should be less than than the 280 range. Uh probably mid 280s. Um up into the 290s would be the probably the the top part of that range. So that's what I see when I look at the numbers, but definitely open to board feedback. Um, but I I think I was pretty clear that I feel like we need a pretty significant salary enhancement um based on this position [clears throat] becoming open and wanting to remain competitive for individuals that might come to us from, you know, other positions, other districts, etc., and expect a competitive salary. That will be an expectation. All of these numbers are publicly available, right? So candidates will do their research. So it's worth doing ours and making sure we already know we're going to be

149have a competitive offer. >> What are your thoughts, Dave, on the bonus that you know performance incentive that Minute? Yeah. So what are your thoughts on that? >> That would be nice to have uh that uh yes, you get maybe but if you the goals are being met, right, >> and you get it. So Dave, um yes, um I agree with your range. Uh 280 285 was my kind of lower number as well. Uh but I wanted to talk about the performance bonus and that's where it gets tied back to the goal. Um so again looking at neighboring school districts just in general statewise you know average 280k plus 10% bonus is competitive uh but again wanted to get your inputs on the performance bonus um as much as possible again I would recommend 10

15015% performance bonus because that we can tie back to goals and that's where Valentina my head Then now you have very clearly goals articulated quantifiable measurable and then that performance component is based off of those goals but I agree with the base of 280k that's that's what I had noted down as well 280 to 285k >> I would like to hear opinion of our board members about numbers but I really like and I wanted to point it out too that I like that couple districts are given more but if um goals are being met then uh then you have something to uh to work towards too. >> Well, thank you Valentina for that. I appreciate the the suggestion. Um you know I was thinking to 285,000 295,000 something in that range per the new statuto

151requirement. Um, I did want to ask just uh in looking toward the past if Weisetta has had um performance incentives on salary before with uh current or previous superintendents, has that been in place? >> Sorry, as a question one more time, Nan, >> um has there been a time, you know, with the current superintendent, previous superintendent where there were performance incentives added to the base? >> I would have to research that. I'm not aware. So, I I don't believe so. I mean, it it's been 18 years. I'd have to look back through um all the previous contracts, but um I don't believe that there was a a performance bonus um in that time. >> Dr. Anderson has never had one. I have all of his contracts. >> Excellent. I mean, and I guess I I

152would want to keep in mind just I mean, it is a fairly, you know, sizable change to make um going to a district that, you know, pays its top employee, you know, some kind of um margin on top of their current base. So, >> yeah, >> just kind of um externalities that might >> The other thing to consider too, not that your superintendent's um contract has to dictate other contracts, um but but that might also, you know, if you make that decision, you could also have that be, you know, something that's >> um you know, a conversation starter in other negotiations and whatnot and for teachers. Yep. Um, and I don't know. I don't think we can afford that. I'm going to be clear on that. I also think if we were to do this,

153I think we need to do an extensive amount of research on whether it's best practice. And I would want to benchmark with other um service type um um um careers because I know at least in healthc care it's been seen as a very negative thing and it does not put the focus in the right place um when you're looking at example for for patient um outcomes. So I I'm going to caution on this one. I'm not opposed to it, but I think we need to do an extensive amount of research before we delve into that. >> Um, >> when it comes to the base and the >> Oh, okay. >> base and the cap. I'm aligned with with your numbers, Dave. >> So, help me understand the 285 is the cap or >> base. >>

154That's the base. So, what's the cap? >> Oh, so 29 285. >> That's what the board decides. Um I said 285 to 295. >> Yep. So looking at those numbers um again our our our future candidate will will research that. I believe the statutory requirement is to post is to post the range. Um but I don't believe the statutory requirement is that you would have how you reach those those uh dollar amounts. So if you did a range of 285 to 295, it could be that to get from 285 to 295 is an incentive, you know, that that um that you decide on, right? Um it could also be it's tied to some level of experience or prior salary during the negotiations proc or prior um yeah, previous uh experience during the negotiations process. But

155I don't believe there's a requirement to state that part of the salary is driven by performance bonuses. Is it Barb? I'd have to look. I don't believe so. >> No, I don't believe so. It is specific to salary range though, not compensation package. >> So whatever your total compensation package is, the base salary is a part of that. And then on top of it, you might get if if your range is 285 to 295 and then you put benefits on top, your compensation package is well over three. >> Does that make sense? It's been a it's been a while since I worked in corporate America. Is Paris you you go through all that is 285 295 kind of a narrow range. >> I think it is right. >> Yeah, I mean it is but I

156was looking at so the notes I made again 275 to 295 that was the range. Again, not a huge range but >> that is what I was >> I think it is a little narrow. Maybe we could make it a little broad. >> I don't think it's narrow at all. I think in my experience that that that's a pretty reasonable range and it depends on the fair market value of the person. >> Yeah. >> Uh of the of the role and so I don't I don't see that we can just I I would say that's a fair market value assessment of the role. >> Yeah. I'd also share these are again 25 26 numbers. >> So we'll be looking at a contract for 2626. >> It basically does not because of the narrow range it

157does not leave a lot of room for negotiation for us. Right. We are almost saying okay your salary is going to be 290 285 295 it's going to be 290. If you had 265 to 295 or 275 to 295 there is >> that's been a challenging change because so much is open to negotiation and so I don't know that there are consequences for negotiating outside of the base salary range that you advertise because there is so much involved. Sometimes there's a base salary and then there's cash in lie of something which does change the base salary range. So I don't know that the range you post is mainly to attract the kind of candidates you want to attract. They're going to know that the range even has some room because it's such a complex negotiating

158tool. Right? So it's >> and I will I'm not arguing that there should not be a range. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that the range seems to be too narrow. >> 10,000 is too narrow in your opinion and you feel it's okay? >> I feel it's okay based on fair market value, but I also am thinking about our the contract that we currently have and my assumption is that it's going to be very similarly structured and there are a lot of other pieces in the contract that that need to be considered as part of the total package. >> Yeah. >> Not just the salary. So Barb given that uh there are other school districts who are posting um again irrespective of what their cap and base is um what is the typical range

159is it 25,000 50,000 doesn't matter >> generally speaking we're seeing districts post anywhere from probably 10 to 20 or 25,000 range we had a district want to put a 50,000 range and obviously that was just not okay [laughter] that was too big I it's entirely up to the If there's a majority who feels 10,000 is okay, we'll go with that. >> One more piece of data I wanted to give to you um is again I said these are 2526 contracts. So if you apply let's say there's a a $281,000 contract and you imply a a 3% increase to that. That's now a $289,000 contract in 2627. Right? So, when we're posting our range, which I'm assuming is for the 26 27 school year, um, [clears throat] you know, looking at these numbers, a floor or

