001And now we're recording again. >> All right. Thank you, Heather. >> Yep. >> Um, so this is our impact since six years. My first meeting was 2023. So you can see where we were coming into it and where we are today, which is double um where we've been. And so that's cash on hand. Our auditor recommends 3 months of uh 3 months of cash on hand to, you know, handle emergencies, those sorts of things. Um, our monthly budget is about 325,000ish. I mean, obviously some months are a little more, some months are a little less. Um, so we're we're up to 6 months worth, which I'm very proud of. So, uh, what would I do differently? Build those connections earlier. I found out there were some meetings between the time I got hired and the
002time I actually started. My contract started on July 1st that I missed. that would have been immensely helpful in the budget process, but I didn't know about him. I didn't ask the right people. I missed him. Uh advocated for a different area mentor. My mentor was actually my superintendent from Sydney. Uh he kept referring me to the business manager. So from the superintendent side, I didn't really get a lot. I I should have asked for a different mentor and then learned that coding earlier as well. So uh what do I bring to multi schools? my experience um my vision for district leadership is to set the conditions of success of success for staff and students uh community relations are vital um that's something that I I feel is is a strength of mine uh priorities
003for first one 100 days listen observe meet and be present because the one thing I've learned if you're not present you can't learn and you've got to be present And so that's the most important thing to me. Uh why am I the right fit? Um and I didn't write anything on the slide for this. I said thank you for the opportunity. Why am I the right fit? My experience comes into play. I understand rural districts and how important it is to have an effective impactful school in an area where farming and ranching is the primary uh funding source. And I understand how difficult that is to navigate that water cuz I've done it. Um I've done it repeatedly. I've done it with a high school budget that's nowhere near what my budget is in Potter.
004Um our budget annual budget in Potter is about 4.5 million. Um so uh I understand um you know cuz my board is is yeah one works for wheat belt but he has cattle as well. So all six of my board members are producers. Um so I understand what it takes in a rural setting. I understand what it takes uh to work with producers in the community uh to make sure again the school district is as impactful as they want it to be. Have not met a person yet, parent, producer, business member that doesn't value a strong education. Um just hasn't happened. I've not met one person that says they don't care about the education going on in their community. They may have different ideas how to get there. They may have different ideas on who
005can get through there, but I haven't met one person that didn't think that was an extremely important thing to keep their town going and to keep their community going. So, um, so I think that's why I'm the right fit. 23 minutes, one minute per slide kind of. >> Thank you very much. You can tell your wife it was. >> Yeah. Yeah, I tried. >> She really did. She told me today, she goes like, "I love your slide. You're you're you're fine, but you got to keep moving." I know, honey. Can I tell one more story real quick? So, my wife hated hates the fact that I'll have a conversation with anybody in the world. Hate. She hated it. >> Introvert. >> She is. We're We're yin and yang, honestly. um her grandfather died and every
006person that got up to speak on his behalf at his funeral talked about name was Clyde Lever how important it was that Clyde would stop and talk to them at the post office at the co-op living in Adams Nebraska at the coffee shop and how much they loved the fact that Clyde would stay and have a talk even then even though they knew his wife was waiting at home and was expecting him home and she was going to be living that he wasn't home yet. But he still would stop talking and have a conversation. My wife has not said one word to me since that day. Not one. So So I thank I thank her grandfather every day for that. So >> So what questions do you have? >> A whole list. >> Good. Okay.
007>> You ready? Sure. >> Start this show. >> Uh describe your understanding of board superintendent relationship in traditional governance model. Um well the the board superintendent relationship uh is probably the most vital relationship honestly that the superintendent and the board have. Um the board has to set the priorities for the superintendent and to uh help that person understand what are the priorities for the community, what are the priorities for the school, uh what are what are the priorities for the stakeholders. Um now certainly the superintendent should understand that as well um you know from their from their chair but again the board's got to help with that. that can't be un unilateral decision uh with the uh with the superintendent in in terms of the traditional model. I mean you know I I hear this
008frequently when I go to conferences and stuff um is the uh you know the board sets policy and it's the superintendent's job to enforce that policy. it's the principal's job to enforce that policy. And and I just think that's too black and white in a uh in a situation where things are never black and white. I mean, education is not a black and white endeavor. It just isn't. Um when you throw in uh you know if a board was just a policy setting uh entity I mean I I don't know that schools could really function effectively because you wouldn't have any of that other dialogue to go with budget uh to go with curriculum uh to go with instruction to go with activities to go with transportation to go with facilities um you know and
009understanding those priorities because um if you just set policy then then my role becomes again unilateral. So I I just I I don't think it's that black and white honestly. It's it's something that that we have to work together on. It's something where um you know the board needs to understand what I see uh and and what I need to do and it's something where I need to understand what the board's priorities are and what what they want to do for the community and our and our kids. Okay. >> What do you expect from the board and what should the board expect from you? >> Um, well, the biggest thing is open communication. Um, it that's that's got to be paramount. I can't I can't help with things if I don't understand. And it's the
010same for all of you. You can't understand if I don't communicate with you. Um, I I I always talk to my board about I want to be out in front, not behind. Um, because I I hate being behind problems. Um, if if they are hearing something and I hadn't heard it yet, I'm now behind. Um, and that's that's a horrible horrible place to be. Um, because I mean, you can still solve the problem, but could it have been prevented? you know, could it have been headed off before you got there? And most of the time, I've learned in my time, most problems come down to communication. It it just is. When you cut it down to brass tax, it's just communication. And uh there's something somewhere along the line where somebody did not have have
011the communication that needed to happen to be able to solve whatever the issue was. Um, so I I think with the board and myself, that's got to be first and foremost. Um, honesty, you know, I there's too many people and and honestly, I I've been doing this too long to my nephew told me last summer uh or two summers ago when we were up here for the kids' wedding. Um, they uh he said, "You know, Uncle Chris, it's so good to see you just not give a crap anymore what people think. you just you're just telling people what it is. And he said he said he appreciated that a great deal. And my my nephews um you know he and my son are very good friends actually. And and uh and um I I take
012what he says to heart. He's a he's a very smart young man. Um, you know, I and I guess my point with that is I'm I'm too long in the tooth at this point in my career to to not tell people what what to be honest with them about what's going on or what what needs to happen or now whether you take that or not and do anything with it, that's not on me. That's on that's on who I'm communicating with. Um, and I'm not rude. I don't want to make it sound like I'm rude or or inappropriate or anything like that. It's just it's just you have to be honest. And I would expect that too from the board. Uh it is honest whether I like it or not. It doesn't matter. Uh if
013it's got to be said, it's got to be said. If it's got to be done, it's got to be done. If there's work to do, do the work. It's I I'm pretty simple at this part of my life. I'm I'm pretty pretty straightforward. So those are the those are the two big things. Just open communication and honesty. >> All right. Thanks, Nick. In your presentation, um, you briefly got to mention, uh, you would focus on the first 100 days. What does the rest of your first year look like? >> Um, well, honestly, not a lot different. I mean, it's, um, the the biggest thing that I've learned in my time is you have to be visible. You have to be in the community. Um, I'll tell you a school improvement story that probably aligns best
014with with my thought process. um in Sydney we had our it was our second visit while I was principal there and we had a gal from Columbus on the team and she said you know how do you how do you know these things? How do you know this is the way people think? You know how do you know this is the way people feel? And I told her I said well you know obviously we got the surveys and all the you know all that sort of stuff but I said I talked to people at basketball games I talked to people at football games. I talked to people at the doughnut shop um because I I knew most of the people there. I talked to people down at Dudes for breakfast on Saturday morning, a local
015restaurant there in Sydney that serves a great breakfast. Um you know, I go to wrestling meets, I go to or speech meets, so I'm not just going to basketball or football, you know, I'm I'm trying to do all those other things. So I said, I talk to parents, I talk to community members, I talk to the kids. And and she literally said this to me. She goes, "Well, that doesn't count. And I'm like, how does that not count? Those are the stakeholders. Those are the people I'm actually serving. Those are the parents. Those are the kids. How does that not count? And and I I I can say I can kind of understand what she's saying. I mean, in context of a school improvement visit, your accreditation, your, you know, she wants quantitative numbers, right?
016Um, it counts. Absolutely, it counts. When I'm having that when I'm having that conversation with a parent down at Dudes on Saturday morning over breakfast and they just happen to walk in and I happen to be walking in at the same time and we sit together, that conversation absolutely 100% counts. Um and and so what does the rest of the you know what does after 100 days look like? Um it's developing and understanding the priorities that the board has. It's developing and understanding the priorities that the community has. and it's developing and understanding the priorities that our staff and students have. Um, and and you start building that foundation in the 100 days. Uh, but you continue building on that foundation after that. >> And I'm still mad about that by the way. >> She
017was wrong. >> Okay. >> Sorry, my eye. >> That's refreshing. How have you led strategic planning efforts in a pre in previous districts? >> Um, honestly, I've not had a lot of experience with strategic planning. Uh, to to be honest, um, most of my initiatives that I have uh been involved with have not been uh done in a strategic planning way. Uh, the districts that I have been involved with like Potter Dicks, that is not a is not a value to them. Uh, our board does not want strategic planning. uh their their thought process is we hired you to do a job, you do the job. And um and in Sydney, uh they started after I left after superintendent change. Um so I didn't get to be a part of any strategic planning there. Wahoo
018was probably the closest thing that we had to strategic planning like I said with the auditorium, but there were other priorities uh that we looked at in the district both in terms of uh curriculum, instruction, and facilities. And uh so my part there um you know our superintendent really ran most of the things. I was high school principal. Um you know certainly I was a sounding board for our superintendent. Um I was heavily involved in in the auditorium building uh with our with our uh construction company and our construction manager. um as I was in Elhorn uh with that probably Elhorn uh as assistant principal uh is probably where I've had the most exposure to strategic planning but as an assistant principal I wasn't really directly involved either and it would be wrong of me
019to tell you I was cuz I just wasn't. >> Um so uh so honestly I haven't had a great deal of experience with strategic planning. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> we have 11 more questions in 15 minutes just >> you need to call my wife real quick. should have brought describe your experience with long range facilities planning bond levy processes or capital projects. >> Yeah. Um just just like I was mentioning uh in Elorn I was uh well I'll go back even to teaching I had was very fortunate to work in new new facilities. I was not part of the planning or development of those facilities, but I was able to work in them and there was certainly some things we had to work on uh with new construction and uh and Elhorn uh
020like I said, we had built a new wing onto the high school. I was heavily involved in that process. Uh as far as construction, working with construction manager there, Wahoo, same thing. We've talked about that already. Um there were no capital projects going on in Sydney at the time. I was working in a building that was 2 years old. Uh when we had a fire in our junior hallway though, I did learn that our heat pump system uh the units typically only last about 15 years. And guess how old they were when they start catching on fire? They were about 15 years. So um so I did learn that uh as well. Um in terms of facilities management, I have always been directly involved with our custodians and our facility managers um if we've had
021them. Uh in Elorn, that was one of my primary uh primary jobs was working with custodial maintenance staff uh in the school. Uh in Wahoo, there was no person to do that, so it was me. Um in uh in Sydney, uh as a high school principal, that was a primary function for me. Uh volunteer firefighters really do not like false alarms at 2:00 in the morning. Uh I did discover that in my first year in Sydney. Uh and and uh so we made sure that that did not happen again with what was going on because uh when you change systems uh the dust that builds up in the sensors uh when the system kicks on, it blows the dust out and it hits the the fire u the the fire sensor and it kicks them
022off evidently. So, we made sure we started putting on our regular cleaning schedule was to clean our clean our fire sensors out so our volunteer firefighters didn't have to get up at 2:00 in the morning to come to the school. Um, and then in Potter Dicks, we've had no capital projects going on. Um, we we have had uh some roofing projects that we're we're in phase two of that I've worked with company out of Scotsluff uh directly on that. Part of that was done with Esther funds, which we've utilized all that up. Um, and now we're working through our building fund, which is a taxing fund in Nebraska to to pay for those. Like I said, we're through phase two of that. Um, coming to phase three. Our buildings in Potter Dicks are uh 1919,
0231954, and 1955. So, we we definitely have some facility issues. >> All right, we're going on the leadership. So tell us go you skip. >> I just want to do mine all. >> That's okay. >> Uh how do you communicate budget realities to board and communicate in communities and transparently? >> I I just tell them I I mean uh just just as I talked about in my presentation I I I so when I do the financial report at every board meeting uh there's two parts. We do the monthly claims and then we do the financial summary. And so I talk about the monthly claims, things that came up. Um, you know, like today, uh, at the school in Potter, uh, we had a motor go out on one of the heaters in the teachers room.
