001[Music] as a board of education to prepare your interview questions when you get to that stage of the process um and the third bullet here is you may the board may get a sense of what the constituents the stakeholders um are thinking about what what the status of the district is right this second and you can the community and stakeholders should be able to use this profile report to B find out what the strengths and challenges of the district are um as of as of this week uh that that we gathered these data so we would encourage the board to release the entire report to the public so just as a summary we had uh 81 attendees for the focus group in open forums we had 1,370 responses for the survey that was out there
002for about a week um just to be fair uh just because of the sampling methodology that we use which is proprietary this is not a scientific study and provides perceptions of those who responded to partic participated so U obviously a lot of people did not participate in any way shape or form so the board should give this whatever weight that they choose but we're going to share the insights that we gathered uh through the themes that emerged through our conversations and through the survey data um when you get the the report we rounded percentages just to make it a little bit easier to to to to review so just to review and we shared this with you earlier these are the four questions that we asked the focus groups and and the in the open
003forums we had these conversations what are the greatest strengths and attributes for the districts in other words what we what could we use to recruit candidates to apply for this position what are some challenges that that are part of the district's profile what should a new superintendent know about um these challenges uh that that exist before he or she accepts the responsibility what are some priorities out there what are some things that need to be tackled sooner rather than later and again the last part is what are the qualities and skills experiences personality traits that are important for the new superintendent to be successful at at at Francis Howell uh to review the focus group in open forums we had 14 meetings with people over a two-day period and into the evenings uh last week
004we had 81 attendees um we met with the school board uh first uh we met with District administrators including principles building principles community members parents teachers staff students and volunteers years um here are the strengths that emerged from those conversations um there's a strong uh theme of academic excellence and Student Success um the two bullet points just in brief the district cons consistently maintains High academic standards um and you've got a very highly educated public as well as the teachers you've got really strong wide gamut of programs such as AP courses Project Lead the Way Spectra for gifted stud students and robust special education and ESL offerings to make sure that all students are prepared for graduation and post-graduation success the second big strength was an Engaged and supportive Community people in this community really
005care about the the schools that they send their students to and even if they don't have students in the school they really care about what's going on in the district uh they they the district benefits from strong parental engagement active parent teacher organizations and partnership with some Community or organizations like the police and fire departments many residents uh that we talk to including the teachers who live in the district say that the district uh is a very supportive environment with a small town feel um everyone cares about each other and that that's a great thing for for new superintendent to know and to be part of uh there's an exceptional set of extracurricular activities both athletic and non-athletic um co-curricular extracurricular activities including a ranked journalism program and numerous opportunities for student involvement in clubs
006and sports and if a student or a set of students wants to start a club there's almost always a teacher ready to help that process along so that's that's pretty cool um you got a very dedicated highly skilled staff the teachers administrators and staff are committed to Student Success everything all the all the decisions that are made are hopefully made with Student Success in mind they demonstrate longevity resilience and collaboration with each other staff development and professional grow growth are prioritized IED with ample opportunities for training and shared decision making um they have lots of PD professional development opportunities both inside and outside the district which allows them to grow and learn as they pursue their careers at at Francis Howell strong leadership and vision the district is Guided by a clear strategic plan which
007is taking shape right now it's almost finalized and a culture that's part of the culture and climate of continuous Improvement at at Francis how the board of education at times understands its role empowering the super tenant and District leaders to focus on high expectations for all students uh and and high academics here are some challenges uh people that we spoke to uh some people that we spoke to said that the board at times is contentious um somewhat polarized off often overreaching into daily operations and creating a volatile uh environment again take this for what it's worth those are the people's opinions that we spoke with there are some public clashes political agendas and lack lack of collaboration within the board that negatively impact trust and the districts focus on Student Success those are some perceptions