160whatever it might be to go up to 299 might be a a more reasonable range if it accounts for that. You know, the the percent increase on peer districts in the next negotiation cycle. I am okay with the $10,000 range. I'm not going to be stuck on that. But what about the performance bonus? I think I'm I'm pretty pretty firm on having that performance bonus in there. >> I have a question about the performance bonus though, if that is something people are interested in. um that would need to be negotiated with whatever candidate we want presumably because I mean we haven't as a board talked about how we would measure that performance or anything. So to me I don't even if we throw that out there how does that it seems like there's there's like

161no thought put into it at at all it's just there and we have no details. How do we know Minotaanka has not put put any thought in there or Mounds View has not put that Zetta has not? >> I know because we have never done it in >> but I think that will push us to do that. >> Yes, that will make us correct. >> We would then do it during negotiations. >> Yeah, we we do superintendent evaluation, right? We I think we made an attempt to quantify it, right? Here's the salary with the possibility of during our next contract negotiations of a performance bonus that to be discussed later but not with our initial offer. I'm very confused. >> Yeah. So that's a good point. So how does that work or either you or

162Dave? So when we talk about let's say 10% performance bonus at what point in time we have to call those criterias for performance >> as early as possible so that clarification of expectations is done upfront. So in terms of the contract there are some interesting things being created these days around performance incentives also around longevity incentives since you're limited to a three-year contract. Sometimes districts are building in longevity um increases and opportunities for bonuses if you stay 10 years or more. That's that's in process. I do think it's a very big decision. I would hesitate to put it in your vacancy brochure because you are then promising candidates that they're going to get the possibility and I don't know that you know that yet. I think it's a great idea and it sounds like there's

163a lot of interest in it. There is a lot to be discussed and by putting it in the brochure you are advertising something which this board hasn't had a lot of time to talk about. It is something I will share with people when I'm talking to candidates I'll make sure that my five service providers know they are open to a performance incentive and so when people ask us about the contract they know that that's a possibility. >> I don't know if it's good to put it in this early in your process. How do we attract because it's a big step? >> Yeah. How do we attract them then? How do we attract the candidates if not up front? You know, when do we tell them, "Yeah, by the way, there is a 10% or a

16415% bonus." >> It has to be it has to be negotiated up front, right? >> Correct. I would say that when you're in contract negotiations after March 7th with your finalist that you really want >> that maybe that's in the first contract that you share with them and you've had a chance as a board to talk through what that might look like and so it could be in that contract for the first year. The one thing I know candidates sometimes um that first year is like drinking from a fire hose and having expectations the first year tied particularly to test scores or student achievement is a heavy lift for a brand new superintendent. You don't want to set them up with expectations and they fail. That's really discouraging to have some sort of incentive bonus

165that they just don't they don't stand a chance of getting that first year because so much else is happening. So, I'd be really careful that it if it's in that first year's contract tied to something very specific and it could be anything, but you need to be careful that it's something within their control because if it's tied to something outside of their control in that first year, it can be really discouraging as a new leader to not get your bonus. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. Um, so the there are two things. Number one, I you know, we can always negotiate contracts the way we want. we can always say or maybe later on put you know say from the second year onwards you will have this performance bonus even if we do that upfront

166it's not a negative right if they they they they will say you know at least I'm getting $295,000 and if I do well I might get another 105 20,000 more >> right so I don't know what the what the negative is in putting that performance bonus up front >> the one thing I saw happen in a district once that it was it was um in greater Minnesota They wanted the superintendent to move to the community and as you'll learn in interview training, you cannot require residency. That's not something you can require. So, they decided to put in the contract a $10,000 bonus if they decided if they agreed to relocate within the bounds of the district. That sounds like a really good idea, right? Until people in this community started saying you have to pay

167them to want to move here and it backfired because people got upset that they have to pay someone to want to be a member of their community. So that's just the other side of things that if you have to pay someone extra to raise student test scores, it's a consideration you always don't think about. And sometimes people react, community members react badly to incentives or even longevity incentives. Of course, they should want to stay here 10 years. Why should we have to pay them more to stay? This is a phenomenal opportunity. So, there's always so many ripples from every decision you make that I would just I would suggest you take it slow with the vacancy brochure and offer a fair range and they're going to know they they they know what the opportunities here

168are in Weisetta and they're going to look I always tell folks they're looking for generally salary, location, and reputation. That's that's what they're looking for. and the performance incentive is a good thing and it might fit and after you've studied it and made your decision as a board you may choose to offer it. I'm concerned about offering it right now when you haven't done that lengthy of a conversation about this is brand new right this is an idea it's brand new >> yeah Dr. Anderson's contract. So it's a little worrisome that it's such a big shift >> um this early in the process. You very well may put it in that first contract. You might >> So we don't put the performance bonus let's say at this time. We go with our standard range which

169obviously going to be lower than the total including you know whatever the performance bonus. Mhm. >> Um if somebody gets sort of you know they don't like what they see will they come to you and will they talk about hey I was expecting making it up number 305 >> yes >> will they come and have that conversation with you and will we know that upfront that good candidates are not interested because they don't think the the range is reasonable >> personally with the reputation of public schools I don't think an incentive bonus is going to be a reason someone does or does not apply for this job. >> Okay. >> I I think it's not a deal breaker either way. >> Okay. >> So, I I hesitate to add something into the brochure that would

170cause some questions. Then they might say, "Well, what are they going to give me the incentive around? What's it going to be tied to?" And in my first year, are they expecting me to raise test scores? It would cause potentially some questions that we don't have answers to yet. >> Okay. >> So, I think what I'm gathering is again having performance bonus is a good thing. Having goals, you know, tied to that is a good thing. Given where we are in the cycle and how soon we need to publish it, it's not a viable timeline this time. That's one. Second, that may actually put advantage or disadvantages to candidates because they're coming in new, they don't know sort of, you know, how things are and it's always first year is learning even for them. And

171then the third is again how community takes it in terms of incentives. Again, is that what I'm hearing? So it sounds like we probably should go with the range at this point in time and not put any performance bonus. >> I'll I'll also add one more thing Barb is you know when I I was on the superintendent evaluation committee this year I have been involved in evaluation last year and the year before that. it becomes hard for the committee and the board members I think to hold somebody accountable right that is at the heart of this performance bonus if you just throwing out a a scenario if you do not reduce the achievement gap by 2% or 3% then you will not get this performance bonus if you are able to reduce that then you