024Uh, they were there. Wyoming Mechanical was there to fix that today cuz we have to get them out of Cheyenne to work on our system. Um, so I just, you know, when those types of things come across on claims, I make sure I always update the board. I also send regular emails to the board if there's major things going on with our transportation or our uh, uh, facilities. Of course, I send them to one board member at a time. So, I don't create a quorum on email. Um, so I make sure I just copy and paste into five. In your case, it would be five separate emails. I have six board members in water. Um, and then, uh, through the financial summary, it's just a matter of uh, the comparison. You saw the comparison that
025I had in the presentation. We do the last three years plus the current year. Uh, so we always have that comparison where we were monthtomonth uh, over the same time frame for the previous three years. and and then I talk about our legislature frequently. I talk about the things that are going on uh in terms of school finance. Um our state aid numbers just came out. Uh we're losing a little bit, not as much as I thought. Um there was a big problem in Omaha public schools last year. Uh they were given $30 million more in state aid than they really should have had. And uh so when I uh when I saw our state aid did not go down as much as I thought it would because we lost about 24 kids this year,
026you know, in a district last year of 166 kids. This year 142 kids. That's a large percentage of kids. So I can kind of assume we're going to lose that much state aid. So I'm like I called the state and I said, "Please tell me why we only lost $7,000 and not like $100,000." And they said, "Oh no, that's that's exactly what you should have." And I'm like, "Please explain." And so they explained to me that we actually our percentage of free and reduced actually and our percentage of option students actually went up because our overall numbers went down and so therefore our percentage state aid stayed up uh because of that. So I've taken that to my board as well. So, it it's through through the communication at the monthly board meetings, but as
027well as just those conversations I have with the state or or area legislature uh or area representative for our legislature. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Now, it's your turn. Finally. Okay. Tell us a time you faced significant push back on a decision and how you navigated it. >> Um Oh, let me count way. Um, probably I'd say probably most recent one cuz we just had a parent in my last office last week about it. um was how our honors night at the end of the school year was run. And uh and they used to have kind of a big end of the year thing where they did athletics and they did uh academics and they did activities and it was nearly 3 hours long on a school night uh the last week of school
028and it was not wellreceived that way. Um so I made some changes and I communicated those changes ahead of time. uh I made those changes and um it did not go over well with our athletics specifically. Um and so what I had encouraged them to do was to do to me it would be more meaningful to have a football or fall sports banquet at the end of fall sports, not wait until the first or second week of May to do it. Um you know, we and and I'm all for talking about kids' awards and what they've earned and all those things. Um, I just don't think the second week in May honors assembly is the right place to do it. So, um, so I I received quite a bit of push back from our athletics,
029uh, staff on that and parents, um, and I just basically have stuck with my guns and I had board support to do it as well. Um, which was important and um, and I had communicated with them and and uh, you know, now the program's about an hour and it focuses on our academics. It focuses focuses on um our activities like uh you know uh speech and and play production and and band and vocal music and uh it focuses on our national honor society. It focuses on the things I think that should be included in an honor night overall and our larger athletic awards as well. I actually didn't take away any awards that we recognize that night. It's just we don't have a coach standing up there and talking about it for 45 minutes. So,
030>> okay. All right. So, next, how do you align principles and district leaders around shared goals? >> Um, the the model that I use is really I want to I want to have a cooperative model to where I understand what their priorities are. Um, they understand the priorities of the district. they understand the priorities that I have and we work in unison together to establish and what are the overall priorities and and again a lot of times in my experience those have been similar not always the same but they've typically been similar so you can kind of get to common ground and that's really the thing that I think is most important is trying to find common ground among the different stakeholders uh in this case specifically talking about leadership with other building administration is
031what is the common ground and what can we agree on to move forward. Um, you know, it it's it's okay to be the boss. Um, you know, and just to tell people what they need to do and what they have to do, but in my experience, that's not been a long-term solution or effectively. It it's not effective in the long term. It may be you may get done what needs to get done in the short term, but it's not an effective long-term model. >> Okay. So describe your expectations for building principles. >> Uh my expectation for building principles is that they are uh no different than me uh that I have for myself is that they are present that they are active in the building. Uh I I do not want people that sit in
032their office and sit at their desk. Uh I want people to be at at activities. In fact, when I left Sydney High School to go to Potter decks, uh the the current principal there called and asked me and he said he he he asked me this question. He goes, "You know, were you required to go to all those activities?" And I said, "No, I wasn't required. I just think it's the right thing to do cuz that's where we get to be with our kids and our patrons and our and our parents and and our staff." Um and that leads to, I think, very rich conversations afterwards and you're helping build those relationships. Um, so my expectation would be that we're represented. Uh, when I say we, the administrative team is represented at the various activities
033and athletics and and um that they're visible and they interact. Uh, you can't just go stand along the wall and not interact with people either. You got to you got to be you've got to be with you you got to interact with people. Um and and I guess overall in my time um I've learned that if you are able to do that also it helps solve a lot of problems ahead of time because if you built that relationship with people you now when you have to have a tough conversation you've already got a foundation laid with that person and you're able to uh maybe have that tough conversation um and they understand who you are and what you're about even though it's a tough conversation. So I I think I think that's absolutely vital for
034our administrative team. Um I you know they can't they can't all be content experts uh in the classrooms. You know there's there's nobody that could that can know deep enough on any content area but they they sure should know what good teaching looks like and they should know what good instruction looks like and and how that helps students. Um so I I think that's also important. Again, you can't do that from behind your desk. you got to be in the classrooms to do that. So, um so th those are those would be my priorities is that they be active, they'd be in the classrooms, they'd be uh at events and activities throughout the community, and uh that they're actually interacting with people. >> Okay, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay, back to me. Um
035why Malta and why now? >> Why Malta and why now? Um, well, uh, as I talked about, I have my son and daughter-in-law in Glasow, so I I've been specifically targeting this area. Uh, and, uh, and again, uh, I'm looking for school districts that I believe share my values, uh, and share my belief system. And, uh, and I think Malta does that. Uh I'm looking for smaller schools, uh rural schools to where um they want to provide a quality program across the board and I think Malta does that and everything that I've seen uh and heard about. Um, since I do know somebody in the area, I get to I get to cheat a little bit too and learn a little bit about Malta uh through through people I do know here. And uh and
036so um so those things are important to me. Um as I talked to uh um Mr. Ble, you know, I had met him the other day. Being the principal of a blue ribbon school, I know what it takes. Um, and and to his credit, to the staff's credit, and and to the district's credit, um, for you to be able to do that, I I know I know I know the test scores you have to get. I know the opportunities you have to provide. I know the the the teaching, learning that has to go on in classrooms. I know the work that it takes to get that award. Um, and even though they they technically didn't award it this year, I know you guys were. Um and uh so so why malted is um honestly that
037I mean you share you share the same belief system and and core values that I do. So >> thank you. >> You're back to me again. >> Did you >> No, just keep going. Okay. What how many do we have left? >> Uh five. >> Okay. >> 11 12 13. >> Okay. Tell us about your experience with facilities planning or district operations. >> What was the second part? District >> or district operations. Tell us about your experience with facilities planning or district. >> Um it it's a daily thing. >> Um honestly uh in buildings again where I'm currently at Potter Dicks, but it was in you know my my first week in in Sydney, we had a leaking problem in a 2-year-old building. We had water running down the wall in the classrooms both on
038the second floor and the first floor. And I am I am horribly scared to death of heights. And I went up and uh and uh on the roof with our our uh custodian maintenance supervisor and he used to wash windows in Denver and he's not afraid of heights and he wanted me to come out to the edge of the building and look what what it was was the the roofing company not appropriately applied the flashings and so the water was running down because they hadn't put a flashing that went over the edge in the gutter system. So, it was all running down the wall. Simple fix. Had to get up there and look at it. So, um so um I've had extensive both both again in in all the districts I've been in as an
039administrator, I've had extensive uh time with custodians and maintenance and companies and uh outside contractors in terms of working on our facilities, improving our facilities, fixing issues at our facilities. um sometimes not been the nicest conversations. Uh honestly in Elorn we kept having fire alarms go off with our security alarms and it was two different companies. One did the fire alarms, one did the security alarms and they kept doing this and finally I just set up an appointment with them both at the same day and had them stand right in front of the panel with me and and they're like, "Well, why are we both here?" And I said, "Because you're going to fix it." And they said, "Well, it's his problem." He said, "It's his problem." I said, "I don't care whose problem is.
040I want the darn thing fixed." Period. I'm tired of getting up at 1:00 in the morning because the alarms are going off, you know, and coming up here and we've got police here and we got fire department here. I'll tell you, the volunteer firefighters in Elurn are no more happy about coming to school than they are in Sydney at 2:00 in the morning. Um, it's just fix it. I don't care who. Doesn't matter. Fix it. And it got fixed. Um, so I I've had extensive uh both in terms of the, you know, working through facilities with facilities and uh and working with contractors and and and people that come into to the building to fix things. >> Thank you. How do you prioritize limited resources while still meeting students needs? >> Um, well, that's the
041first thing is is how do you meet student needs? Uh, you have to you have to understand what that is and and what is needed for that. Uh and then that's a situation where as a superintendent you work with the board, you work with the building grounds committee. Um you establish what those priorities are. Uh and and you work through what it's going to be and then when you have the money to do it, you do it. Uh if you don't have the money to do it, you got to figure out how you're going to bandaid the problem, if you will, um to to make it as make it as palatable as you can. But again, that's where honesty and the open communication comes into play. You got to let people know this is the
042situation. This is what it costs to fix it. This is what we can do right now. And no, it's not a long-term fix, but it'll get us through this year. It'll get us through the next two months. It'll get us through the winter, whatever, you know, whatever it is. So, >> okay. >> What is your process for making difficult decisions when stakeholders disagree? uh go back to what are your goals and and you've got to remember what the goals are and understand that we're working towards those goals. Um and again, you're not always going to agree how to get there, but you've got to focus on the goals. And again, I'll go back to communication. You've got to focus on the open communication. I cannot tell you, especially in in the in the smaller communities
043I've worked in, where somebody will hear a snippet, somebody will hear a snippet, somebody will hear a snippet, they take it as fact, they take it as fact, they take it as fact, and they're they're all in each other. And until you actually get them together and sit down and say, "Okay, what are your questions?" And they ask you the question, you go, "Okay, well, you're right, but you don't have the whole story. You're right, but you don't have the whole story. And you're right, you don't have the whole story." When they hear the whole story, they're like, "Oh, I wish I would have known the whole story. Well, let's let's not, you know, go from 0 to 60 and and let's ask the question first instead of getting angry with each other and and
044fussing about things. >> Thank you. Give an example of how you delegated authority while still maintaining accountability. >> Um, yeah, it's, you know, I I would sit down with assistant principles. Sydney's probably more more a factor in that discussion than really as a superintendent. Um because I you know small district I just don't have the number of people in city. I actually had more people I was responsible for administratively uh than I do in Potter. Um but it's the same process. You you sit down at the start of year you you establish okay here's what we're doing. Here's what needs to be done. evaluations, walkthroughs, um you know, events, who's supervising, um you know, uh lunch duty, morning duty, after school duty, all the things. And and so you assign those to to each group,
045including yourself, uh if need be. And and then you are the person to make sure that it's getting done. Period. And and you do that again by being present. You go there yourself, make sure it's happening. You talk to kids, you talk to staff. Is this happening? Is this not happening? You ask them directly and and if somebody says no, I wasn't able to do that. Then you're going to ask the question, the next question is why? And you want to have an answer to that. So, um, so that's how I that's how I go about that plus the accountability piece is is you just have to make sure you're staying on top of those things and you're you're observing it for yourself, but you're also talking to them and making sure they understand you're
046going to ask the question. So, how do you handle difficult personnel issues, including discipline or performance concerns? Yeah. >> Tell us about the time that you handle the situation. >> Yeah. Um, I've had several of those in my career and and typically my first calls to the school attorney >> uh to get them on board and to help have them understand what's going on uh so they can guide me through the process because you want to make sure you do it right. Um, if it's somebody who you've had consistent issues with over the years, um, or or through time frame, uh, you know, you're you're probably going to move into pretty serious discussion about leaving. And, uh, and there's a couple ways you can do that. You can help them with that decision. Uh, we
047call it counseling them out. um or if they can't be counseledled out, then you just let them know they won't be renewed and you make sure you're following all the steps again to do that. Um if it's uh you know, if it's one of the big three where you know somebody has physically uh armed somebody, somebody has uh stolen money um or somebody has become uh involved in appropriate relationship with a student. Um, you know, those are those are immediate things and and again, I my first call is usually to the school attorney. Um, because and our school attorney is KSB in Nebraska. Um, I've got Karen. I've known Karen Kosy for 22 years and uh since I've been in administration and she's always my first call. Karen, here's the situation. What What's my next
048steps? Just to make sure I'm doing it right. Um, because if you end up going to a hearing, uh, you want to make sure that you've done it right. Uh, and the last situation I had like that without going too deep into details was in Sydney. Um, and we did it right. And, uh, the the staff member was going to take us to a hearing and then once they saw all the documentation and evidence, they chose not to go to a hearing. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We made it. You have one more question. >> I got another one. >> Yeah. >> Hope you're right. eventually be tomorrow. Uh we have a range budgeted for this role, but I'd like to I'd like to understand what you're looking for in terms of compensation. >> Well,
049I currently make 14,1675 in my role plus 195 for being the quiz bowl coach. That was my extra duty pay this year. >> And I don't know who the superintendent was that signed off on that. that guy is. I got to have a conversation with him about that little thing. Um, no, I I would not expect that pay from this district. I know I know better. I've done my research in terms of what is average. I don't know what you pay your current superintendent, but um I know in general what what the pay is. Um, honestly, um, if we were somewhere in the 15, you know, I feel like this is at a car dealership and I'm paying you're going to tell me, "Oh, perfect. That's um no I I would think somewhere in the
050115 to 120 range would be the the top end. Um I do understand that I I as a superintendent I really don't have a lot of experience. I've been doing it for 4 years. Um as an administrator I've been doing it for 23 years. Um and so I I think that does help with that. Um I am retiring in Nebraska. I've already retired actually in Nebraska. You know I I I don't have a job in Nebraska right now. and the way their retirement system works. I can't have a job in Nebraska after this year because um then you can't do you can't do the retirement. So, um so what do I need to live? Um you know, it's it's not 115 or 120. I honestly probably could, you know, get by with about, you know,
05170 or 80, but I I I don't think my experience calls for that either. So, um, and honestly, I I can tell you the number of times that if you've talked to my board president, Joe Nicholas, which I assume you have, um, you know, he'll tell you money doesn't really matter to me, and it doesn't. And it's not because I'm tremendously wealthy. It's just not why I'm doing this. Um, I want to be paid fairly, but really that's you guys determine that. I don't you you determine it because I do the job. And if I do the job, then you pay me. If I don't do the job, then don't pay me. And tell me goodbye. It's pretty simple. Again, I'm a pretty simple person. I'm pretty straightforward. So, um, do I be fairly compensated?
052Yes. Is that my is that my main priority for being here? No. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> I love uh the name of your laptop, by the way. >> It is. Oh, >> big laptop. >> I didn't name it. The IT guys don't know if the next guy will have a Got to run. Katie Brown. >> Thank you for your everyone signed in that came in. >> Yes. >> Oh, almost. I am. >> I don't know where the p other panel rooms are, but I assume someone will show him. >> I will just walk around until I see the people that looks like they're the right. That's why I just focus that was my job was now true >> cuz I was the tour guide.