008that are out there you can give those whatever weight You' like there has been uh somewhat uh based on our conversations an erosion of trust and Community division uh there's been some some erosion between the district community and staff due to issues like you know failed tax levies past fiscal mismanagement that that's been in the newspaper and other social media and and some rather public disputes there are some perceptions of dishonesty and fiscal irresponsible irresponsibility they've damaged the district's reputation making it difficult to rebuild relationships at times there have been recently some high turnover and Staffing challenges um at all levels including teachers special education department staff District leadership this disrupts uh continuity and affects morale um there's been Recruitment and Retention of qualified staff that have been challenged including filling high level leadership positions
009uh these remain ongoing challenges and you know about those openings there's some Financial strain and some uncertainty moving forward the inability to pass a tax levy has led to some resource limitations of some outdated and limited technology for student and staff use and inadequate funding for some Key Programs the depletion of Esser funds like all districts have and the health and fund further exacer some of these fiscal challenges especially into the future this limits long-term planning and Investments for on behalf of the district there have been some culture and demographic shifts in the district um there are increasing challenges related to diversity and cultural competence with some community members and some board of education me Members resisting possible change those things need to be discussed uh in open there's some been some polarization around social
010and political issues including equity and inclusion uh these these polarizations undermine efforts to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all students and staff again these are some challenges that emerg from our conversations these are not our opinions and these are things that you can give whatever way to you choose as the Board of Education some priorities for the superintendent of first year I'm going to go over these briefly uh the person really really needs to rebuild trust and strengthen relationships the culture and climate has been damaged recently those Rel relationships need to be rebuilt um this person needs to be able to with the Board of Education address the fiscal challenges and Equity to make sure that people are taken care of and they have the resources they need to make sure that all
011students grow and learn um some enhancement of accountability on all parts including teachers and staff and principes and everybody across the board in student achievement has to be number one um they have to build and unify leadership teams both at the district level and at the building level those have been uh somewhat eroded over the past couple years uh to build a cohesive leadership team including and especially the Board of Education focus on collaboration team building and shared decision making is very very important for this new person in their first year um the vision for the district has to be communicated and executed very clearly from the get-go he or she needs to be articulate and execute a Clear district-wide Vision aligned with the strategic planning and the school Improvement plans uh he or she
012needs to be visible approachable and proactive and engaging with the community all across the district to restore the district's reputation highlighted strengths it's a great District but the the the the reputation has been damaged uh desired skills and characteristics this is the last question we asked this person needs to be a collaborative um and con consensus building leader this person needs to be student- centered make decisions based on what's best for students and compassionate he or she needs to love students and care about students number one this person needs to be resilient and a courageous Problem Solver this person needs a strong backbone and the courage to address contentious issues defend staff when necessary and stand firm on critical decisions he or she needs to own those decisions uh this person needs to be resilient
013in the face of challenges including navigating some culture wars that are out there across our nation uh some the financial insecurities that that we talked about and some board Dynamics uh especially uh uh rebuilding the trust and collaboration needs to be part of the team between the board and the superintendent this person needs to be a Visionary and a strategic Communicator those are really critical issues that the person needs to have and this person needs to be innovated and a fiscal Savvy change agent this person needs to be a creative thinker with a strong understanding of complex systems and fiscal Acumen to navigate the fiscal challenges and resource Equity to make sure that every student and every staff member has what he or she needs to to advance student achievement this person needs to be
014willing to innovate and Lead transformative initiatives to improve the district while maintaining stability and preserving what works again these are the gleanings that we took from the focus groups in the open forms and the survey responses we didn't bring bias to the table we don't know your District we're getting to know the district very very well but these emerged from the 81 people and from the over 1,300 people that that responded to the survey um I'm going to turn it over to Diane who will talk about the the survey questionnaire demographics and responses good evening everyone um I would like to just kind of go over what we uh glean from the survey and again board members and uh District uh send to the district the copy of the survey so that that can be