172will get this bonus so it's not like we are we are saying okay if you are if you don't achieve this you are fired. We are just saying this is an additional incentive for you to work towards it. You know there might be your opinion from the community that they're supposed to do it anyway. But if they don't what do we do >> but I think um and again I'm just paraphrasing the conversation. I don't think anyone is opposing. I think what we are saying is doing that in the first year is you know the time that >> so I agree with you. I think whatever the year two, year three, whenever we renew the contract or if it's a rolling contract, I think it's definitely worth looking at it. But from get go at

173least for year one, I think what I'm sensing is the recommendation is go with the flat range and not over complicate things. Yeah, >> I think you should keep it simple at this point because this is such a huge topic. >> Okay. Can can I clarify also uh one thing to say just uh with some district numbers for example like um pension uh contribution in our case it's just 6% I've been I did rough uh math it's about over 15,000 am I right if we'll uh take my point is uh can we my understanding six days if um person doesn't take uh um do all district can cash out to and if it let's say that you're not sick 20 days, how much it be? >> So that would be how we structure the contract,

174right? And those would be benefits pieces that that wouldn't necessarily be articulated in the base salary range. But yeah, you could that can come a part of whenever you're digging into contract negotiations. So my I'm curious, do other districts also pay for sig days if you do not use it? How how does it work? If we compare >> Yeah, there's probably a variety. We'd have to look again. I think part of this is establishing part of tonight is establishing what like your sticker range is going to be, right? and not necessarily getting into all of the details of of each of the different benefits, contractual benefit pieces because they could be very unique. Um, and so just looking at, you know, there there are different benefits in each one of these contracts. And so we

175we we will have to navigate those as we go through contract negotiations. Um but yeah, I mean we could research that for sure and will in advance of contract negotiations every single superintendent uh you know contract of our comparable districts to make sure we're prepared for hey this is an option this is you know this isn't etc. Uh one more thing if you can help me to understand for example I can see that Anoka Henipin has 281 I mean 282 rough um but it's huge district to be superintendent of um obviously and uh my understanding quite diverse versus uh one at least I heard from principles in the past we are lucky that parents are so involved uh with uh educ in education that students also perform. My point is are we um what I

176was trying to say why I was asking like more numbers when you are saying four free contribution 6% match it is not it's not written into like numbers if you do numbers it it is about uh over 15,000 >> 15,000 y dollars still too >> so >> one thing to be superintendent of Anoka Henipin another thing to be superintendent of Wisada I mean am I wrong to >> um so again I kind of when I'm when I'm doing fair market analysis I want to be competitive I don't necessarily have to be at the top of that range is what I've kind of thought about historically in this district um and so you know you might that's this is the board's decision decision to choose use that range. You know, I just throw out a couple

177numbers. You know, you could go if you like the $10,000 gap, you know, 280 to 290 if you felt like you needed to be at 285 to 295. I think tonight is is really looking at that simple uh base salary and then as we get closer to contract negotiations uh digging in the com into some of those, you know, different pieces of of current contracts because again, whoever our future superintendent is, they're going to do their own research on some of those contracts. But I don't think all of those decisions have to be made tonight. Um, and I think looking at a base salary adjustment, um, knowing that we have lagged behind. Now, the board might choose to go below that for sure. This is your decision, um, on that range. Um, I'm just looking

178at some of our comparable districts already being in the 280 range, um, etc. um that [clears throat] could create some, you know, just some a different expectation for what a candidate had coming into Weisetta, right? And so we want to make sure that we're staying competitive. We don't have to be number one paid for sure, but I think remaining competitive is important. Uh but didn't you tell that it can create ripple effect when uh other uh um when there is going to be contract negotiations then other would like to be have more and more and my understanding also if help me understand from January we're going to have this uh law coming uh which we're already feeling for example a charter school FM um family leave and some can so it's going to be quite

179uh expense do for a district. That's what I'm trying to >> Yeah. So again, uh I always encourage our individuals when I'm meeting with groups to compare themselves to other comparable districts similar positions, right? And so the superintendent job is a huge job. Um it's it's our our biggest position in the district, right? And so I I I would hope that um everybody in the district would be invested in making sure that we have a competitive offer for our future superintendent, right? Um so again, it should be shouldn't be unreasonable. Um but it it should be competitive. And so what I said about the the other piece was just the structuring of the contract. We haven't had a superintendent's contract that's been structured with an incentive bonus in the past. um we don't have that

180necessarily in our other contracts. So it could be something it might not be bad if if that if that's a desirable thing. Um you know it could be a conversation in in other groups but that doesn't necessarily need to change the range. It might just be how the contract is structured. Uh but what I was trying to clarify if we um change the range I mean obviously there is a quite jump right now at least what the numbers what I heard does it going to um create ripple effect that others would like obviously also their salaries to be negotiated on a higher range and as I said uh since we're going to have more finan uh uh district has uh will have to pay uh have more money after 1st of January for uh what

181comes into effect um to district will we have enough money for everything? >> Are you asking within Weisetta other groups within Weisetta? Okay. >> Yeah. So that's all information that the board would need to weigh when you set your range. Right. So um my feedback to you is is um you're going to you're going to make that decision on the salary range. Um, I hope that the decision puts us in a competitive spot um for incoming superintendent. Um, and and um, you know, the what the market is kind of demanding for these positions is what the market's demanding, right? And so looking at that salary analysis is why why that data is put in front of you. >> Keep in mind that the definition down below of salary range is your good faith estimate. under

182statute D, it says um the employer's good faith estimate for a job opportunity. So >> again, you're not locked into it if circumstances change or someone negotiates one way or the other. So I I do need the range though before we can address tonight. >> Real real quick, one more comment. I don't think uh an increase for a salary range for a new candidate has to be like in the two or three or 4% range that we have when we negotiate with different bargaining units. This is a 14% increase that we are asking for if we go with 295. That's a 14% increase and that's not unheard of when people go from one company to another company or get a you know promotion within the same company from one level to another level. So, it

183might not be for this person though. Remember, if they're coming from a district, that might be a >> No, I'm completely what we are paying right now. >> Yeah, for sure. I mean, the other option is to widen your range a little bit if you're uncomfortable with that $10,000 range. You know, the current base salary is 258. You could say the range is 270 to 290 and that might cover some more ground for you and leave you a little bit more room. I don't think it's to the $50,000 range that Barb talked about earlier, but 20s, Barb, you've seen 20s before. >> So like a 270 to a 290 or 275 to 295 that might be more comfortable for the board to be able to make a decision on the posting portion. >> Okay, I