053>> So you understand? >> I do. >> Um Sean is sitting out there. So I'll get you I'll get you to Sean Chris. >> Mr. Bluff is out here to show you. So >> sounds good. In other words, okay, my jacket, my course bag in here. >> Yep, absolutely. >> Okay, thank you. >> That's his leave. >> But I like it. >> It's a choice. I want it more. >> Mine should have been hanging on the back of >> It's right there. I even forgot I had one until I looked at his I'm like, "Oh, I shouldn't leave my jacket." >> There it is. >> Okay. Thank you everybody. >> Now I have to look all professional. >> I wear a tie every day, but I don't wear a jacket hardly ever. >> Yeah. Is
054that your stuff over there? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And if I don't leave it up here next to me, I'll walk off of that. >> Yeah. All right. Power strip. >> I think I'd pull in charge. >> Okay. >> We're going to find out real fast. >> All righty. Only ones that didn't make it where they were supposed to go. >> That's pretty good odds. I was like a half hour just to stretch out and do this and then do that but it would kind of look funny. >> That's what that is like >> these two fingers. >> I thought you car tunnel or something. >> No, it's in my shoulder back or something. Oh, >> I was assessing the situation. >> I kept looking at him like he's got horrible sick. >> Okay,
055we're starting. >> Okay. >> And if I talk for an hour, it'll be a miracle because I don't like my voice that much. So, The part that I did like and enjoy is the fact that you ask who am I? So, um, I threw in some pictures here at this point. That's my wife and I on the left. We are up at um, Bucharest for the World Championships for my daughter. And that's my family there on the right. Um, I'm the ugly guy on the back. My daughter's the short one to my left and her name is Cody May. My son on the bottom right is a golf pro in Celane and the one in the middle is Wyatt. The one on the right is Zayn. The one in the middle is Wyatt and he
056wrestled at Duke. Um and then is med school and state and the boy on the right um got through college playing golf and then was asked to be the golf coach. So he stepped up and um did that for 3 years. He tried to be a PGA tour or PGA pro um when he was 21 and couldn't couldn't uh I couldn't compete at a high enough level. So after 3 years of coaching, he jumped into another qualifier and got second. So that's how he got into uh he's got his PGA tour card, not tour card, he's he's a PGA pro. So he's and then I didn't know this until he became one. There's three levels to being a pro in in being a pro um what pro golf. Um and he's just finishing his first
057stage now. And so um you have to jump through a bunch of hoops and do a bunch of hours here and there. So pretty proud of all of them. My wife is 10 times smarter than I am. So I don't know what she was thinking when she chose me, but at least I got one one decision right. So, pretty proud of that, too. Um, again, I put them in the order of how old they are. Um, Cody's the oldest. She was fifth in the world twice. That happens to be in Bucharest where we were at the national or at the international tournament. That other one is when she was a senior. She at um, shoot, I should remember. It's a university down just north of Atlanta where she wrestled for the national title and she
058lost four matches in four years of college wrestling. Two of them were at the senior at as a freshman. She went undefeated throughout the regular season and they bumped her up to the next weight level up cuz they thought she had a better chance of beating the top gal on that next level up and uh she did not. And then she turned around and lost to the girl she beat in round one because she was so angry with herself and kind of lost her head. So those are two of the four losses. She lost only two more matches in sophomore, junior, and senior year years of of college wrestling. So pretty proud of how mean she is and how good she uh showed um she wrestled at the Olympic training center until she was 26
059and body just gets beat up and abused and she finally just had had enough that she um used her biology degree to become a biologist at a place in Gley for seven years and had worked her way um into a supervisory position and a lot of stress and things and she just changed jobs about 3 months ago and doesn't make quite as much, but she's way happier because she isn't um having to be the bad guy and and uh the other company values their employees a lot better. So, tough decision for her, but proud of her for making it for her own mental health. Again, uh US Open in Vegas, she won the weight class that she was in. And the other one there is in Oklahoma City. She was the outstanding wrestler of the
060national tournament, but also the outstanding wrestler of the year for college women's wrestling. So, I got to go to that tournament. Pretty pretty awesome. This is Zay and I at Myrtle Beach. We had gone three years in a row to play the father-son national tournament. Um, and and we're pretty competitive. uh if his putter would have showed up the last day, we'd have we'd have won our whatever handicap group, but his putter kind of let us down. That's okay. That's part of golf. The other one is in Celane. He is um a golf pro obviously at at one of the private clubs, which it's just wrong that he can't get his own father on the course that he's pro golf. That's just wrong in my mind. But he did get to golf with uh um
061shoot who's the coach for the Broncos, Sean Payton, and several famous and Tim Tibo, you know, a bunch of those guys. You have to be a millionaire and own land on the property in order to be a member. So, obviously, dad's not going to ever make that cut. So, that green behind us is the floating green where you have to get out to the green and and uh I got a car. So pretty excited about that. This this picture or these both these pictures are in New Zealand. Zayn went down to New Zealand for a year and was a golf pro down there. And uh you want to talk about beautiful. It's just kind of a combination of Kentucky and uh um Hawaii, just beautiful ocean views and everything. and uh he was not able
062to stay because New Zealand didn't want to renew the visas for USA based uh people. So he ended up coming back and that's why he's now in Coraline. So this is Wyatt. He's the baby. Um kind of a win, you know, you look at him. This was last year cuz he's been in med school now almost a year. He's really liking it. So that's very positive. Obviously, I was a little younger when I shot the sheep in 1991. Went on a trip with my brother in Alaska. And then that other picture is my wife and I in Hawaii. It's amazing how many things you can afford to do once your kids get out of the house. We've taken more trips in the last three years, four years than we had ever taken. So um and
063we're making it a priority to do some of that stuff. So um professionally, and I'll read most of this and then try to fill in with some other um gory details. All levels, okay, professional, superintendent, principal, teacher, and coach. All levels require teamwork to be successful. I'm a resultsdriven person who values relationships and open communication to be successful. Setting smart goals and then focusing on the steps to reach those are key to success. I trust my administrative team, board, and staff to share information and strive to make us a better organization. My core values are honesty, integrity, and providing the best education that we can provide. I also am a stickler for following the policies and handbooks that we have in place and I'm going to add something in there. If we don't like the
064policy, then let's change it. While it's still adopted, we have to follow it. Same thing with our handbook. If we've got something in there that says everybody should walk around with shorts on their head, we probably ought to get rid of that piece and change the policy or change the handbook. But until that's changed, that's what we do. We follow the handbook. um they inform and guide our daily practice. I enjoyed teaching and coaching for just over a decade and decided to be an administrative an administrator because my father inspired that direction. He was a principal and coached for 20 plus years as well as a teacher and my mom was also an elementary teacher. Um professional continued I have 16 plus years of superintendent experience and building principal with over 450 prek through 2nd
065students for 5 years. I've had the opportunity to improve instruction and lead good growth almost every year. The first year you're trying to do an initiative, sometimes you don't get the growth that you want because there's obviously some buy in and change. But it's still above the expected year's growth in a year's time. And I I look at data a lot. And I think because I look at data, our teachers focus more and our principles focus more because they know that's going to be something that's looked at consistently throughout and it's kind of a measurement for our success. Um we've gotten accredited with distinction and governor's awards for high growth several times each. Those are things in Colorado. I don't know that they do those in Montana and they don't do some of those anymore
066in Colorado. So those were just um achievements that we got as a school district. Those check those achievements happened with teamwork and buyin to the improvement goals that were set. We provided training then focused on the small things that led to big improvements. That all happens at the instructional level. I've written two building grants that led to structural improvements and energy savings in the districts that I wrote them for. I was also superintendent for two other building projects that added much needed classrooms. I've written math, science, and English curriculum earlier in my career while being a teacher at Stevensville and working with MSU Boseman um on the SIMS grant. So, I've got some background there in those three areas. Professional continued, "I've been fortunate to never have too many struggles with budgets because I'm a
067math teacher who's good with numbers and have open, clear, two-way communication with my business manager in buildings about budgets and constraints. I have been voted into leadership positions such as the Colorado High School Activities Association Board of Control for six years and the Colorado High School Activities Association Executive Board for four years. Just to give you some perspective, in Colorado there are 64 to 70 school districts, school schools at every single level, which for them it's 1 A through 6A. For us, it's CB and double A. They have 64 to 70 that are bigger than any of our double A. That's how many more students there are in Colorado than there are in Montana. So, um, being voted on to those to me shows that I'm trusted to be a leader. And the other one
068that I was voted into, um, I was also voted to be the chair on a 16 board for the Centennial Boseies, which is a board of cooperative educational services. Those positions are all voted on by superintendents and athletic directors who want good leadership in place. So I think that shows that I am a leader and that I will do the right thing and that's why you get trusted to be put in those positions. Projects that were completed. This is deep dive number one from your um questions construction project. These obviously could be a lot longer. I tend again not to bore you with a bunch of extra details. construction of our addition at Broadview of classrooms and wait room. The need of the classrooms was apparent as we didn't have any space for special services
069in our building with students pushing capacity in every room that is available. So in other words, if you were a speech path, we bring those people in out of billings and they come work with our kids. Well, they were in a spare kitchen with just a table and no place to put them. So, the board had voted to do this addition with some donations from a solar company that was on the in our district that donated $175,000 and then we had some um some reserve funds to be able to to finish the project. Well, nobody was getting stepping up doing the job. So, in in my first year there, I basically bid it off and said, "Let's go. we've got to, you know, we need we need the space and and we've got the money
070to do the building while we while we can. So, that's what we we're trying to do. Um, the previous weight room was less than 200 square ft and could not hold more than four people lifting at the same time. By the time all the weights and the other stuff was in there, there wasn't enough room to do anything basically. So half the stuff was pulled out, put on the gym floor with some padding, and then you're you're doing some things, but the back and forth there is is not productive, and obviously you can't have many kids in weights class. So the board and community again voted four years ago to have the district to build the addition. We had two community meetings with input from staff, community board, and engineers. We hired a general contractor
071and architects for the plans and start the project in the spring of 2425 school year. We had hopes of starting to break ground as soon as well with the project as soon as school was dismissed in the spring of 25. Here's the problems. It took 3 months just to get the building permit that was supposed to take a week. And then the engineered plans needed some changes to meet the inspection fees to get approved. That pushed back all of the summer of 25 and we started digging in September. The project was not big enough to draw any large companies who could afford to buy all of their materials out of their own pocket and then just charge us later. Most of them were small enough that they when they ordered them, we had to pay
072for them and then they would get them out. So that also was not a positive thing because it's just not a big enough project to draw anybody with any real pull financially. Um, let's see. Okay. The other struggle that turned out to be an issue was the availability for contractors to get these specific materials and engineered strength trusses in a timely manner. We waited for those ordered materials for 6 weeks which made the project continue to be delayed. We had done asbestous inspections throughout the whole building over the last 30 to 50 years. Had no areas that had any asbestous. And then they go to cut into the outside of the gym and the insulation in the wall has asbestous in it. Well, the cut point for having to do an abatement is 1%. Ours
073was 1.6%. So, we had to do an asbestous abatement. This delayed us two more weeks. The good part was that um it was on the exterior of the gym so we could keep the abatement on the outside. It didn't affect because we actually eat lunch in our gym and we have gym classes in our gym so it's pretty much busy all day long. So it was a really good thing that it didn't have to abate the gym. It was just on the exterior part of it and then we got that fixed and are in the process. I'll finish um so it didn't impact our gym classes and cafeteria. We are set to have the inspection for the certificate of occupancy next week and have weights and desks installed in the first week of April. We
074are excited to have the space, believe me. Um, any questions on that piece so far? Delay is pretty much construction every time you you get involved. All right, deep deep dive number two, leadership challenge. um when I got hired to at Brush which is a district of about 1500 kids. So I got hired to be the prek2 principal. The history of the prek through two was stagnant with a high percentage of read plans and an administration or administrator who would not promote more training to improve the learning. whether that was entitled teachers or him as an administrator, you flip your coin and see which one you want. But the the challenge was for me to try to change that. So, um, my history of turning schools around academically was what they needed. That's why I
075got the job. Staff had fear that I would be a Nazi about being an administrator. I just showed them where their scores were and asked them what their thoughts on how we could improve. We implemented their ideas with training which I took with them. So we did science of reading, we did Hagerty, we did all of those classes together and then um I it showed my buy into the working together and valuing their input on improvement. We had six classrooms at each grade level as well as a title one teacher at each grade level. Part of that is some of that's co money, not all. We did common planning for each grade level that I attended at least once a month to listen and ask guiding questions. They had outstanding ideas and implemented the training
076with fidelity. We lowered our percentage of students on read plans by 30% in four years, which was huge. That is even more impressive when you consider it was right during the co era. staff turned out to be outstanding educators and great to work with by giving them an opportunity to have input into the process and develop as a team. Perceptions of the building and the success were very different when I left. So that that piece again I think what gets measured um is is valued. >> Nobody wants to be seen as a poor educator. So they buy into the process of the training and they work hard and that's we should be um we should be educating kids at a high level and that's what our job is and so most of the time um
077well I could have told them what what was wrong or what needed to change but their buy into the process doesn't happen if I tell them they have to buy in they have to come up with the ideas and then it's their ideas on what we're going to fix or how we're going to fix it. And I wouldn't have let that go south. It's it's a matter of guidance and questions and do some things there. But they all were very good educators. It's just a matter of giving them a chance to come up with the ideas on their own and then we jump in and and Colorado did a great job. Montana's behind in this regard. They paid for every elementary teacher a,000 bucks to go do the science of reading training, including the administrators.
078So, we just jumped in as a staff and everybody did it together and and it it's great training. Great training. But I I paid for that and for my teachers in Broadview to do it and it it's really good for your instructional practices in regard to teaching reading for kids. And that was part of my frustration, I guess, as an educator. I was a high school English teacher, minor, math major. I didn't have any clue how to teach you reading and I had never been shown anything about how to teach you reading. And that really frustrates me and frustrated me. Um because the same thing they can't do as a second grader is the same thing they couldn't do as a freshman or senior or junior in high school. We didn't, you know, and and
079we as a nation don't train our secondary teachers how to teach reading because they're supposed to already know that. And yes, for 80 to 95% of them, they do. That other five or 10 or 20% they don't. And and I felt like I was jipped on my education because I should be able to teach you how to read better and should know what things um you needed to work on. And so that's that's a whole another story, but that was just my frustration. All right. What do I bring to Malta? Um, you're not going to have an applicant that has more proven evidence of excellent academic growth than I do. You're just not going to have someone who builds relationships and values input and feedback for building the best systems and programs that we can
080for our students. A leader that has high expectations for himself and his systems and models those for good communication and consistent review of smart goals. I'm assuming you know what smart goals What are smart goals? >> Measurable, attainable. Like I I know a few of the things, but it's it's an acronym, >> right? Right. But measurable, attainable, um timing. I mean, all of those are things that we should be doing and setting for our for our systems. And we should do that whether it's um maintenance plans, when's the building roof going to need replacement or need fixing or plumbing and all the rest of that stuff. We should have those kind of plans in place and the smart goals is kind of that planning piece. I'm a family man that values personal connections. A leader
081who has shown that he has the trust of other leaders by being voted into leadership positions at the regional and state levels. Someone who know who loves education and students with a very positive growth mindset. All right, this is going to be a little bit repetitive and I'll apologize for that piece, but let's hope it pops up. >> I don't think you're connected to our internet. >> Oh, I bet. I know. >> It's cute. Yeah. >> Just go to the little world there. >> Little world. >> Yeah. Right there. There. >> Little world. See? >> All right. >> And go up. Yeah. Click there. >> Uh arrow. >> Click on it again. Yeah. Turn it on. >> Well, it on in the hotel. >> Yeah. And then just do NPS public right here. >> Okay.