015posted on your District's website so that you can U delve into more the detail but I'm just going to summarize some of the highlights that we um gleaned from it so we had exactly 1370 people that um took the survey you can see the breakout of the numbers of those 800 or 1370 student U I'm sorry respondents um and uh what category they identified as there were some who uh questioned that they would have liked to have um selected more than one category because they may be a parent and a staff member um that wasn't how our survey was set up so the people chose the the lens that they wanted to um answer the survey in uh Kevin next slide here's uh the breakdown of the race and ethnicity of those who chose to
016answer on the survey uh we did have some people who chose not to answer this question but you can see that a majority uh was white uh several preferred not to answer and then um the other categories that um go down the line there uh there were 26 people who selected multiple answers so my assumption there would be maybe a a husband and wife um took the survey together uh a student and a parent took the survey together and so if you when you get the actual survey you will see that the percentages of the breakout won't actually um add up to 100% because of um some people who did uh select multiple answers Kevin so the perceived strengths we had the survey uh broken into educational strengths and challenges as well as managerial and
017organizational strengths and challenges we for the purposes of this slide presentation we combine the the strengths of both the educational side and the organizational management side but when you get the final survey you will see them broken down separately so you can see the five highest um ranking uh perceived strengths out of the force Choice list that we presented quality teaching staff by and far the highest ranking that is not untypical that is usually what we see in uh surveys that we do in all of our searches is that there's a highly uh qualified teaching staff communication is pretty good in this district from the people who took the survey that's usually not near the top in uh surveys that we in districts student safety is you know half and half almost 50% clean and
018attractive schools and then positive nurturing school learning environment you can see that nearly a third of the uh people chose that as the fifth highest strength and then that tells you something is that everybody is not um together on necessarily what the perceived strengths are uh usually if the community is really together and Allin one boat you will see a lot of 60s 70s and 80% up in this top area um and our fifth highest has 37% of the vote so those are the perceived strengths perceived challenges staff morale came in at at the top the district's understanding and support of diversity racial equity and social justice responsible stewardship of financial resources and image of the district we heard quite a bit about the financial resource issue and um there was a lot of dismay
019of the people that we were talking to and comments on the survey to us that uh there's a big concern about that tax levy in inability to pass a tax levy people are wondering why we can't let go of an issue that happened 20 30 years ago with uh double counting of kindergarten students that is not a current problem current issue but for some reason people just can't let go of that and can't move forward and past that uh there was also the issue with the bond uh the bond issue for the school building the north um high school and um the audit that just recently came out and just want to remind people that that audit was from a couple of years ago and since then there have been changes in financial practices and
020um some of the issues that were identified in that audit have been addressed and have been corrected so that audit uh in some people's minds is real recent like just recently happened so um I just wanted to to make that comment uh both to the board and to the public that um sometimes the past mistakes are kind of tying the hands of what the the here and now um requires and then finally the image of the district Kevin talked about that in the people that we talked to that it has taken a hit and we we saw several comments in the survey about uh the image of the district being um not as positive as it has been due mainly to negative press and dis disgruntlement okay next um slide so priorities for the new
021superintendent to focus on student growth and achievement 21st century skills those are uh job skills basically how to how to work together how to uh problem solve how to use critical thinking skills um how to succeed in both College and Career as well as um in uh workplace um settings social and emotional health of students and respect for staff came in as a tie for uh third place skills and characteristics of the next superintendent uh trustworthy and that courage and integrity right there at the top that is a pretty high Mark a lot of people 69% of the people that took the survey chose that as number one a Clear Vision for leading the schools you you're hearing some of the same things in the survey that we were hearing from the people that we
022talked to a deep knowledge of curriculum and how um teaching and Learning Works building good teams and bringing out the best in others holding um others and themselves accountable being child- centered and understanding the finance and the business side of the district so when we put all oh I'm sorry then we had some other questions that were there I know this this print is pretty small uh you'll be able to see it better in the report but these are just some kind of uh take the Pulse of the community on um some some feelings that they've got uh you can see that uh the the 69% strongly agree or agree that they are proud of the schools and would recommend the school or District to someone else uh meeting social emotional health not as high