184think I think we have discussed enough. I believe any I am comfortable with the $10,000 range, but let's let's decide on >> I'm I'm good with 10,000. Again, I I noted down 285K to 295K. That would be my take. >> But to hear our >> Okay. >> I would like to hear our opinion if I can, please. >> Well, yeah. I mean, I I appreciate the suggestions from around the table and hearing the $270,000 to $290,000. Um, I would like to go with a wider range, though. If the group does want to go with a $10,000 range, that's totally fine. I What I also want to, you know, keep in mind is that we're um offering an individual uh uh what could be a salary increase. And at least when we're comparing it to the

185current base salary, I'd want to keep it closer to something that our current bargaining units might receive. I don't want it to be so out of line with what the teachers, custodians, and whatnot may be um receiving on their next negotiated contract. So, I would be more supportive of 270,000 290,000, but if the group wants to narrow that a little bit, that's totally fine, too. >> I don't see this as a the same thing as us giving our current superintendent a raise. I see it as we're attracting new candidates and trying to be in line with our um our comparable districts. Um my comfort level is at you know minimum 280 with you know 295 as the maximum. That's my comfort level. I agree with you Sheila. I'm at 280 to 295. I think we

186need to attract the best and just like we made a decision to um try to create the most competitive process. This is also part of that process. Um, and we know that Weisetta is lagging in our um in our CEO's salary. And so I want to make sure that we're able to get somebody who is willing to stay um for several years and not need to bounce out so that they can make more money somewhere else. That's also a big piece of it for me. >> Valentina, are you ready? >> Yes, I am off. Thank you for allowing me to listen. I am feeling more comfortable with um I understand uh but at the same time I'm going to say why this is why Zada uh actually it's well known for parents being so involved

187in education so we are not as I mean it's not like going to district where um scores are so bad and all I am feeling comfortable in a range of 275 to 285 Five. >> Okay. All right. I get the last word, I guess. Um I would still like the range to be a little wider than 10,000, but uh but I'm okay with 10,000, but So I would say 280 to 295. So would that be agreeable to >> Yep. >> 280 295? >> Yep. >> Okay. We'll just go with that. 280 to 295. Thank you. >> 280. >> 295. Okay. Thank you for that very robust discussion. So the language then would be a competitive compensation and benefits package with a starting salary range of 280,000 to 295,000 will be negotiated commensurate with experience and

188qualifications. Contract length is negotiable as provided in Minnesota statute. Additional benefits you don't need to say very much or you could simply say an excellent benefits package will also be provided. So how specific do you want that benefits language? I would recommend staying with the general. >> Yeah. >> An excellent benefits package will be provided. >> Keeping it broad. >> Okay. >> An excellent, is that the right word? Excellent. Robust. >> It is excellent. >> Wonderful. >> Competitive. Oh, it says compensation and benefits. >> Benefits package will be provided. Okay. Without specifics around health and dental and all of that. All right. Thank you very much. That's what will go in the brochure. Can I just clarify one thing because we are in a public meeting and I just want to make sure that our

189community knows we have always had a very robust superintendent evaluation process where our superintendants not just Chase but before him as well have been held to a very high accountability and the board has always come to um a consensus around what the goals are moving forward for that coming year. All of that information has always been made public um on board book and in a reading at a board meeting um with a a letter to that superintendent of what the upcoming goals or the focus areas for that year should be. So I just want to make that entirely clear that we do have a very robust process in place that I'm looking forward to also modifying with our incoming superintendent. Thank you. All right, the next item in the agenda talks about public input. I

190just want to remind folks that we will be doing the Q&A. We will be doing the search preview meetings. Um the community and staff survey will be going live on Monday. We'll have hard copies that I'll send to Amy and she can share those. Um district lison to share as well. Um I'm going to talk about survey in a minute, but I do want to remind folks that the finalist interviews round two, you will be deciding more about that when it gets closer. Once you've seen that public summary report, you will then decide whether or not you you need additional public input on the finalists. You can certainly do the meet and greets. That's sort of a given. We're doing that on March 5th, I think it was. Do you want input from that or

191is it just an opportunity for people to meet other people? Are you going to want to solicit input from anyone about those folks? Yes or no? You don't have to decide tonight, but that's something to consider. on the survey. I just wanted to make sure that you're aware that all of the surveys that are in here are [clears throat] what we will be using. I'll change the date in all three. It is provided in English, Spanish, and Somali in consultation with your communications team. That is what your community and parents and families are used to receiving those options. Um, it will be online. We do have the link for the student survey. If the student clicks on it, says I'm a student, it will take them to a very similar survey with plain language. A

192lot of the big words that are in the other survey is simplified for the student survey. I'm wondering if there's a way to work with your high school to see if your high school students could have an option to complete the survey during their advisory period. Obviously, not making it required, but student voice is really important. And if we could ask the high school to provide an opportunity for 10 minutes in an advisory period to fill it out, that might increase student numbers a great deal. So, is that okay with the board if we enter in those conversations? in collaboration sorry in collaboration with communications we've always worked with um communications and the community relations committee of the board to engage with our high school and so I would I would recommend that pathway >>

193okay great >> and and the principal of the high school of course >> terrific thank you very much uh we love getting student voice and then the only question I have on the survey here is that it's highlighted on the front the self-identifier is business owner/d district partner some districts want to keep that some don't want district partner in there. Other comm other people take out the entire first one and don't have business owner or district partner as an option. What would you like to do as far as the self-identifiers when people take this survey which because we do we do customize the quantitative data by these categories so you'll know what the staff feels, what the parents feel, you know, etc. Do you want the first one in there and if so, do you

194want to keep district partner or not? Who do you refer to when you say district partner? >> That's a great question. Thank you for asking that. So, district partners very often are people who might be involved in um higher education across the district, higher education opportunities or foundations or fundraisers or nonprofit sector. Sometimes they partner with the district doing a lot of different things, you know, internships, fundraisers, etc. But they're not a community member. they don't live here, but they come here to work at a foundation or a higher education institution or something like that. So, that's kind of a catch-all opportunity or option, but so is the word other. >> Other >> where they could say other, higher education partner or something. So, it's completely up to you what self-identifiers you want to use.