082I would just try and go and hit your link again and see if it'll pop up. >> Yeah, to answer the question first. >> I'm okay with no >> 100 day plan. Yep. Okay. So, um, Malta's 100 day action plan. My objective, my goal is to establish trust and build strong collaborative relationships with all stakeholders of the Malta School District while enhancing opportunities for all students. Day one agenda, SWAT analysis, invest in early wins and build relationships. Vision development, create buyin, team development, gather feedback, develop a media plan, and I don't know what that looks like here, but hopefully some of you will help with that. Develop a culture of trust, build collab, build collaborative district objectives, and develop smart goals. I'll go over what some of that means as we go through. Initial items
083for the summer. Ensure that Malta is fully staffed for the 2627 school year. Meet with the board during a work session to listen and learn about the district mission, goals, and vision. Determine what past initiatives have been tried and what the outcomes were for those. Strategic plan. Design and complete initial communication to multistakeholder groups and start building relationships. Host community meetings or meeting or meetings for introductions and feedback. perform the SWAT analysis, which is just stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A lot of that's just getting feedback from everybody in the district and input. Lay a foundation for improvement initiatives, existing and new. Meet with the board president, vice president, or other board members, to gain background knowledge. Meet with board members to find common interests and learn about each other. Meet with the
084principles or directors and discuss these items. Current challenges, top priorities, history of the district. Expand the SWAT analysis. Discuss staff handbooks and expectations. Learn the sharing of responsibilities and duties. Current opportunities offered to students to develop the whole child. plan team building activities both as the admin team and in their buildings and how we provide mentors and new teacher induction. Investigate the reasons for current culture and reflect on changes needed for continuation of the current success. Explore opportunities for early celebrations to gain trust and build relationships. Plan a day one agenda with each group of staff when they return. review past and current budget, excuse me. Review all the grants the district has acquired and ensure that we are meeting those requirements. Review student and staff handbooks with buildings. Review board of education policies. Continuous
085work. The one thing that I have done in several districts is because I'm a math geek and pretty structured, I want our board handbook to be usable and updated. I can tell you at Broadview, 70% of their policies hadn't been reviewed since 2009. So, I've updated everything and I'm going through all of the sections to either get rid of or say reviewed for the policies that just haven't been reviewed because they should and they deserve to be reviewed on a fairly consistent basis, even if that's every 5 or 10 years. 2009 is just a ways back in case you're doing the math. So part of part of my frustrations become familiar with district facilities, transportation and technology. Visit with each director discuss rotations of inventory. Review and develop long-term planning. Again, some of those could
086or may be in place. Some of them may not. But that's one thing that also frustrated me at at Broad View is that none of the facilities had been upkept or upgraded in 15 years. And so when I come in, there's things breaking down that should have just had some common maintenance stuff that if it had been done over the last decade and a half, we wouldn't had to spend nearly so much money. So I fixed some of that and yes, it cost some bucks, but now we're in a much better place. return to school. So, a lot of this is going to be repeat of what I already done. Staff day one agenda. Meet the teaching staff to celebrate last year's successes and present an outline development of the admin outline developed by the
087admin for the year. Meet with classified staff to give last year's successes and discuss the plans for the for the year. The other thing that hadn't been done in all of at least my business manager's been there 32 years. sheet never had an evaluation. Never. That's a long time for anybody to be gone with any eval without an evaluation and no feedback. And so I did all of those last year for all of our classified people. And even if it's just every other year, they deserve some attention to what they do on a consistent basis and deserve some feedback, good, bad, or indifferent. What can we do better? What do we need to change? Um, be visible and approachable to visit one-on-one. Listening and asking questions is the goal. Be involved directly with professional development
088and beginning of the year training, initial data mining sessions with teachers. I because I'm a math geek and and use NWA a lot. It's improved a lot over the last 20 25 years. It's got a lot of resources for us to look at what things we scored well, why we scored well, how can we improve. it's just got a ton of resources in there. Um, and there's a right way and a wrong way to use the resource. So, doing that data mining with teachers also shows them that we value what scores the kids are putting out because it shows us what you're getting education wise from them. >> You got about two minutes. >> Okay, that last one's going to be just a repeat. Okay, listen. It's a big one. Meet the board during the
089work session and get feedback. The SWAT analysis again it's down to relationships. Uh determine if staff desires desires needs for development opportunities. Fall transitioning. These are things that are going to start go in the fall. Communicate what successes we've made with 12 stakeholders. Continuous analysis of best practice and training needs. Expand the SWAT analysis. Board work session on feedback from the community. Board training needs and expectations. celebrate successes so far. Um, I had one thing in here that and I'm just going to end with that. What have we done to show that we are improving and and educating ourselves and how to get better? And so that's one thing I would like us as a administrative team, as a school board, and as a district, how how do we get better and how do we
090model that for our teachers? And and if we can do that, I think it creates better buying from the whole system. So that's where I'm going to stop right there. >> Guys want to go into your questions. >> Y >> I have talked enough. You guys marker. >> I'll apologize again for coughing. So >> 16 questions. >> Yeah, we have 16 questions. >> Yeah. So brevity is good. >> 20 seconds each. >> Right. >> Speed gating right here. >> You're being judged on how fast you do this. >> Believe me, I can go pretty quick. >> Okay. Describe your understanding of the board superintendent relationship in a traditional governance model. It should be two-way communication. Um, I'm your only employee. Um, even though you get to do the hiring and firing, um, I'm your one
091connection and should everything should run at some level through the superintendent and down to the rest of the employees. Um, open communication and trust in um, at every level. Um, I know I'm going to make mistakes, but so is anybody that's involved in any system or any program. And I'm more than happy to own my mistakes. And I can tell you why I made them or why I didn't do this or did do that. But I value and treasure that two-way feedback because without that, I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. I'm doing what I think you think. And if you don't communicate, I'm guessing. So that takes that two-way communication and and I really do value that because any kid and we need to model that for kids. Jump in, be involved
092in the process. I'm make a mistake, learn from it, don't make it again. And so um I think if we do that, you know, as leaders in our in our systems and our programs, it shows kids that the most important thing is being involved. do the best you can to make it the best system you can and we're going to make some mistakes but they're honest mistakes trying to do the right thing and so our hearts and minds are in the right place for that. >> Okay. What do you expect from the board and what should the board expect from you? Clear, open communication, hopefully smart goals. Um I can tell you as as a district leader for many years, if you go more than three, you're spreading yourself too thin. and make sure that
093those are specific, measurable, achievable, responsible, and and timely. And if you do that, it it allows me and the rest of the district to focus on those specific goals because if we choose 25 of them, we're probably only going to get five or 10 maybe done at a mediocre level. If if we're more specific about what what we expect and what we want, um that that's very important. The the other thing that's uh important for me as a leader is that guidance comes from all of you when you make a decision. Um and obviously board chair has more to do with that maybe of the communication side of that, but it should be how does the whole board no matter if if we think we should all paint our face black, if the board voted
094for that, then that's what we do. Um it can't be you two voted for it, you voted against it, and you two voted for it. So then you don't support it. Whatever the board decides, we all support 100%. Even if I wasn't in favor, it doesn't matter. The board decided that's what we do and we support it as a system and that's the best way to be successful. We have to be able to disagree at times, but if the board votes for whatever we're trying to get done, that's what we should be doing. Can I have you repeat that so that I can make sure I'm >> the question? >> Yeah. Uh, what do you expect from the board and what should the board expect from you? >> And and I I'm the last guy
095in the world that's going to lie to you. I if I can't I'm not going to even attend it. I'm going to give you the God's honest truth and and my my two cents based on my years of experience and and if I don't know, I'm smart enough to go ask and find other people, you know, cuz I'm friends with half the dang superintendents in the state. if if I haven't been through it, I'll ask five or 10 of them that I respect and say, "Okay, what happens in this situation and how do we do better or how do we fix that?" And and get good feedback because I'm not going to I'm not going to just give you a lie or blow smoke because I want you to think I'm smarter than everybody. I'm
096smarter than most. That doesn't mean mean that I'm not going to make mistakes. I am going to make mistakes just how it is. I didn't get into school minds when I was a young, >> but I found out I wasn't the smartest guy in the room. They're pretty fast. >> Okay. Um, in your presentation, you talked about what you would focus on in your first 100 days. What does the rest of the first year look like? >> Again, it's it's just continuation of looking at those smart goals because those should be what we continue to look back at. And for me, it's data. We if one of our goals isn't student achievement or growth, we probably need to look at that because it should be a goal for every school to to try to get
097better growth or get more than a year's growth in a year's time. And if that's the case, we're going to continue to improve the education of our kids. And that's really our goal. Get the best growth we can out of our kids. Open every door that you might want to have when you get out of here. you have any choice open to you as long as you did the prep stuff in high school to get there. If you decide you want to all of a sudden want to be an engineer and you did all of the bonehead courses, you're going to struggle because you didn't lay the groundwork to be successful. But we should be creating that best environment for any kid to have any choice they want when they get out. And that doesn't
098mean it has to be college. For most kids, it probably isn't going to be. And that's okay. If you want to be a welder, you want to be a plumber, you want to be an electrician, give them the background to be able to do that. Whatever the choices they want to make, >> I have one more. Where is it? Um, how have you led strategic planning efforts in previous districts? >> The one that I talked about was was uh looking at the data and getting the information. And I've done that in several districts and I knew that that would be successful because nobody wants you to come in and hammer you with whatever your results are. Nobody wants that. They all want to they all want better education. We didn't get education to make make
099it a poor environment for kids or to do just because I want to do it this way because I've done it this way for 20 years. Sorry. If it's not getting good results, then we need to change something. And so that's I think the key is to look at at those results and be data driven. I again it's it's about the data and what it's telling us and so be reflective about that and try to improve our system. That's number one goal for schools in my mind. >> Thank you. describe your experience with long range facilities planning bond levy processes or capital projects. >> Uh long range planning I I was doing construction for a lot of years to support my teaching habit. So um I' I've done a lot of the construction side of
100things and understand bless you >> um what what that takes and the amount of work it takes. the running the bond and the levies is in in cohesion with your business manager and how to and the board about what it's going to take and what what building you might need or want um in regard to planning. So, all of that requires quite a bit of planning ahead of time on what you can afford or can't afford because if I'm going to tell you I need a $50 million building and we don't have any chance in Hades of raising that kind of money, we probably need to consider something different. So, again, that's feedback and input from people that have been in the in the system and in the district and and your business manager is
101going to know some of those figures too on okay, what's it what's it cost? We want to build a $5 million building. How much is that going to raise taxes? What do we have in our in our levies to be able to do those kind of things? And what reserves do we have set aside? Because some of your reserves, I'm sure, are fairly significant. But we try to just like running. You guys are old enough to know what a checkbook is. Some of the kids today don't. You don't ever spend it all. You always keep some reserve. And we should as a district as well. keep some reserves and make sure that we've got some rainy day funds and some things that if we need them, we can pull on them in a tough situation.