023but still more than uh 50% saying that we agree or strongly agree that the district is doing that adequate communication with the parents uh the highest score so your communication is really good uh high expectations for student and staff High then uh affecting the the social justice and Equity practices uh not so high and uh these next three meeting the needs of English Learners and students with uh IEPs the special ed kids uh meeting the needs of kids experiencing academic difficulties and experiencing or meeting the needs of the gifted and talented students um those are going to not have as high I'm sorry there's going to be more no opinion on those because people who don't have kids in school wouldn't necessarily have an opinion on those but out of all of those the gifted
024and talented received the highest marks and that was also true in with the people that we talked to uh people are very proud of the programs that you have for your gift and talented students and then uh do we provide enough extracurricular activities and sports uh opportunities for the student level of interest that is also very high there's a lot to do for kids there are a lot of opportunities and uh the students even commented there's there's a lot for us to do and if like Kevin said if there's not something that interests us uh people in the district will make a way to make that happen so that we can participate so we took everything that uh we we found in the survey we had uh 473 people who made individual comments to us
025some just a sentence or two some a lengthy paragraph or or three or four or five or six um on that open-ended question of the survey so we took all of that data we um took the data that we heard from the people that we talked to and we came up with some I think eight statements that we think would describe the type of candidate who could be successful potentially in the Francis House School District so we're going to start going through those so the first one would be someone who's Visionary and strategic in their leadership and their planning someone who has an appren proven ability to develop articulate and Implement a Clear districtwide Vision aligned with the Strategic plan and the CIP goals someone who's committed to fostering a culture of continuous Improvement and
026high expectations for academic and extracurricular success someone who's experienced in leading districts with diverse program offerings including the AP courses Project Lead the Way robust special ed and ESL Services um gifted Services you name it uh so so the vision and the strategic planning for the district to be able to take it from where it is and move it forward secondly someone with uh who has AC academic excellence in student centered leadership so they're passionate um to advocate for student achievement and well-being with a history of prioritizing equity and ensuring resources meet all students needs expertise in supporting gifted programs addressing the needs of marginalized students Kevin can you share your screen back again can you see the screen yet NOP okay hold on a second I'm sorry I got cut off is that better
027that's much better sorry about that I didn't have this totally memorized uh let's see where was I uh the second bullet point number two expertise in supporting gifted programs addressing the needs of marginalized students and creating safe and inclusive environments for all Learners and then someone with a proven track record in enhancing accountability measures to drive academic performance and improve School climates also someone uh that has the skill set of being collaborative and and consensus building skilled in bringing together diverse stakeholders including the Board of Ed staff teachers parents and community members to build unity and Foster a supportive environment someone experienced in navigating polarized boards and contentious issues with diplomacy ensuring all voices are heard and valued number four the finance piece and uh problem solving someone who has strong fiscal expertise to address
028Budget challenges including tax levy failures and resource limitations someone who has demonstrated success in securing funding managing resources equitably and navigating Financial uncertainties while ensuring sustainability and a creative thinker who capable of leading transformative initiatives to improve outdated systems and advanced District goals number five Community engagement in trust building someone who's committed to rebuilding trust through transparent communication Integrity with integrity and active engagement with staff families and Community stakeholders someone skilled in leveraging Partnerships with PTO local local organizations and uh Community leaders to strengthen that District's support and collaboration someone who's Adept at creating a cohesive and inclusive District Culture by building strong relationships with marginalized groups and key stakeholders the sixth uh trait would be uh Empower in I'm sorry empowering leadership and team building someone experienced in hiring and supporting a cohesive leadership
029team prioritizing collaboration shared decis decisionmaking and professional growth someone who advocates for empowering principles and District Leaders with the tools and resources necessary to drive School level improvements and Innovation someone who is resilient and courageous um demonstrates a strong background backbone and resilience in addressing contentious issues defending staff and standing firm on critical decisions someone skilled in navigating cultural and political challenges including diversity equity and inclusion efforts with empathy and humility and finally someone who has exceptional communication skills they are clear and effective and communicating who can articulate a compelling vision for the district while being transparent and approachable someone proactive in addressing challenges celebrating successes and sharing difficult news with Clarity and honesty to maintain Community Trust so we identified four core competencies that kind of uh are embedded in these uh statements that