195>> They say if they if if I'm a district partner and I'm, you know, putting in a lot of money in the district and if you if I have to put it Oh, it says specify. Okay. Yes. Never mind. I just thought it was just others. So if they specify that they are district partners or you know donors or grant makers then we know that that's their perspective. Yeah. >> Your biggest response categories will be parents and guardians and staff >> possibly students. Those will be the largest respondent categories. It's up to you. You can have as many or as few of which hat are you wearing when you fill out the survey as you'd like. This is your survey. >> Yeah. I I would >> ambivalent about the business owner or district partner one,

196but this does make me question how do we how do we know that the people filling out the survey are like district partner who they say they are? Yeah, because they getting emails or I don't know, I could see people from outside the community submitting surveys. It's >> true. >> There are not guard rails on it for that reason. Um, if we were a market research firm and charging you $30,000 for this survey, we would have guardrails and we would go by zip codes and we would make sure that the people that are taking it are within the boundaries of the district or have an investment in the district. Maybe they live in Northfield but own rental property in they could take the survey because they pay taxes here. So, it's open to interpretation. And

197occasionally, I don't see it happening here. Occasionally in greater Minnesota, rival communities do run into some spamming issues where people are told, "Hey, get in our district, you know, our neighboring district and fill out the survey this way." We can usually tell that's happening though because there'll be patterns and trends that don't make sense. And so we'll pull those responses that we think are suspicious. I don't see it happening in the survey very much. Maybe a couple of people, but it's not going to be a problem where it's going to really dilute your results, but it's it's possible. Um one more thing in listening to that in nowadays environments uh so many people have several accounts. So can someone take advantage and fill out several times? >> Yes, it goes by uh email address. Sometimes

198there are people that have different perspectives. For instance, a real common one is I'm a staff and I'm a parent and they might have a different perspective on what they're looking for in a leader. So they would possibly take it twice. once as a parent from their personal address, once as a um employee from their work address. That is possible. Again, though, with the volume of responses you're going to get, I don't think it's going to be enough to cause a a problem with the survey results. It will still be pretty solid, but there are opportunities to take it more than >> Boris might do it twice, right? as a parent and a board member. >> I would be interested in seeing the business owner on a separate line from a district partner because I

199think our district partners have a very different lens and can offer um a lens of health and well-being for our students which I think might also be incredibly interesting versus a business owner. Um I just think there's there's a lot of different perspectives that we could glean from that. >> So break those out into two two different lines. So we add a category. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I mean agreed. I if we decide to keep that as a separate entity then yeah it has to be another line or roll it under others. Either ways is fine but we need business owner to be the separate entity. [clears throat] >> So would you like me to add district partner as a sixth category? >> Yeah. >> Well seventh category other is still in. Okay.

200>> All right. We'll pull out district partner in its own category. So there will then be business owner, uh, community member, district partner, parent, guardian, staff member, student, and other. >> Um, and that's in alphabetical order, I think, is why we did it that way. >> Can I clarify one more? Um, what about languages? Uh, is it based on what percentage of population we have? Because to be honest, it we as a charter school also serve it. And I remember very well that Slavic speaking population there is quite a bit of in Plymouth in Maple Grove. That's why I'm surprised for example that language does not show up. >> I'm going to turn this over to the administrators because we did have this conversation a couple of weeks ago and again tonight as well. If

201you could address the languages that >> Yeah, no problem. So our our most two common requested languages for accommodation uh so so for translation um are Somali and Spanish. We have a number of languages spoken in the district. So uh individuals that identified languages other than English as their native language, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that requires uh or even prefer is preferred to be a language translation situation. So, um we have identified that that our most frequently asked uh languages for translation or needs for translation are um Spanish and Somali. And so that's where, you know, we've identified those two languages. That's pretty common in in other districts as well. Um but we do have other languages spoken in our district. Um but not as many that are requested uh for a need

202for translation. So someone might speak another language but they also speak English and maybe even prefer that that English is the manner in which they would fill out that survey. >> So it's not based on percentage of populations based on how uh how many times certain backgrounds had been asking for assistance. Emirate >> correct like how frequent we see the need for language translation. Um, and just as a a reminder, we also have um uh cultural liaison in our district that help support our families. Um, those uh liaison also speak uh Spanish and Somali. Um, which kind of parallels with our most frequent uh family language translation needs. Um, so that's just what we've seen. And I know our director of of uh equity inclusion, SV Heriday, has has uh studied that and and that's

203kind of why we've we've looked at those two uh languages as the ones that are most often needed to be translated to. Um but we do have a a significant diversity of languages spoken in our district. Um, so it's it's a little bit challenging to figure out, you know, native language versus preferred language and um what a translation need is. So, but that's what we found. >> I think it very uh you explained more than I needed, but thank you for clarification. >> That's also in line with our election. So, we don't meet the threshold for any other language except for Spanish and Somali for our election language as well. So, if that's helpful that those are redundant. Um and Barb, can you remind us so as the surveys are going out and obviously we

204know it's around holiday, right? Um would someone be monitoring the traffic if we don't see enough responses? Would would we send another reminder in coordination with communication team? >> Yes. Um my associate director Amy Jordan and I met with Amy and Zach to already talk about this. We have a communications blurb which we'll be sending to them probably on Friday that will include the links to the survey, the links to the Q&A, the links to providing questions in advance of the Q&A. And then I provide regular updates to the board as well as to Amy to make sure that um reminders are going out on occasion because you'll get a whole burst of people right away. People are excited and then it kind goes down a little bit. So a good reminder maybe right after

205the holidays. Um there's another one that will go out probably with two or three days remaining. last chance for input. Um, at all of the search previews, at all of the focus groups, I'm talking about it. Hopefully, it'll get covered in the media as well. Social media is an option that maybe your district wants to use or not, but we'll work really closely with your communications team to keep interest level high through that last day to provide input. Okay. All right. Thank you. So, I just wanted to go through that survey. We will make those changes. And then um I wanted to review the search agreement very briefly uh right after the surveys all three languages and surveys. I just want to remind folks that from the proposal um input public input is that it's

206going to be all of these things the survey the Q&A um search preview meetings focus groups etc etc. If you want to do interview committees or input forums during round two that's all included. The only thing that would not be included is if you have some extraordinarily complex community involvement in round two that we don't anticipate yet. But if you want us to create a survey that we administer with QR codes and online and we have 600 people take it to provide input, that takes some time for us to set that up. So there would be potentially an additional charge. Otherwise, everything is included. So that one is highly unusual that any district would have a degree of customization of input from your public during round two to require me to say I'm going to

207have to charge you a little bit more because that's way beyond our search agreement. So that's just in there as an FYI on the alleart um options. The next page is a summary of search services. Everything in there is what we are doing and that's what's included in that timeline. It will make a lot more sense to you now that you've seen the timeline with all of those things on page two of the proposal. And then page three, just a reminder, the estimated fee as well as all the things that are included. We will never charge you for consultant travel or copies or anything like that. If for whatever reason you want to do something here in the community and provide child care or food, we don't pay for that. That's an additional charge that