102Obviously, it's hard to put away enough maybe for a boiler or, you know, some of those larger expenses. Buses are crazy. They're 100 plus,000 for a brand new bus. those you'd have a pretty good transportation fund and usually there's some money in that that you put aside but to put away enough for a whole bus you know on any kind of a consistent basis is almost impossible. So having those um the knowledge with that and and running a bond is is a little bit deeper. I've gotten to build a few projects but they were already in the process prior to me uh being part of that. But again, that communication piece and that's that's having a a good relationship with your business manager and knowing um what steps and again that's where I'm going to
103use the experience from some other superintendent on okay help me through these what are the next five steps. Thank you. Um, how do you communicate budget realities to boards and communities in a transparent way? >> Show me the money. >> Well, and honestly, that's that's about you. You have to put the figures out there. Here's what you've had the last two years. Here's what you had last year. And here's what we have this year. And then come to a reality check. We have to prioritize at some level. Can we afford to have a whatever? Can we afford not to have a whatever? Okay. And so here's our 25 things that could possibly be cut. We have to prioritize. If we don't have enough money, something has to go. What is that going to be? Um
104and and those are tough conversations because it involves personnel and everybody takes that personally and that that's hard. Like where I'm at, we had a second grade teacher that's leaving. And I'm going to combine the first and second grade because there's only five kids in one class and four in the other. We are $100,000 over our budget because the board gave away over $100,000 more than I said we could in the negotiations last year. And I'm like, and so that will be at least a short-term fix for the budget that that I was dealt with this year because um we we we gave away more than we should have. >> We we gave almost $100,000 in benefits away and I said we can only give away 155 total and then we gave another 180,000 away
105above the benefits package. So, um, it's hard to be successful if if we're not on the same page. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Leadership, tell us about a time you faced significant push back on a decision and how you navigated it. Um, I presented all the possible solutions after delivering the news and developed all of the possible solutions and and put that out there and let the people who were upset at least look at everything that had been considered. um and and then explain why the choice had been made to go with what I said we needed to do. Um it wasn't particularly popular because it did involve personnel and that's hard. Um but they did understand when they were given the full picture on why that decision had been made that
106way. Again, everybody wants change until it's you that has to change. So, everybody wants accountability until you're held accountable for doing something that we shouldn't be doing. And so, that's those are tough words to have and tough conversations to have, but and I know people take it personally and and honestly, it's the job that you sign up for. You have to do what's best for kids and best for the district. And that sometimes means having tough conversations. I can tell you right now, I refereed football, basketball, and volleyball, basketball, volleyball for over 30 years, and it's the best training I've had to be an administrator because every time you blow your whistle, you're making somebody mad. And at the end of the day, you better know the rules, be in the right position, and call
107what you see. And it's the same thing in this job. At the end of the day, I've got to look myself in the mirror that know that I did the best thing I could for the district. And it's not personal. I don't care what color your jersey is. I truly don't. But it's the same thing in this job. It's not personal if I have to do something with personnel. I'm trying to do what's best for the kids in the district. And that is hard. And it's hard to explain because if I'm the janitor who just got cut, you just took my livelihood away. And I understand that that's hard. Um, but that's part of doing the job and hopefully as long as the board understands that there's going to be some tough decisions and tough
108conversations, that's that's part of the job and I understand that. Um, and I I empathy is the most important thing we have with anybody. Um, and showing that we're empathetic and and feel bad and showing that you're that kind of person to me is huge because people want to know that you care about them. And if I had the money to just give to you and hire you back, I'd do that. But I I don't have that money and the district doesn't have that money. And and so those are tough conversations, but it's it's part of being the superintendent and and taking the guidance from the board because those decisions come from us as a group, not me individuals. >> Okay. Thank you. How do you align principles and district leaders around shared goals hopefully
109are developed with their input as well. Um, and then creating that smart goal piece and looking at what results are we getting towards those smart goals and meeting with them on a consistent basis at least where I'm at and most of the districts I've been in. Um, I have an admin team that we meet every Tuesday morning and it's a pretty consistent agenda and we go over this, this, this, and this. And I give them the ability to put whatever they want on the agenda, but there's four or five different headings that, you know, what's leadership, what student concerns do we have, what leadership concerns do we have, what um, facilities concerns do we have? There's, you know, there's categories in there and they have the ability to add things just as much as I
110do. So that helps in regard to their buy into what we're looking at and how we're improving. And then um part of those come from the board and this is what we're this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to improve education. How are we going to do that? And I also give them input just like I did with the professional development. So I give them hope hopefully and and motivate them to step up and do those things. And because we have those consistent conversations, I've never had a struggle with a principal. It's not that I knock on wood. That that couldn't happen because I've seen some awfully good administrators that were superintendents and friends of mine have some principles that just wouldn't buy in and wouldn't change. And I think in the long
111run, they ended up getting fired just like sometimes that happens. If you're not going to buy into the process, maybe you need to find a different place to hang your hat. >> Okay. Describe your expectations for building principles. >> Communication consistent meeting our policies and handbooks consistently. Um everything that I would well everything that I ex would do in the job I expect them to do and I communicate with them consistently. So, and I can't say, you know, with a district that's a little bigger here, I would try to meet with them each week anyway and meet together as a whole admin team at least once a month so that they're all hearing the same thing, not only when we're together, but when I'm with them individually going over and and those meetings don't have
112to be very long. they can be pretty um concise and be done in half hour to an hour if you're having those conversations. But uh again, you need to have those conversations consistently with them so that it's not a surprise when all of a sudden somebody's in trouble for not doing this or for not doing that or not communicating or you didn't get any of the transportation, you know, scheduled or whatever the case may be. there's, you know, a hundred different duties that a principal does on a consistent basis and communicating what struggles you're having and how you're meeting that is is important. And so that's part of me just checking in. I want to help support if I can and if there's hurdles that I can take out of your way. One of the
113best things I did as the building principal with 400 plus kids, I What can I take off your plate? what decision have I made in the last 3 years that really doesn't help you as a teacher and doesn't add any value? And I had three things that were pretty legitimate. And I just said, "Fine, those are gone." And and that helped create a lot more buyin from teachers, too. If if you can take a hurdle out of their way of something that you thought was a great idea and maybe they didn't like and and honestly again if you make a mistake own ask. Worst they can do is say everything you do stinks. Well that's not very specific. Give me something specific. I'll try to fix it if I can. And I know that, you
114know, for my first grade team, it was huge because I had three or four armory old veteran first grade teachers and when I took two or three off their plate, they were like, "Man, I appreciate that about you." So, that was that was outstanding. >> 10 minutes, guys. Okay, thank you. >> Hold on. It's past 6:00. I have talked way too long. >> You didn't start till 5. >> Okay. Okay. Nice try >> with your fit. Why Malta? Why now? >> I come from rural schools and this is the same conversation I had with the kids. Um I come from a school where you're expected to win every conference thing that you're in. You win every football conference. You win it every year. You win the basketball every year. That's the expectation. And I didn't
115realize how spoiled I was until I got out and started having to coach in some of those other ones that never win. And you're trying to just be competitive. And I made sure I put my own kids in a district that was that way. And that's the kind of district I want to be a part of. Have a higher expectation. You can do anything. And I've told this to the kids too. I said, "There's nothing holding you back if you choose to want to be a engineer or aerospace or whatever. You can do anything and I want to be in one of those districts that opens those doors and challenges kids to get better. Your kids rock and compete in athletics all the time." But you've also got good music programs. You've got other good
116things going on. And that's the kind of district I want to be a part of. I come from rural. I can tell you in every district I've been in, I end up branding calves with some farmer or rancher or whatever. And I grew up doing that. I like it. I enjoy tackling the calves and holding them down and doing all that stuff because that's what I grew up doing. So I don't have the time to sit on the tractor and go running and around like I used to, but I still enjoy the smell of fresh air. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Tell us about your experience with facilities planning or district operations. facilities planning piece as input from obviously the district people, but also hopefully your maintenance um people and
117my construction background helps a lot in regard to okay, how long is it going to be before the roof fails or the the furnace goes out or we've got to do something for our elementary cuz it's 150 years old. those kind of things have an end of life piece to them and you need to plan ahead or that's where that bond and other stuff start getting those things laid out ahead of time so that just like you do with curriculum you're going to rotate and every 5 years you're going to have new curriculum you need to do the same thing for your buses you need to do the same thing for your facilities on when they're going to need fixed because some of those are really expensive to fix and so having that plan in
118place is crucial to being successful and if you out. Then you get to all of a sudden we need three new buses and they're 150,000 each and we don't have that kind of money and you don't want to be in that boat. Makes sense. Thank you. How do you prioritize limited resources while still meeting students needs >> yet? You have to have input from your community and your board and your buildings and your teachers and your kids. They should get their two cents in there. what what do I want that I'm not getting? And and I asked them today, what what programs does Malta have that you really value and like? And they had good input. And so getting that feedback is important. And then with the limited resources, you just you're going to have
119to prioritize at some level. And you do that as a team. It's not me being the bad guy. Okay, that goes and that goes and that goes. It it can't be that way because then I'm the only one making a decision. and it should be run by the board and I just help give input. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> What is your process for making difficult decisions when stakeholders disagree? First of all, getting giving them a chance to disagree respectfully. And I had that conversation with the kids as well. It's okay if we disagree, but we better do it respectfully. Just because you have a different opinion doesn't make you an ogre or a bad person or me an ogre or a bad person. And that's part of my struggle with my daughter. She's
120she one of those that you disagree with me. You're an ogre. And I'm like, well, okay, I'm an ogre, but I still love you. It didn't change. So, um, and that's part of today's society, I think, some of the younger kids struggle with. Um, and we have to be able to disagree and come to um some consensus on how things are going to go. Um, and many times if you involve them in the process, they're going to come to a pretty reasonable decision together. Sometimes I have to be the tiebreaker, but not very often. More often than not, they've got good reasons on why this and why that and and they can come to some agreement. Okay, I'll give up this if I can get that. And you try to make it a team decision
121where we work together because that's the only way we're going to be successful as a board and as a district has to be working together. >> Give an example of how you delegated authority while still maintaining accountability. >> You do that a lot um in in almost everything when you hire a transportation director. um at least where I was at last year, I was the transportation director. So when I you got the open door to hire a principal, I had to throw in a couple more responsibilities than we're able to afford. And so um you you delegate that and then you just give feedback and have consistent communication on um what things and how they've been done in the past. How can we solve that problem? What what issues are there? Um and you guys
122are struggling with bus drivers. There's not enough of them in the world. So, um, that's that's a a bugger. Um, and wish wish I had a better answer. And the only real answer is probably more money. If I paid you 50 bucks an hour, I'd have a lot more bus drivers. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Right there. >> How do you handle difficult personnel issues, including discipline or performance concerns? tell us about a time that you handled a significant issue and the outcome. >> First of all, I make sure I'm informed and have data to support um what what the decision is or what where we're headed. Um putting a teacher on a plan of improvement is no picnic. Um but you've got data and information that informs those decisions and you say, "Okay, well, here's
123here's some things that I need to see in your classroom on a consistent basis." You never post objectives and you never mention them to kids. So they have no idea when they come in even though they might be factoring. You never tell them we we have to factor you know tromials today. You never ever tell them or you know if they don't know what they're supposed to learn they're not going to do it well. So part of that is being clear with your data and your information on what your expectation is and doing that consistently is key when there's when there's tough decisions or you've got same thing with principles or teachers or even students you give them an opportunity to fix it because you've given them the input and here's the steps that I
124need to see in place and are you doing those and then you come back two weeks later or you have another walk through and did you do this? Where did you do this? I didn't see that. Have those conversations with a consistent um part of that's the smart goal that measurable and achievable. You you've got to do that consistently. And if you do that, they don't really have any legs to stand on when it gets down to the tough decision. Sorry, you're going away because you didn't do these five things at all. And that's just the way it is. And part of that's the conversation you have consistently throughout. Again, to me, it isn't about It's not that I hate you, cuz I had to tell one of the best basketball coaches I had. You
125need to go down the road cuz you've made everybody in the district angry about how you do this, this, this, and this. You support your program, but you don't support anybody else's. How is that an AD? You know, how are you helping with the district? And it was, and I like the guy. So, it isn't about like or dislike. It's not personal. It's what's best for the district. And those are tough conversations and you have to look them in the eye and say, "You didn't do what I asked you to do. Find a new place to hang your hat." >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> we're there. It's final one. Woo! >> We made it. >> One minute. >> We have arranged budgeted for this role, but I'd like to understand what you're looking for
126in terms of compensation. I can write down seven figures right here. Honestly, the size of the district and and what you have normally somewhere between 120 and 135. Um, depending on what the other, you know, there's some other benefits and some other things to throw in there. I I'd love the three-year contract piece. That isn't something a lot of districts are willing to to buy into and and bite off of, and I love it. Um, but that also creates that buyin piece. I'm going to be here for three years. I expect you to buy into me as well and provide that feedback. So, that's crucial. So, I would hope over 125, but again, I I would hope again to hear tonight, are you going to make decisions tonight or is that going to be next
127week or next month? Because I listened to your board meeting and there was a lot of talk about the 27th and I'm like, you wait till the 27th, I've got two or three more interviews. I would just assume say you're my place, but I' I'd like to know if there's a decision tonight or not tonight. And then um also what's say it's 125. Is there built-in what's the raise for next year and the next year? In most districts I've been in, it's whatever the certified raise. Certified get 3%, I get 3%. If the certified get nothing, I get nothing. If the certifies get 20%, I want the same 20%. I don't deserve more, but I sure don't deserve less. So that to me also needs to be part of the package in the big picture
128things. And I think that's just responsible budget in your big picture things. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. >> And I didn't get a question on when the answer is. >> Come on. >> Leaves. I can give you the evil eye. >> You know how this works. Like I want to answer respond to every single question, but we can. >> No, I and I understand. You don't need to explain. I get it. >> Thank you again for all of your time and your efforts doing this process. So, it is appreciated. >> Have you done processes like this before? I'm curious. Like with the student and the teacher panel? >> Yes. In fact, I did one in Durango. >> Okay. Uh that was longer and and so there are some places that that do this
129>> and actually >> done it. So >> right >> that way >> good luck. They keep you here forever. I was like if I talked for an hour we went way too long and then they kept me here for an hour. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I'm done. So >> I'm going to get on the road. >> Yeah. Um, >> drive safely. It was nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you as well. >> Thank you for your time. Good luck. You bet. You bet. >> Thank you. Appreciate >> your >> You won't get through my phone if you call. >> So, just text me, >> okay? >> And say, "Please give us a call or whatever." Okay. Okay. Thank you again. Good luck. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, you too. >> Good
130luck. I was just >> actually don't think I do have HDMI. >> Oh dear. >> Um, Angel, we can because you emailed me your stuff. We can get Angel's computer to me. So through her bag, >> huh? >> Just ripped through her bag. >> The root. It was right there. >> Just got snapped. She says you're dead. >> It came out with a cookie. You saw that? >> Take a whole plate, please. I might grab a few. True. The grapes look good, too. >> Yep. Take some snacks. >> Approved by everybody in the room. >> Yeah. The fruit's pretty good for our little small area store. >> I grabbed a carrot before I started talking and then I feel like I'm spitting carrot pieces out the whole time I'm talking. >> Take lots of >>
131I hope nobody saw it. >> You're good. Communication. Okay. Well, Come. Looks like reaction. >> Angel, we have to use your computer >> again. Oh, sorry. He doesn't have HDMI. I grabbed your computer. >> Oh, you already stole it. Okay. Now, I have to remember, >> but then you'll have to open your email and everything. >> Apologies. >> Thank you. >> No, I do have a bunch of those in the car cuz I every time I stop anywhere, I grab a bunch. Did you said you emailed it to me, Heather? I just emailed it. Yes, ma'am. >> How cookies do I have? >> I don't know. I grabbed the one with the candy. >> Now, is that >> M&M? Is that chocolate or raisins? >> Chocolate. Chocolate. M&M. >> Well, the M&M's is chocolate, but
132that looks like raisin. >> Oh, that over there is raisin. >> Are those imposters? Those are imposters. No, my friend. Okay, got them. >> Stay away from those. >> We're chocolate chip imposters. Exactly. >> So, Miss Ziler is still in labor. >> Wait, she's at the hospital, though. >> Yes, she has been in labor all day. She went this morning, Emma. >> Yeah. >> Like having contractions in labor. >> Mhm. >> I'm surprised I haven't C-sectioned yet, but >> not yet. I was in class. over 24 hours well over with Ellen. He was like, "All right, this or else we're going to cut her out." >> Tessa, it was sent me to the >> hotel, told me to walk, then finally admitted me. >> And said she's not having fun. >> I'm sure not. >>
133Typical answer. >> Who? That's what Henry said. >> Yeah, it's funny. >> She's not having fun. >> Yeah. >> Did you accept everything? No. >> Oh, sorry. >> No, baby. Yes. >> Oh, yeah. Don't do that. >> Remind me. Is it a boy or a girl? >> I did. >> Are they having a boy or a girl? >> A boy. >> Yes. >> I try not to create crunchy things. Exactly. >> I did. Well, I'm not >> I'm eating. We'll just take hers. >> Okay. Are you ready? >> I'll move then. Everybody will take a bite. So they off looking at him. >> Yes. >> Okay. Brown, sit down. >> Okay. >> So, we're starting at 6:22. Okay. >> Got handouts teacher. >> You don't have to like a student. >> I'm not good at
134homework. Just so you know, >> great. We don't expect that much out of you. >> As you should do. >> All right. I'm free to get started. All right. Thank you guys. >> I'm excited to be here. Um I'm really honored to be chosen to be able to be here and uh interview and just tell you a little bit about who I am and why I think I'm the best fit for Malta schools. Um Malta is a very attractive place to me. I mean, I grew up in Chinook, Montana. I've always known about Malta and and its reputation for excellence. So, I'm hoping that I can eventually be a part of that. So, who I am? First, I'm a professional employees educational leader. I pride myself in doing things the right way, treating people with
135respect, and always having a calm demeanor no matter what situation comes about. I'm a passionate, respected basketball coach. So, this is truly at the core of who I am. You know, it's one of my main key passions in life, coaching basketball. It gives me that ability to create those special relationships with kids, teach them life lessons, and I'm really passionate about, you know, trying to get a team to reach their potential. I'm a positive culture builder. So whether it's in the classroom, whether it's with the team, whether it's with this school district, you know, I feel like I can bring a positive culture to wherever I go. You know, I can set clear expectations, hold people accountable to those expectations, and uh in general build relationships with people so they want to do something great.