208the district will have. The only thing to keep in mind is maybe if a um a candidate is coming from a long distance away, they may ask about reimbursement for travel. That will be up to you. If someone's going to be flying in from somewhere far away and have one night in a hotel, would the district consider covering that? But that's a bridge will cross when we get to who your finalists are. And if that might come up, people may request reimbursement. So just that's something separate. Other than that, the satisfaction guarantee, we always guarantee a search. If you part ways with your client or your superintendent within a year or less, um we will do another search at absolutely no cost to the district. I know we talked about that in the interview as

209well. Um, but we do require for that guarantee that you participate in that transition workshop because we think setting expectations is really important. So, that needs to happen and we will guarantee the clients or the candidates were recommending. If you choose to interview someone and hire someone not in MSBA's recommended slate, that's entirely your prerogative. I just don't guarantee the search in that case. So, just want to make sure we have that on the record in the meeting. That's it for the search agreement. The rest of these things on the front page don't take very long and the last page will make sense here in a minute. I just want to make sure we're on the same page about the role. Did you have a question? I'm sorry, director. >> I'm just curious. Um, how

210often do you see that someone who is uh looking for opportunity? And I hope that this is wonderful opportunity, but then they would like to be reimbursed. How I mean, how often do you see that kind of request? >> I think I've seen it three or four times in six years. Not very often. So since she asked a question regarding that, I'm going to ask you another question. How often have you seen because our timeline shows we do the interviews and all that we select candidate and then we go and negotiate the contract. >> How often have you seen that that the contract negotiations have failed and therefore that that candidate says you know bye-bye I'm I cannot cannot come. >> Twice in six years. Twice out of how many? [sighs] >> Um, >> roughly

211>> 150. >> Oh, okay. >> I'm trying to remember how many searches we've done. >> So, less than 1%. Okay. >> By the time you have a final candidate, they want to work here and you want them to work here and people will negotiate and make it work. It's very rare that it falls through. >> Okay. >> Yet, it can, right? We're human and it can >> because typically in in the corporate environment correct correct me if I'm wrong Paris when when the candidates interview the negotiation for salaries and all that is done and then only is the offer made right and then you accept or reject >> this is a CEO role it's different than an employee >> right well >> I think the expectations are that they would accept the offer because you've

212you've been very clear about what you are willing they've done their homework on your district they understand your budget they've talked to colleagues. They're not going into this with any intention other than to work for you. >> Okay. I think the initial range will help also. So, we're setting up the expectations. So, again, no surprises later. >> Great questions. Any other questions? Otherwise, we're close to wrapping up. Before we go on to the screening questions, um when we are we were going to send out the survey and also we discussed last time the focus groups and had did is that something we need to like clarify because we had discussed which groups like the liaison committee and CATAC and CFAC should we just make sure everybody understands what the focus groups were are going to

213be? >> Yep. I'll ceue up my document here shortly. >> Can I ask another question while you're queuing that up? >> Great. >> Um, for the surveys when we have individuals who need a translation, sometimes it is, and I'm sorry, you're stuck with somebody who has done a lot of data collection in my day. Um, so sometimes you need not just the translation, but somebody to walk somebody through how to take the survey and to understand what the need is of the survey. um are are our family liaison going to be trained somehow in how to how to help conduct that survey without them getting too involved so that the the responses aren't conflicted. >> I'd be happy to do that. I know that they are planning on already making appointments with the cultural leaison

214and I'd be happy to meet with them as a group and explain how to walk through a survey without influencing the input that they are giving them. I'm happy to do that. >> Great. Thank you. >> Great. Uh so the the search preview and focus group. So we would we we made the call today that uh the search preview groups because they're they're really informationbased. Um we're going to give five different options for all of our groups to be able to attend and it's not specific to to those groups. Um but the individuals that will be um invited, that's what you're asking me for, correct? um are the the district liaison uh group. Um we'll we'll have a group for principles, our SLT strategy leadership team, the cabinet. Um our leadership council um minus obviously

215the principles and SLT because they're in another group and that will include Amy G as well. Um we'll have a group of of uh collective baring agreement leaders, so our union leadership. Um and then uh the la the the the last group will be um uh advi invites out to our different advisory councils. So we have SCITC, SEFAC, CAC, WAC. I don't know what that Yep. Yep. Um but uh the the special services uh advisory council um and then the indigenous advisory I think WAC is the special services one um and so all of those different advisory councils which already have established memberships will send those the invites to and they'll function as as focus groups then. So we'll have a focus group for the advisory councils, focus group for the the union leadership, um

216focus group for again the leadership council, non-principal, nonSLT plus AEG, um strategy leadership team, so SLT principles and then district leaison. Um those will have when we run focus groups, there'll be a specific invite for a time because those are more feedback gathering sessions. So, the information sessions, the super the search previews will be, hey, here's five options. Pick one if if you can make it, great. Um, but then when we do the focus groups, those same groups will be invited back if they can make it. Um, to um we're aiming for in-person and that's feedback collection focus groups. Um, we're working on if if there's a student leadership opportunity as well for uh some of those focus groups, but still working on that piece. >> I have a quick question. In your advisory councils,

217I didn't I don't know if I missed it. Did you um include early ed? >> Yep. They would be part of the community ed group. >> Perfect. >> No, part of liaison. Yep. We talked about that today actually. So, they're the early ed advisory. They're all part of the liaison. >> Got it. >> Thank you >> for correcting me. >> If I c can clarify to how we're going to make sure that um parents are involved here. I know that liaison is uh one of them. Uh but uh to be honest what it is. Um if you look at uh um typically it's um I think at when I attended it's it's uh women there uh that's all but uh how are we making sure that that we have parents uh in >> so our

218advisory councils you know are are you know we we work hard to make sure that those are representative groups groups that represent our populations. I'd also say that um these focus groups are are a part of the puzzle for collecting feedback. They're not the whole thing. Um I in learning from Barb in these last months here, um that survey participation will be huge for us. That's how we're going to collect vo, you know, the the probably the largest quantity of feedback from our our community members. And so we have these other groups that are established and can send out invitations to to the uh search previews and the the focus groups and we need participation in that survey. So that's going to be kind of our number one tool that we're going to continue to

219encourage individuals to apply um provide opportunities for individuals that need to support to to fill out that tool etc. Um, but after kind of looking through all the different groups, um, seeking recommendations from our strategy leadership team, um, and and whatnot, those are the the groups we came to with. We got to get going on scheduling these things, too. So, um, there's a pretty quick turnaround with using established groups helps us with efficiency because we already have lists of people that we can email and say, "Hey, here's the meeting options." um you're being invited because you're a member of this group and please attend and all that type of stuff. >> I would like to thank the internal team because this is the part I I said in my interview and I mentioned that our

220job is to try to take as much off their shoulders as possible and we'll do all the heavy lifting. This part we can't do and they've done a really good job of identifying internally who and how to communicate the opportunity for input. So, thank you very much to all the team over there that I know has spent quite a bit of time on that. So, thank you. So, on the cover of the agenda, I do want to make sure we're on the same page about the role of the current superintendent. I just briefly want to share that typically a superintendent does not have a role in the superintendent search. They are not at these meetings. The role that they seem best to fulfill is that as an ambassador for the opportunity. So, if people are

221calling them with questions, they're happy to share their knowledge of the district and encourage people to look at the opportunity if it fits them. Does anyone on the board see a greater role for Dr. Anderson than that role of being an ambassador for this position. Okay. I believe he is okay with that role as well and not anything beyond. So, uh that's great. I just want to make sure that was clear. The school board spokesperson, if there are media inquiries about the superintendent search, we want it rolling through one person. It's typically the board chair or in conjunction with the director of communications. So, yes, Chair Sin >> Barb, I I knew that question was on the list here. So I looked at the standard operating procedure. We have a standard operating procedure and I

222will quote line item C4A under other board procedures. It says when the board issues news releases and or response to questions from the media, the official spokesperson for the school board will be the board chair. So >> the board chair. >> So it reiterates what you just said. Okay. >> Everyone is okay with that since it's in policy. Terrific. Thank you for looking that up, chair. Ground rules, do and don't. Um, I just want to share a few things at this point in the searches. Oh, did you I'm sorry. I apologize. >> No, no, no, no. Um, I would like to clarify where are the put um timeline when uh in January we're we're going to be electing uh new board chair and vice chair. Uh so, how can it uh play out? >> Good

223question. So come January 12th we might have a different set of officers including chair, vice chair, clerk and treasurer. So >> so it would be who whomever is the chair at that time, right? Yeah. >> So from now until January 12th. Yes. >> Obviously chair so >> make the most of it. No, I'm just kidding. [laughter] >> So yes, it would follow the role of the chair, not the individual. >> Okay. Thank you. So the ground rules, dos and don'ts. Just a couple of things to keep in mind. One of the things I would ask you to do is not recruit candidates yourself. As board members, please stay out of the recruiting because if you reach out to someone and encourage them to apply, you are a decision maker. You are the hiring authority. They

224are going to hear something in that message that is not necessarily the case. They're going to hear that they have a leg up on the job because a board member asked them to apply. Please don't do that. It's not fair to candidates. Leave that to the search firm to do that. Similarly, if you are asked for a letter of reference for this position from anyone, please do not write a letter of reference for them, nor be listed as a uh recommendation or a reference or a letter of recommendation. It puts you in an awkward position if you are serving as a reference for someone in your own pool. So, I would avoid that if you could. You don't, it's not legal, but it's just very ill advised to write letters of recommendation or serve as

225a reference for someone for this job. for any other search. If you know administrators and you support them and want to support their candidacy outside of your search, feel free, but not for your own search. So, those are a couple of key things. Also, if you receive calls from candidates, please do not talk at length with them. In the vacancy brochure, you noticed it's going to say applicants are requested not to contact school board members. Someone still may do it or they may know you already and feel like they'd love to ask you a couple of questions. Refer them to me. I'm happy to take those calls. So, you've got my phone number, you've got my email address. Both of those are in the vacancy brochure. Avoid if you can talking to candidates about this

226opportunity. Does anyone have questions on that? Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate your support of it. All right. Uh those are the ground rules I've got at the moment. Um I will ask that if you start reviewing applications and you recognize someone in the pool that you are related to, you need to let me know. [laughter] it will change the voting circumstances if you're related to one of your finalists within the fourth degree. So, it's just a matter of FYI, pay attention and if you have someone by blood or marriage in that pool, just give me a heads up and we'll kind of watch how it unfolds from there. But, we may need a unanimous vote of the full board if it's someone who's related to a board member. So, uh in district contact

227person, I am already working very closely with both uh Dave and Amy. I'm assuming it's okay to continue to work with them. Great. They've been doing a wonderful job. The confidentiality employee, that would be uh your executive director of HR, Dave. The reason we ask is that all of those applications must be kept in accordance with your district's data retention policies. So, he will have a secure link in the cloud to get those applications, download them as well, but because he is the confidential employee for your district, he obviously cannot share or talk to anyone about them either. And you're okay with that role? >> Okay. So, I just want to make sure you're aware that he will have that access and he'll need to keep those on file uh for all of the people

228in this pool. >> Will there be some kind of agreement that we sign sign on? >> Yes. >> Before we look before we have access to the application. >> Thank you for asking that. So, at the meeting we'll have um we talked about a confidentiality agreement or a non-disclo what's it called in this district? >> Yeah, >> confidentiality agreement before you have access to this uh these on February 9th. So, at the meeting on February 4th, I will have that and it will be in the meeting packet so you read it in advance. It's the standard confidentiality agreement public schools uses, but that will be in the packet on February 4th and we'll want everyone to sign them that evening and turn them back in to to Dave. Thanks for reminding me about that, chair.

229Okay. Uh, let's see. Two screen pre-screening priorities for the district. This is the last thing I have for you unless you have more questions. that back page with the yellow highlights. Uh the one reason, one of the biggest reasons we switched from Applletrack to Revelis a few years ago is we could customize the applications to each of our searches. With Appl, we had to ask the same questions for every search, no matter which search it was. So this is your opportunity. If you see two questions in here that you really like that would help you decide whether or not to interview someone, these are application questions. So, we have room for two and these are just samples. Maybe you want to write your own application question. We will always ask based on the leadership profile

230for this district, why are you the best person for this job? Something like that. But the areas in yellow are things that other districts have chosen to ask about in the application. So, they're just suggestions. You'll notice that these are also behavior-based questions. uh we started noticing two years ago that people if we just said what is your philosophy on special education the answers started to sound kind of similar >> and people are using AI tools differently these days so that may be a tool they use however we specifically ask in the application what have you done give us an example of your experience in I think that's going to help ensure that we're not going to just get an AI generated answer in your application so I'm going to turn it back over to