136I'm a purpose-driven challenge seeker. So, everywhere I've gone so far in my life, I try to find a challenge. You know, one of my hobbies is doing Iron Man triathlons and ultramarathons. I'm not very good and I don't train nearly enough, but I'm always trying to find hard things to do because, you know, I only have one life, right? You got to find things that challenge you. And, you know, part of the process of that is maybe stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit and dipping my toe into the waters of maybe potentially moving on to a bigger school than Westby. I'm a proud small town Montana. So, I spent my whole life in smalltown Montana. I understand what it's like and what they expect from the schools. You know, schools are the
137heart of the town and everywhere that I've been at. And it's so important that you build something that's excellent so that people can want to invest in the school so that they have the best possible school for the kids in their community. And then I'm a devoted and lucky husband. Um my wife's name is Haley. She came here with me today. I think she might have been a little bit embarrassed to come in and watch me do this, but uh um she's definitely my better half and uh she's a fourth and fifth grade teacher in Westby and uh um yeah, so moving on from that, it kind of grows goes into we both went to Shnook High School. I graduated graded graduated in 2010. Um we're high school sweethearts. We've been together for 18 years
138now and we're going to be married for 10 years here in June. Um, growing up in Shnook, like I said, you know, Malta was well known. I had the, you know, privilege of competing against Malta throughout my whole life. Did swim meets here, did basketball tournaments, track meets, played football. Um, and it was always kind of a little bit of a rivalry, more so for the Shinookians because Malta was very tough to beat. Um, and I do like to say that I was fortunate enough to beat Malta a couple times in boys basketball. Um, it's just I say that to mean that beating Malta is a big deal, right? Like Malta is good. And uh, it just says something that I look back at my high school career so long ago and I still think
139that was pretty cool to beat Malta that one time. My wife's the other story. I think she got beat by like 70 every time that they played the Malta girls. They were really dang good. They might have beat us boys, too. All right. All right. So then in college, I went to Montana State University. Um I got my history teaching degree there in the spring of 2014. Um then through after teaching for a few years, I went back to school online through the University of Montana and got my masters in education and educational leadership um through the U of M. Uh I do have to set things straight. I am a Grizz fan. Okay. you're >> if it makes you feel better. My wife is a big cat fan. Um she's obviously gotten a better
140part of that rivalry here lately. So >> professional experience, I've been in Westby my whole career. So I got there when I was 22. Um I'm still there. Started out as the history teacher, athletic director, and girls basketball coach. Kind of all those um spent my first seven years basically with those key roles. And on top of that, I was our school doesn't have like a principal, but I was kind of the assistant administrator to our superintendent at the time where I was kind of starting to learn the ropes as far as what um educational leadership was about. Then in 2021, I took on the superintendent role um with principal duties is kind of the best way to say it. And I've been doing that for the last 5 years. I still hold on to
141my basketball coaching, my athletic directing, and my teaching. I still teach two classes and so basically my experience in Westby has been one of wearing a lot of hats and having a lot of roles and trying to you know find the balance between like okay right now I'm athletic director and here in this avenue I'm the superintendent in this other area I'm the teacher and so what I'm looking forward to a potential experience here would be being able to focus right focus on just being a superintendent and whatever roles that were needed. Uh why educational leadership? So like I said, my big influence on my life is Tony Hollow. He was the superintendent at the time when I was in Westby. Um he kind of was my mentor and was the first one to kind
142of encourage me into being a administrator. um he was planning on retiring um in at the end of 2021 and I started taking classes at the U of M a little bit before then just to kind of give myself the avenue to step into that role. Now I was 28 at the time so I was a little apprehensive. I mean I went into education do to be a teacher. You know I love being in the classroom. I love building those relationships. Um but ultimately I decided to take it on. Uh, one because like I said before, I'm all for growth and all for taking on new challenges, but also I knew the people of Westby. Um, I wanted to provide that stability for people because they knew me and they knew that I would hopefully
143step in and do a good job. Um, and so yeah, that kind of was my entry into administration and I've been there ever since. And so with that, the main thing that attracts me to educational leadership over teaching in the classroom is that I have the opportunity to have a larger impact on the school and the community besides just my own classroom. Not saying that teachers can't have an impact beyond the classroom, but they don't quite have the power to set the culture and set the goals of the school. Um, I believe strong leadership is critical to the success of a small town Montana school. The community has to be able to trust that the schools knows what it's doing and that they have strong leadership. Um, you have to have that visible face of
144the community that people can approach and come to with questions and know that that's a good person and they're doing the best things for my kids. I do have a passion for building systems that drive student achievement and elevate teacher performance. So leadership is really my main passion. It just it ended up being an education because I want to have a wide impact on people's lives and hopefully a positive one. And so part of that is creating these cultures and these systems that people can follow and that hopefully will lead to success. And with that I think that I can do a good job of establishing a culture of trust, accountability and high expectations um to create an opportunity for every student to succeed. All right. So, I'm going to go through this more quickly
145than it needs to. Expertise might be a strong word for some of these things. I'm definitely more expertise in some of these than others, but the benefit of starting my administrative career in Westby was that I got to get an experience in everything across the board. Anything that you can think of that administrator does probably in multi school was my job in Westby as far as strategic planning, working with the board, um student staff, community relations, janitorial staff, um maintenance, teacher evaluations, um student behavior, anything that a principal does, anything that a superintendent does, anything that athletic director does, that was me. Um, I do think that my particular area of expertise is building relationships, especially with students, but also with the adults in the building. I think that's maybe the most important thing that
146you can do as far as building trust so they can have accountability and to be able to build a culture that's positive. And then also, I think an incredibly approachable and visible leader. Um, especially in a place like Westby, right? It's very small. There's no hiding in your office. You know, you're always out and about walking around. people can find it quickly and if I get a text from a teacher that they need me, I can be there in two seconds. And so I believe in always being somebody that is there and ready to step in and help whenever it's needed. The other part that's been great about Westby is the ability to really collaborate with educational and personnel leadership. And so while I say all these different areas of administration were my responsibility in
147Westby does not mean that I did it alone. I had great teach great veteran teachers that have been there for a long time that I have good relationships with that can really lean on for their expertise and advice and um have really pride myself in using the expertise that's already in the building to make the best decisions. board relations and leadership. So, it's interesting to me to watch your schoolboard meetings. I did a little bit of that over the last not like detail we've got. >> I know. >> No, it's nothing bad. It's nothing bad. What's interesting in Westby is that we're small enough that we don't have to record and so I'm kind of thankful for that a lot of the time. Um, but it's just funny and it's I mean it's just different
148sides of schools, right? Where in Westby when we have a meeting and we have the report from the AD principal superintendent basically like it's just me speaking the whole the whole meeting where it's fun to kind of watch this and be like ah Steve didn't have to talk too much that meeting and it was like more of the reports here and there and so I think we've done a good job in Westby. have a great board that's has all the right interests as far as trying to make the strongest school for the community and that's what I see here obviously and you know it's makes it again a place that you want to be when you can see that the board has the right interest in mind and then athletic administration would be my other
149key key place that I've had a lot of um experience >> and uh that's a place Swear I know you have a great ad here. Just kind of my connection here to Weski a little bit. Jake Norby is a fellow Shnookian, but you know, I think it's helpful for the person at the top to understand what the dynamics are at MHSA and how the stuff like that works. So, all right, leadership philosophy. So, I'm an authentic people first leader. So, my main goal is to be myself. Okay, you have to be real. People can spot fakeness from a mile away, right? And so you have to be yourself and you have to be all about creating relationships that are meaningful and build trust. You need to I believe creating high expectations. So while it's so
150important to build that trust and that that trust in those relationships first so that when you have these high expectations and you have that accountability, people will actually listen to you. Right? It's super tough for anybody to come in and you have no relationship with somebody and be like, "Hey, you need to do this, this, and this, right?" Like, it's so important to come in, build relationships, show that you care about the person. And then you can have that accountability. Lead with purpose. So, what's the purpose of schools, right? Like, we're here to help every single kid reach their potential, right? And so, every decision that we make has to be student centered, right? There's so much apathy and so much negativity out there about education nowadays that it's really important for school leadership to
151come in and say we're building an experience here at Malta schools that is worth your kids showing up for. Calm, confident, consistent leadership and especially under pressure. I I'm going to say this and there's going to become a situation where I blow my lid, but I that's it's kind of my superpower. I I don't really find myself ever leaving this calm, confident, you know, demeanor. And I feel like in the past it served me well because when people come to me with a problem or if they're hot, it's simmers down pretty quickly. Not because I'm some special negotiator or anything like that. It's just sometimes people just need somebody to listen to them. And if you can say remain calm and stay confident in who you are and confident in the decisions that you're making,
152it goes a long way for, you know, trying to avoid things escalating. And it gives me a lot of confidence to be able to handle any kind of situation that comes my way because I know that I'm can remain calm. I know that I think through every decision that I make in a very thoughtful and sound way to where by the time somebody is coming to me, I should have answers as far as why things are a certain way. And if not, have the confidence that you're going to be able to find those answers. Um, continuous improvement. And so this is where I think as a leader obviously I need to always be trying to find ways for myself to become better and better each day. but then also from the wider range and wider
153scope of things be able to see where throughout the school system I can help people grow, right? And so that's where hopefully moving into a superintendent only position, I can have more of that time to think about the strategic goals of the school and help people around the building um improve and then build a culture over integrity through strong responsibility and strong systems. And so our shared responsibility and I think everything comes down to character, everything comes down to honesty. You know, we have to make sure that everybody in the building takes ownership of that and that we're all on the same team, we're all working for the same goal. And uh you know it's pretty once you start slipping in that once your leadership becomes unreliable or dishonest or they're allowing those kinds of
154action to happen within the school that's when your culture can deteriorate pretty quickly. And so my hope is to always bring be somebody that at the top of things will be the example of integrity core values. So, man in the arena, love that quote. I realize you guys have it out here, do you not? Okay, awesome. I think that you have this one life to live. You better dare greatly for a worthy cause. And I'm a big believer in that you should always strive to be one of those people that's making a difference in people's lives instead of being the critics that are not doing the work. Character and honesty, very simply, be a good person. Okay? Like, no matter what you do, be a good person. and treat people the right way. Um, and
155be honest and transparent. Strive for excellence. Always looking to improve and be adaptable. Education is always changing. Kids are always changing. Parents are changing. You know, we can't always just rely on the same old strategies that we think worked in the past. Not that throw everything out, but there's always a way to adapt, own the standard. So, I need to be if I'm going to tell people what to do and hold people accountable, I need to be living that, right? And so I'm going to lead by example in every single thing that I do. And then it's my responsibility if things are going wrong throughout the school or there's something that's somebody on staff is doing, there's some ownership for me with that, right? Like I can't control everything, right? But as the leader of
156the school, it's on me to take responsibility and take ownership and do what I can and what's in my power to fix a problem or to improve. um humble servant leadership sweep the sheds. And so to me, this means I'm never going to be too big to do the small things that matter, right? And so in Westby a lot of times that means literally sweeping, literally shoveling, mopping a bathroom if you need, you know, subbing in the classroom, being the sub bus driver, you know, whatever is needed throughout the school, I need to be willing to step up and do that. And then well done is is greater than well said. And I it's one of those things that's always in the back of my mind when you're try when you're trying to keep your
157word to people and you're trying to like respond to requests and you're trying to do everything that you can for the school. And obviously it's a pretty big, you know, thing to say today during the interview process and all that where people are going to be saying a lot of great things and there's a lot of great words and there's a lot of great things happening, but all that stuff doesn't really matter unless you come in and you get it done, right? And so obviously it's not on one person to get things done, but it's on me if I am fortunate enough to come here to do everything in my power to stay true to my word and and follow through. All right, completed project. So the biggest, most comprehensive project we've had in Westby
158in my time there is we made a lot of upgrades to our gym. And just talking to Sean, it sounds like we're going to have to do another sanding here, unfortunately. Yeah, insurance is handling them. >> All right, good. >> So, back in 2023 in the summer, that's when Brew Co comes up and um they basically recommended that we do a gym floor sanding. Our floor at that point was 40 years old and had never had it done before. So, we were well overdue. Um and so at that point, we was like, "Yep, we're going to commit to doing this and then we're going to do some more things on top of it." So, our whole our gym floor project turned into a whole gymnasium project, right? New scoreboards and shot clocks, which were donated
159by Stockman and Pepsi. Um, new paint for the walls and ceilings, new stage curtains, new protective wall pads, and then we updated our state championship and appearance banners. And this kind of coincided with we had a 100y year Westby school anniversary the next year. So we were in that mode of wanting to make sure that the school was looking presentable and ready to go. So the process, so budget planning and considerations, we knew this was going to happen for a few years. It was something that the former superintendent had put on my radar and this ended up coming about cuz they had been telling him this even when he was superintendent for years that you're going to need a sanding. You're going to need a sanding. And so we planned for it. Um and then
160we conducted a needs needs assessment. And so Bruco is the first um people that told us that we needed the sanding. And then from there, we worked with the school board to decide, well, if we're going to do this, what other what other stuff do we do? Do we paint the walls? Do we make sure that we go through every single thing that would be beneficial to do while you're doing this one big project with the gym floor? Planning and design. So obviously I'm Have you guys been in the process of designing the floor and things like that? Not too much. And so again in Westby this ended up kind of coming on to me which was a lot of fun actually. This is fun to work with western sports floor and and to make
161the different designs and all that but obviously when you turn it into painting the walls and banners and wall pads and uh curtains, it ends up being several vendors, right? And so the turned into trying to design and plan with a whole bunch of different people. And then we got stakeholder input. So we had um obviously public meetings. We made outreach through letters andformational stuff to the um to the community and then surveys to the community to teachers and to and to students. So our main challenge was community opinion and relations. So I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with like the Westby Rangers and the Mandac Thunder, but currently Westby is in a sports co-op with Grenora, North Dakota. And so we're we are the Mond Thunder right now. And so our
162colors are black and gold. It was the Thunder. And then before then we were the Westby Rangers. And the colors were purple and and gold. And so the current the old floor had Westby Rangers on it. Had some awesome designs like this these handdrawn, you know, rangers and cowboys and guns and all this really cool stuff. And so it was a very sentimental thing to the community. And we knew that obviously if we didn't get any input or we didn't explain why we were doing this that we're going to have a lot of upset people. Um and then budget management. Now it ended up being a pretty expensive project but we were able to work through alumni to get it all covered through donations. So that ended up being awesome. It was in the end
163I think we spent over $100,000 and we're able to get that all paid for through alumni. So that was great. And then time constraints. The other challenge was trying to, you know, get the painting done first thing in the summer right before they come in in early June and try to sand down the floor and put everything on it because you don't want to get this nice new floor down and then paint the entire gym and the ceiling because you're going to get paint everywhere. So all right, results. And so we transformed the facility, upgraded long-term functionality, enhanced students experience, increased school pride, and we had on time and on delivery um on budget delivery. And so it's I'm going to have this couple of pictures, but it's kind of hard to explain how much
164different it looks compared to what it did before, unless you're there in person. But the lessons I learned is that it's so important to communicate with stakeholders in something like this, both why things are happening and help involve them in the process. I learned a lot about budgeting. We did budget for this whole project, but then this is my first experience with really getting involved with trying to find donations from alumni, which again ended up being awesome as far as being able to cover the project. Working with several vendors at once was challenging, just trying to coordinate and communicate and get it all together. And then details defined excellence. So throughout the process there was, you know, which logo do you put in the middle? Do you put the Thunder logo or do you put
165the WR Ranger logo? Right? Do you put Thunder on the baseline? Do you put Westby on the baseline? All with trying to make the people that had been in Westby when they were the Rangers and have the people that have been in the Monte Thunder happy at all the same time. And then leadership is ownership. And so I really did take on this process a lot on my own as far as the design and and all the communication with vendors and things like that, but I did have a lot of collaboration with the board and and uh stakeholder feedback. Oh, all right. So, before and after. Now, we took professional pictures of the floor beforehand because again, it was so sentimental to people. I don't know if you can really see too well, but you
166got a little gun in a holster here. There's little there's a ranger on the We have rangers all across the all the gym over there. And then obviously the the Westby on this baseline is pretty uh you know unique. And so that was very sentimental to people almost to the point where people like ah can we just cut it all apart to try to keep it which maybe you guys know it costs significantly more to do that. But anyway that's what it looked like before. That's what it looks like now. >> You know, obviously a lot different. We ended up putting Westby on both of the baselines, the Thunder logo, you know, on the sides and WR in the middle. And so we had plenty of representation for the Thunder with the wall pads and
167things like that. And, you know, I think we ended up with the right balance, but it was a tough decision as far as especially that middle logo, whether it had the thunder there or the WR. And so, we went with the sentimental thing and I think it was the right choice. And I don't know the main it's a lot brighter in there like we have new lights now too but the paint job is kind of yeah to the bright white and so it's been it's been fun and as a administrator and as a coach it's been kind of a cool thing to be gives a lot of pride as far as you know in your facility. All right problem resolution. So, I had a tough time putting this together. Maybe I'm not sure if the
168other candidates did too, but it's tough to talk about these kinds of things in such a public space and uh try to and give you the correct vision of what happened, but also protect identities and protect exactly what happened. So, basically, we had personnel misconduct. So, I got an allegation of a significant misconduct by a staff member. It was clear that this potentially violated a major policy and there's implications in this for student safety, supervision, and overall overall integrity of the school. So, it was a major policy violation, but not something to where it was so dangerous that we had to remove the teacher from the school right away. Um it required a lot of professional and careful handling due to the visibility of this of this staff member value provided to the school and
169the popularity of the staff member within the school and community. So this wasn't going to be an easy process. This person was well loved um very valuable to the school and we knew it would be difficult to replace if it came to that. So the immediate fact finding is where I started with information gathering. We had did a I got a a call about the allegation on a Saturday night. Um immediately went to the classroom to search for anything that might um lend evidence to this. Um then looked at the school cameras to kind of create a timeline. Did interviews with the staff member and witnesses and then did thorough documentation of each step. So notes of the investigation, interview answers, informal letters and emails to staff member, informational letters and emails to staff members,
170and then letters of reprimand to the staff member. So with anything like this, it is so important to make sure that we're documenting things um and following the right process. So decision-m steps. So just try to really make sure that we're analyzing this from a factbased situation. You can't just take people's words for things. You got to make sure that the facts all line up. Um, balance possible solutions, outcomes, and reactions. So, me and my assistant administrator really did a lot of deliberating as far as how do you best handle the situation because we knew once you start down the um path of what you need to do, you know, you better make sure you have all your ducks in a row. Okay? And aside from the legal side of things, aside from the schoolboard
171side of things, aside from the the right things to do, you know, in the steps, this was somebody that we cared about, somebody that we were worried about, somebody that we knew that we were worried about reactions as far as longevity at the school and things how things were going to go along for the rest of the school here and maybe long term. And so it just was it was kind of funny because I this is what we did right away was we looked at our policy. We reached out to Montana School Board Association just to make sure that we legally were doing things the right way. I then called my mentor Mr. Hall and like hey what would you do in the situation? Just hope hoping they had like some advice besides what we
172did. Like I would call MTSBA. So we were we were doing that. And I think that's, you know, you almost always have to do that in this situation. Just make sure that you're doing things correctly. And then I communicated with the school board um mostly with the school board chair just to give a little heads up as far as the situation and make sure that we he was not going to be blindsided. And then we made timely and decisive administrative action. So I guess I'll get into this but communication strategies throughout inerson interviews, call interviews, official documentation, phone calls, public school board meetings, executive session, um and then confidential communication with parents and students. So with a situation like this in a small school like that as confidential as we kept it as administration obviously
173as things went down the line people kind of put two and two together as far as what was happening but we still made sure that we were confidential and not having discussions that we shouldn't be with the parents and the students while at the same time informing them of what was currently happening you know within the school. So timeline ultimately the situation ended with the termination of the staff member. Um the initial incident occurred on Saturday January 4th 2025. We had an investigation and we put the employee on administrative leave for one week which began on Tuesday January 14th. Unfortunately once they came back they violated the same policy again in April. had another investigation, placed an administrative leave again indefinitely and on April 17th, and then held a termination hearing on Monday, May 5th,
174and ultimately the school board decided to terminate the employee or the staff staff member. So mainly, I put the timeline up there to say, you know, we were pretty timely and decisive with the administrative action. We dove into it right away to try to get the facts. We weren't trying to put things off because it was hard. Um, we tried to do the right thing regardless of maybe the easy thing being let's just sweep this under the rug. Let's just move forward. Um, because that would have been the easy thing to do cuz only a couple people knew about it but we were going to make sure that we did the right thing. All right. So impact and reflection. So I the actions taken in collaboration with the board were the appropriate in the best
175interests of the school district. We used proper procedures complied with the law and maintain the trust of parents, staff, students and the community. We held a staff member accountable for violation of a school policy while also providing the opportunity for change behavior and offering support. So that's where that shorter administrative leave came into hopefully give them a chance to come back and prove that they could change behavior. It was clear that wasn't going to happen and then further administrative action had to occur. And ultimately I would just say this was a very difficult uh situation. Um somebody that I worked with for a long time, somebody that had a very positive impact on students. um people in the community love this person, students love this person, but and as this every school in Montana is
176dealing with, you know, you might not be able to fill this position again. And so with all that being said, it was still the right thing to do because you're you can't give up the integrity of your school and your school environment um by letting things like this slip by. So, what would I do differently? I don't know if I would do anything differently as far as the process and how things ended up going. The only thing that I wish I could have done more as a leader was see the pattern or see the things that were maybe leading to this violation and stepped in sooner. And so there were informal conversations about things like this, about rumors, about whatever without any proof and there were conversations had with this staff member. But in the
177future, I probably would do more as far as trying to step in and be more assertive and get a little bit more involved in that person's personal life in a way that so that it wouldn't affect um the school. So, I'm kind of almost kind of apologize for that whole thing because I know it's tough to kind of understand without the full details, but I did I have been through a pretty difficult personnel termination situation. All right. What I bring to multi school. So my vision for district leadership, excellence in everything that we do, clear systems and expectations, student centered decision-m empower self staff culture, and then strong support for academics and extracurricular activities. What attracts me to Malta is that there's this tradition of excellence in everything that you guys do, whether it's in
178the classroom or athletics. I mean, it's something that people from the outside can see, right? And that's not evident for every single school in Montana. For community relations, there has to be a school school and community relation. I have to be that visible, approachable person outside of the school trying to get that connection. I need to be transparent in my communication. I'm not ever trying to really hide things that aren't confidential. I'm trying to work together. I'm visible in the community. I got to be out there celebrating the successes of the school, right? It's so easy to get within, you know, your own school environment and not realize what's going on out there. And people aren't going to hear about what's going on in the school unless I'm out there and others are out there
179saying, "Here's what the all the great things that multi schools is doing." And then shared ownership. Um, there's got to be a good relationship between the school and the community. Um, as I've said before, you know, the school was really the heart of the community, and the more that we can show that to community members and sell that, um, the more likely they are to support the school and support the different measures that we're trying to pass in levies and and all those kinds of things. My priorities for the first 100 days, ask a lot of questions. Um, the number one thing I can do is get to know people, get to know how things are done. um what could be done what needs to be done better what needs to be continued um I
180can't that's the most daunting thing I think into jumping into a new place is I'm going from somewhere where I know every single thing about every single person and then jumping into somewhere where you got to learn everything again um and again get to know everyone build relationships and trust like as soon as I get here in June or July right it's having meetings with the teachers having meetings with staff any families that want to come in, communicating with students, and just having that open door. Familiarize myself with the budget, school policies, and facilities. Work with Heather a lot as far as figuring all that out. Luckily for myself, my clerk in Westby is named Heather, so that'll make it easier. >> Um, and then yeah, obviously we run a little bit of a tour
181with Mr. BL and there's see some of those issues with the with the building just slightly and so it would be just really diving into those things and understanding my role and moving a lot of those projects forward uh clarify roles and set clear expectations and so again that comes after asking all these questions and making sure that I get to know people and build relationships and then honestly for me coming in here from Westby where the roles are just all on me I really want to get to understanding of what exactly is my role here compared to principles and teachers and all that and then like I said before what is working well where can I provide the most immediate support all right finally you guys are finally almost done proven small town Montana
182leadership I love Montana I love being in small towns I've spent my whole life there I've done any everything under the ton that administrator could do at a small school. Extensive school leadership experience. Again, Westby is small. we have a lot fewer students, but I guarantee that my experience there as far as doing all these different roles allows me to come into here, focus on my job, but then also be able to give advice and not be so disconnected from what principles are doing or from what the AD is doing or from what teachers are doing. I'm living that right now. Culture builder and a standard setter. So, in I believe that everything that I've been a part of as far as being a leader, I've set a positive culture and improved the culture. Um,
183whether it's a basketball team, classroom, or a school. And I will always set the standard. You don't have to worry about me not not being not showing up, not doing my best, and not practicing what I preach. I'm students that are in relationship driven. So, like we talked about, I'm not I'm going to be out there. I'm going to be creating relationships. That's what I got into this business for. I'm not here to not have those relationships with students and with teachers. Passion for excellence and high standards. So again, if you want to be excellent, if you have a passion for being excellent and and striving for that, this is the place to be. And I believe I can come in and both grow into this role, but also add on to the excellence that
184Balto is known for. I have long-term intentions. So, I'm I'm young. It might be a good thing or a bad thing for me. I'm 33. I hope that that is seen as a positive because I don't go anywhere with the intention of not being there for a long time. Okay? I see this as a place where we can settle down. I'm not looking to move around. This this process itself is already kind of gut-wrenching to me because I love Westby so much and and the the only way I would ever look anywhere else besides Westby, it had to be a really great opportunity. And that's what this is. And then I'm hungry to prove myself. Okay. If hired, my number one goal will be to prove that you made the right decision. Okay? I'm I'm
185really looking to improve. I'm looking to grow. I want to be excellent in whatever role that you needed me to to fill. So, um, thank you so much for your time. >> All right. It was a long day. >> We have like 16 questions. >> 16. All right. >> And we have 20 minutes. >> So, all right. No pressure. All right. Here we go. You ready? >> Take it away, Kyle. >> Sure. >> Describe your understanding of board superintendent relationship in a traditional governance model. >> Well, I believe I kind of act as a CEO CEO of the the school system. um it's my job to inform you as far as what's going on in the school, what the best practices are, and then for the board to make decisions and for me to carry
186out those decisions. And so I I would believe in best practice, right, that I would be somebody trustworthy enough for you to take my educational advice and what's the best thing to do for the school and then we would work together to find solutions for the school and I would carry out your decisions to the best of my ability. Okay. >> What do you expect from the board and what should the board expect from you? from the board. I would expect clear communication as far as what my expectations are and what you want from me. Um, I would expect that, you know, if if people are coming to you with problems that you would redirect them through the proper chain of command and hopefully, you know, especially if it's something that I can deal with,