231the chair to facilitate which of these, if you could pick two, do you want in your application or do you want to write your own? >> Just two, right? >> Yes. Some of you may already have an idea of the ones that you like. We could It's just a consensus. It doesn't need to be a formal vote >> toward certain areas. It should be areas that you want you want to know where they stand so that you feel comfortable interviewing. >> So is this everybody going giving their opinion or everyone should go ahead and start three and 11? >> Three and 11. No. Yeah. >> Which one did you say? >> Three and 11. >> Valentina time. Then >> Valentina, what did you say? She mean >> Oh, she said. Okay. >> Um I really

232like two and three. [snorts] >> Okay. >> I like three. I like 11. Eight is also really good if we could combine it with 11. Just throwing that out there. The only thing um about eight right is will that experience be relevant to YZA? I mean it could be a good experience for the candidate but if it is not relevant to Yetta. So that was kind of my lens but again >> some of these could also be interview questions if you really like some of them we can certainly modify or tweak to be interview questions in round one or round two as well. I like number six. And um number eight, I like all of them, but number two for sure. And I'm going to pick number 13. So how do we how do we

233come up with the consensus? There is a lot of difference of opinion here. >> That's a challenge. Yeah, >> I'll have to have the board somehow select two that you can all agree on and maybe some of these are better for interviews as well. One thing to think about is that these are relatively broad on purpose. It's like a funnel. The application questions are pretty broad. Um, and then round one is a little more specific and round two will be questions very specific to Wisetta. >> Valentina, I think you're still right. I've been I recorded everybody's preferences and so the the questions I got the most are two >> two yeah >> three and eight. >> Yeah. So I think two and three or eight. Yeah. So I I agree with Paris that that eight

234is is a good question to ask but it could it may not apply to right. I mean what they have done there may really not apply. So >> goal is to get like to understand more about how they are how they lead. >> Yeah. What are their other options? Sheila, >> two, three, and eight were the highest. >> Two, three, and eight. Okay. >> Votes. >> So, I I think two two probably is is probably the most selected. And I think two and three would probably fit. Well, unless somebody's strongly opposed to either of those. >> No, I'm good. I said 11, but yeah, two and three [clears throat] that I'm I'm good with that. I think like I said other questions we can always address in the interview process. So right >> so two

235and three as I look at two and three two is collaboration trust and respect and three is um effective communication. Do you um do you want those two things I feel like those two things go very handinand? So would you rather have two questions that go hand in hand or would you like two that are kind of different from one another? >> So three also has transparency in it though I don't know if that you can yeah that that's what stood out to me actually the transparency part. Um, you said two. Can >> Can we numbers again and mark it out and so we can see because I think it maybe I missed uh someone because on my paper eight and two have I mean so that we see where we hit the most. >>

236They were the most. Yes. >> Yes. If we can name the numbers again please. And uh >> mine was 31 3 and 11. >> Valentina just um mine was just uh two and eight. >> Okay. Then >> Two and three. Huh. Okay. She >> mine was 3 and 8. Sorry. No, mine was 3 and 11. But I also really liked eight. So I would >> be okay with that one. She chose three. Um uh mine were six and eight. >> Six and eight. >> So yeah, three. >> I don't know. Paris, are you okay with eight? >> Um I mean it is my like I said my only concern my only thing is like hey it could be more relevant to the candidate but is it relevant to vice versa? So, how about three and

237eight? Would that work? Because they are the most picked. Otherwise, I have no way to go. >> No, that's fine. Three and eight is three and eight is okay. >> Three and eight. Okay. >> Three and eight. >> Yeah. >> Does anyone want to reward any of them at all? Are they okay as is? Three and eight. >> Yeah. >> The wording the wording is okay. >> Yeah. >> Um sorry, on the eight, right? Uh explain what your role was and what impact was on students. uh would it be too much to ask how how can that be related to district like visa that experience? >> Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a good point. Shows show share an initiative >> specifically with respect to you knowing the district of W. >> It certainly could. The

238one thing it does is it gives an advantage to people who know more about your district than others. There might be some excellent candidates from outstate the state of Minnesota that don't know enough about Weisetta to answer that as well as someone who's in the district next door. >> So the person next door has an advantage because they could spin the story better than someone who's they've read about you, they've seen your reports, they've seen your website, they still don't know you and you'll have candidates who know you and could really answer that well. >> So it's a little bit of an unlevel field if you ask them to talk talk about Weisetta in the application. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah. No, that that makes sense. But that brings another question. Wouldn't you

239want candidate who knows Wisetta? >> I think that's on us. >> Yeah, probably. I'm playing playing devil's advocate here. You know, when you interview with companies, if you don't know about the company, you don't stand much of a chance of getting a job there. >> Yeah. Right. >> It's fine. I mean, that'll be a tough decision. There might be some outstanding candidates coming from out of state that >> given this, but not a lot. people can bring skills with them that you know are good in in lots of situations like I I don't think that them knowing Wisetta is necessarily the most important thing like if they're a good leader have other skills >> and you know >> no I think we are okay I mean this is pre-screening we'll have opportunities to go through

240the interview >> I might ask or I might so uh Sheila made an awesome uh enhancement I think to eight I'd ask the board to consider so she talked about bringing data into eight. Um instead of saying what was the what what the impact was on students, you might ask how did you measure your impact on students? Um because otherwise you're going to get people saying I feel or I think >> versus I know because this is the evidence you know I utilize to assess the impact on students. I thought that was a really good observation by Sheila bringing some data into it. You could reword it a number of ways but >> yeah the measurable in smart right smart goals >> explain what your role was and how did you measure the impact how

241did you measure its impact on students >> yeah something like um you could even say what was the impact on students um and you could have a follow-up question of how did you measure that impact or something like that was that what you were thinking Sheila >> that was they still >> how would you like to word it I liked what how Dave said it. So, keep the question as is and then at the end, how did you measure the impact? Do you want to just shoot me an email real quick, Dave, with that phrasing? >> Yeah, >> thank you. Okay, questions three and eight will be in the application for candidates to answer. That is all I had for you today. That was a lot of decisions to be made. And are there any

242questions before we wrap up and let you adjourn for the evening? Yeah, we had a second item on the agenda that's covered, right? Already the we discussed decide and schedule the steps necessary for the rest of the hiring process. That was all covered here. Okay. >> Yes. >> So going to open for questions. Anybody have any questions, comments now? Okay. So I think I'm going to call the meeting to a close. This concludes the Visetta Public School special regular board meeting. The next board organizational work session will be on Tuesday, December 16th at 5:00 p.m. a week from tonight. And the time now is 8:43. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. The motion carries. The Visetta

243Public Schools Board of Education special regular meeting for Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 is adjourned. 44. >> Thank you.