187um, that we can work together in that sense. Um, I would expect the board to always be trying to be student centered. Um, not have any kind of agendas, you know, always trying to do what's best for the majority of students in multi school. Um, and from me, I think you need to expect transparency from me and honesty at all times. Um, you need to expect that I'm going to be reliable, that I'm going to be always striving for excellence, always looking to improve. Um always again like I'm expecting from you guys be student centered you know supporting teachers um and you need to expect me to hold people accountable when needed as well. um I need to be expected to do the hard things that leaders need to do um in order to both
188you know make sure that we're living up to our standards and maintain the culture of excellence that I believe is here in Malta already and hopefully I can add to in your presentation you talked about what you would like to focus on in your first 100 days what does the rest of your first year look like this is the first year. >> Well, once I am able to get a better understanding of how things work here, what systems are in place, um, and I'm able to build some relationships with the principles and with teachers and with students, I get a better idea as far as like what kinds of systems are needed and what kind of culture change is needed here to where I can and what areas need the most support. And so I'm
189not somebody that feels like it's best to come in on the first day and be like, "Here's what I do and here's how you guys should be doing it and this is what we're going to do. I need to come in and learn from the people here first as far as what works and what they need from me. And then after those first 100 days, once I've established that uh those relationships and that foundation, then that gives me some more room to okay, you told me what we needed to be doing and I listened. here's how I think we can get there as far as we're providing support where things are lacking at this point, but then also really building on the strengths that are here in Malta. >> Great. Thank you. Um, how have
190you led strategic planning efforts in previous districts? I smile about that question because, you know, Westby is such a small community and small school that the strategic planning has been pretty minimal as far as putting it down on paper. And so, what's been interesting is my clerk and I have worked pretty closely and and we're always finding these different areas of the school that we've been always doing things a certain way, but it's not down on like it's not systematic, right? it just kind of well we did this because of this and so I've been very involved as far as kind of establishing almost a lot of the systems and the strategic planning of the school and even coming up with the strategic plan because you know so much of that was lacking beforehand and
191again uh it's nobody's fault it being because it was just how things were done but again that was something that was mostly created by me you know there is community collaboration, feedback from board members and teachers and stuff like that, but a lot of it has been kind of like, oh yeah, that looks pretty good. Let's go with that, you know? So, it'd be different here obviously. Um, but my experience in Westby has kind of been at the foundation of a lot of that strategic planning. >> Thank you. Describe your experience with long range facilities planning, bond levy processes, or capital projects. Yeah. So, I have experience with levies and so fact that again I I relied on my clerk quite a bit as far as figuring that stuff out. And being that I've only
192been superintendent for 5 years, we kind of had a plan set in place for like a 5-year plan at that point. And things haven't really changed too much as far as our plan with levies and um over those 5 years. And luckily in Westby, we've had a supportive community that has, you know, voted for those. Um, and so my experience with that isn't actually, you know, that extensive because it's been maybe, you know, to give an interview answer probably it's been too easy for me so far because we've had a supportive community that's voted things through. Um, as far as long-term facility, you know, we've made plans, like I said before, with the gym and as far as a few years out, we've made plans. We're currently making plans for a lot of our plumbing
193we're having a lot of issues with. Um, because it's kind of an older school. And so, I'd say right now we're making some longer term plans that go with, you know, updating our bathrooms or potentially adding on with the building that way. And so to be honest, I'm pretty new at that kind of stuff and that would be a new area for me. >> Thank you. How do you communicate budget realities to boards and communities in a transparent way? Well, honestly, I think it's, you know, in my experience, all the the budget talk a lot of times has been between me and my clerk. And I think to do it in a transparent way for the community, you you kind of take those conversations that you're having, put them in a professional format, and communicate
194it to the board and communicate it to the public. I mean, I don't think that you should shy away from the realities of things. Um, and I think that tying how important, you know, these levies are to the success of students is probably the most important thing that you can do. um and really be proactive as far as being honest and showing what we're trying to do with these levies and help people realize that it's just not another like why they should be paying for this, right? really can make that case and u and not I mean it's making your case without seeming like a slimy politician if that makes sense you know like be real tell the truth make your case and if I think if you do a good enough job of it
195that you can eventually hopefully um get people on board you know in Westby they were they were so lucky for so long because of the oil money that you know they didn't have to run levies for a long time. And so it was kind of in that transition from the old superintendent to myself where that started to become a thing. And so what we did at the time was, you know, kind of gradually build levies to where it was a little less we would we would build it up a little bit every year until we got to the point where they were more used to be building stuff like that through. So obviously different experience here, but I just think it's not being afraid to to state the the realities. >> Thank you. >> Okay.
196Leadership, tell us about a time you faced significant push back on a decision and how you navigated it. The trouble that I'm having with this one is I don't know if there's been significant like push back on a decision. I think the most contentious thing that we had was a transition to a 4-day school week. Um but in that situation too, I feel like we did a very very good job of communicating with the public um what the uh you know the pros and cons were. And the main push back I got from that was from a couple of staff members. And basically what we did in that situation was have individual conversations, hear them out, hear their concerns. Um, you know, ultimately in that situation, the feedback they were getting from teachers and from
197students and from parents was overwhelmingly in favor of the 4day school week. And so my job at that point was obviously to hear the concerns of the staff members that weren't on board, but also find a way to get them to buy into, okay, well, I know that you disagree with this change, but it's our new reality now for at least a couple years, and here's what we need to do to move forward. So that might have been the most significant push back I've gotten. I know that might not be a great example. Westby has just been such a good place to me to where sometimes and I feel like and I to to Westby's credit it's just such a supportive community but two I do feel like as school leadership we've done a very
198good job of being proactive in a lot of these situations that could be contentious by getting information out there and uh explaining why we're doing things and having sound reasons for that um to prevent those questions misunderstandings that might lead to more significant push back. >> Okay, 10 minutes, guys. >> How do you align principles and district leaders around shared goals? >> I think it's just you're talking about principles as in adventure. >> Yeah, admin. There we go. If that works for your situation. No, I think it's just communication, being totally on on the same page, having clear expectations for what I I need from them and they have clear expectations as far as what they need from me. Um just making sure that we are working together, you know, and that we have open
199communication um and that they feel like they can always come to me for support. >> Okay. So now describe your expectations for your building principles. Well, I expect him to follow through on a positive culture based on integrity. I mean, I I expect them to be supportive of teachers. I expect them to make student centered decisions. um and really maintain the integrity of the building and uh treat people treat everyone with respect and handle the day-to-day student behavior, handle the day-to-day teacher concerns, and you know, whenever that they need support from me on that, I I want to be there for them. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Why Malta? Why not? >> Well, first I think Malta is just a place known for excellence. Um, it's both academically and athletically. Um, why now? I feel
200like it's a great time in my professional career and personal life to, you know, look for something that will help me like an opportunity that will be a place I can grow and uh be there long term. And from the outside looking in as far as my passion for academics and my passion for athletics and just the the size of the town and my personality, I feel like it's just a perfect fit. Um, like I said during my presentation that we love Westby. I we have not looked to go anywhere else. This is the only place I've ever applied to besides Westby in the 12 years that I've been there and it's only because I think it's a great opportunity. Thanks. >> Tell us about your experience with facilities planning and district operations. Uh facilities
201planning again in Westby has been very like hit and miss as far as having a long-term solution. Um we're just kind of getting to that point in our strategic planning and planning ahead for facilities. Um and really we have kind of a lot fewer buildings and spaces to take care of. So, it's been limited, honestly, but we're getting there as far as realizing some of the aspects that are starting to become issues and where we do need to have a plan moving forward with some of the bold building stuff. >> Thank you. >> How do you prioritize limited resources while still meeting student needs? Yeah, I think the first question you got to ask whenever you're using, you know, school money is is that going to help students succeed. And so, you can't say yes
202to everything. Um, that's the easy thing to do, but it's it's always trying to prioritize what's going to be the most effective thing. And that's why it's so important to have the planning like we've been talking about in this in the interview is if you have these big projects coming up and you know you're going to have to spend on them then it tells you what you do have available to spend on classroom materials and things of that nature. So always trying to have the most impact on students while at the same time realizing the realities of some of the building needs that are coming up. >> Thank you. What is your process for making difficult decisions when stakeholders disagree? >> I think it's definitely trying to find all the facts. Um, making sure that
203I can get all the relevant perspective of of a situation. Um and depending on what it is like I I do want stakeholder feedback on things and uh before I mean as those decisions are made even before um if stakeholders disagree it would have to be it would depend on the reason for the disagreement and so if I've done everything the right way if I've gone through all the legal channels and made sure like through MTSBA that we've done things the right way, then I'm going to stand firm and make sure that we continue to do things that way. If it's something that, you know, maybe I'm wrong on, you know, I could I'm definitely could make a wrong decision, um I think if there's significant stakeholder um feedback that is telling me that I'm
204wrong, that I need to re-evaluate, you know, my stance on something. >> Two minutes. >> Okay. What' you say? Two minutes. 2 minutes. >> Okay. >> Give an example of how you delegated authority while still maintaining accountability. >> So, with me being spread so thin in Westby, there's a lot of things that I I do delegate to uh my assistant administrator. The main thing lately has been keeping track of of certain kids attendance. And so, um she'll let me know when kids have met a certain amount. And then it's on me to send letters and call parents and um follow up. >> Okay. How do you handle difficult personnel issues including discipline or performance concerns? Tell us about a time that you handled a significant issue and the outcome. Well, I think that you got
205to be direct, you know, no matter what it is. And so there's obviously the issue that I talked about in the presentation that is more non-eing. And then there's things where obviously there's going to be areas that teachers need to improve and that you just need to I need to be able to first that's why it's so important to develop the relationship and let them know like that I'm there to try to help them improve to where then I can come in and say okay here's what we need to be doing and hold them accountable. on. So, I've had we have pretty we've only had a couple of teachers in in Westby that are like the constant problems that way. Um, and my strategy has been to have direct conversations. Um, give my advice as
206far as what should be different if that hasn't changed. We've gone through different plans of improvement. Um, and honestly in in the Westby experience and and maybe it's what's needed sometimes in Malta, small enough of a school is our goal a lot of times is when a teacher is underperforming can't automatically be to okay well let's get this person out of here. Like we need to be all about developing teachers and people that are here trying to get them to be competent highquality teachers to the best of our ability. Now, you're not always going to be successful with that, but I think you got to exhaust every single thing that you can do um to make that happen because we're all seeing the problems with finding teachers. And you know, I think Westby maybe more
207so than Malta even feels the need to okay, we have somebody here. Let's make them a good teacher however however we can. >> Thank you. >> Okay. We have arranged budgeted for this role, but I'd like to understand what you were looking for in terms of compensation. >> It's funny. I honestly I I don't even know what to ask for. Uh I I was making, you know, a little under 90,000. Um I would I the the money part to me doesn't really even matter. Um, I would take whatever you feel is is fair, you know, compared to your administrative matrix. And um, so honestly, there's a lot other things that I'm worried about before worrying about the the dollar amount to be honest. >> Okay, all we got. >> Thank you, Dylan. >> Thank you.
208Thank you. >> Like, wait. Okay. Are you sure it is over? Thank you. You can go ahead and ask your question. >> Yeah. He has his questions that he sent to you prior, >> right? Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. So, I guess do you have any clarity? And I again, I said in the letter, my main worry about having this conversation is I don't want to sound disrespectful at all to the current coaches that are here because obviously they're doing an amazing job. But it's a very big passion of mine. So, my two questions basically are would you allow a superintendent to coach or be a head basketball coach? And when do you foresee an opening in either program? >> We would uh consider it given the right situation >> and I opening I don't know
209I don't have a real clear answer to that right now. I think those are good conversations to have already with our ED when the time comes. But I think those things, you know, we talked about are always open for discussion cuz things can change from season to season. >> For sure. >> If that makes sense. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. >> And I know it's it's a hard time to have any cl much clarity on that, but >> yeah, it will have a big like effect as far as what I my thinking on it because it is a big passion of mine. >> And my other question was, do you anticipate any elementary openings? Um >> we uh seem to always have openings beginning of the year if nothing else. So yeah, there's opportunity there. >>
210So we don't know at this time. No, don't know right now. >> We don't right now. >> No. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Things can change. >> Thank you, Dylan. >> Thank you guys. >> This feels weird. >> Yeah, sure. Whatever. >> Don't cheat off them. You'll fail. Make sure to grab some snacks and water or whatever. >> Take some for the road. >> Appreciate you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank your wife as well for coming along. >> Oh, you're going to open the door. >> Well, people want to be here for you back tonight. >> Oh, yeah. >> That's why you brought her to you. >> Yeah. hand. >> Yes. Good job. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thanks everybody. >> Thank you. >> No, I wasn't going to
211interrupt you. >> Come in. >> I'm back. >> Sorry. You're ready for round two. >> Gosh. >> There's a mole in there, isn't there? was listening the whole time, wasn't it? >> We were talking. >> I am too. >> I promise. It's a big spilling. We should have enough. >> Thank you, Heather, for everything. >> You bet. >> Appreciate it. We'll see you. >> No, I don't. Do you guys want Steve here? left. So, >> I mean, we want you up to you, man. >> Hey, have a good night. You too. Hi. I've been saving this for you. >> You want me to move? >> I hate my back to them. >> Angel's going to have >> You could go over there. Go. >> I might. Don't me. I hate >> No, I mean, we
212can just move it over. Angel, we are Angel. They're cute. Thank you. I've been wanting to tell you. Thank you. I like them so well in different colors. I noticed his dead arm in your pants. >> I don't want to be Kyle. I just don't want my family >> cuz I want to have the anticipation of someone wanting to say something and I will call you out as not >> okay. I've been told the crackers are something else. >> The crackers are delicious. It was said >> I just can't get behind sour. I try and I try and I try and I just >> It's the word like sour cream. I love >> like sour. >> Well, we have a starter that you >> That's all we do. We start it and feed it and
213throw it. Feed it and throw it. Feed it and throw it. has my daughter's pet name. >> She named it name is Rosetta. I don't really name Rose. >> So when you name it, >> you can't eat everything. >> What are you supposed to put on it? >> I like butter. It just doesn't hurt. >> You eat it with I mean I just don't like it. I like 16 questions. >> I just can't imagine putting peanut butter. Now we stay home portion of visa and I thought oh it's delicious.