030we just provided you and those core competencies would be a cultural competence a leadership and high performing systems crisis management and commitment to Excellence so Kevin next slide so next steps would be for us to conduct interviews with candidates and we've we've been reaching out and we've been recruiting and we've got I think a good start on making sure that we've got some some good people but we we will use this these data and this this profile to recruit even further and making sure that our 60 plus Consultants um Across the Nation start uh do do their job in making sure we have a good slate to bring to the board we'll recommend candidates to the board after we vet and interview all of them uh the board will conduct first interviews and choose your
031three finalist you'll hold your second interviews um you'll we'll talk about this during the workshop that we do the interview Workshop but we'll do some probably do some candidate presentations as part of that second set of interviews uh the board will make a final selection of the in uh final selection of the candidate conduct the reference checks negotiate the contract with the candidate they selected and hopefully have someone starting on July 1 but hopefully named much sooner than that uh and we'll take any questions you might have questions board and Adam and Jane I will send that report to you as soon as we as soon as we sign off this evening there were 1370 responses how does that compare to other school districts was considering the size of our school district did that seem
032like a high number or a low number to you it seemed pretty pretty consistent with what we see um for the district your size that's right in the B of what we usually see so you feel like considering the size of our district 1370 meets your threshold for a good cross sampling of the district that 1370 feels like you got an accurate picture well that's that's difficult to say I I you know we we don't know um if they their person who lives next door to You Stephen or somebody that lives 5 miles away from you and is it spread out through the district we didn't ask for addresses all that stuff so it's hard to say the numbers I thought the 1370 I think is a pretty good number we were looking for around
03312 1250 based on the size of your District so I think the responses uh numbers are pretty good is it a cross-section who knows that's that's difficult to say okay can you pull back open the slides there sure uh going back to the survey results for yeah give me a second here it's probably about halfway through uh yeah that yeah forward one more one more okay so no back okay that one um priorities for the new superintendent so this is the online survey results is that correct correct so am I understanding this correct that of the people who answered the online survey 48% of them thought that student growth and achievement should be the top priority for the superintendent correct meaning 52% didn't think that um and so that sprinkled through these other three things
034how many I guess how many options were there and was it just these four things no no no there were uh oh B on this one probably maybe 12ish 1213 I don't know that off the top of my head these were these were the ones that that were the were picked the most often so the top rated so when you get the actual survey we'll send you the actual survey data you can see what other people chose and how it it got kind of spread out and diluted as people went down the list do do I remember right it was like pick your top three uh I think on this one is pi your top four top four so that's why we Report top four yeah okay all right that's kind of what I thought
035I just thought 48 seemed low for student so even means for top four things only 48% pick student growth in achievement yeah I'm shocked that out of a thousand or 1300 people that only half of them would pick that as one of the top four U oh I got more more questions on the slide [Music] I I apologize so then as we move forward to the to the profile the superintendent profile I think it might be the last slide or so yeah keep going yeah forward one forward one more okay so uh it might understand that these are the competencies you're going to look for in a superintendent for Francis Howell we will use the previous eight points to really do the check marks on who's the best fit for Francis how so these eight
036are the ones that we will use to do the vetting and recruiting and interviewing of candidates the last slide is what we think based on the data are are the things that the person has to be competent by to achieve those eight profile uh numbers does that make sense these attributes and qualifications are what we will look for in candidates to recommend to the board okay so as you go forward with the slide with just four bullets yes this one so demonstrated success in leading districts through demographic shifts and promoting equity and inclusivity this is very charged um what I what I don't think we want is one of these people in education when and there's a lot of them who's who become uh you know one of these diversity equity and inclusion uh you
037know cheerleaders that that's all they can do that's all they can think about we've had those people in the past they didn't work out um Dr rumpus is not that kind of person and he's he's worked out well um so I I I I truly question this as one of the core competencies obviously that's a that's a survey result um there's people that in the district who are who are just those type of people who who think that uh this is the most important thing in life um but I I don't know that that's the um it's not what I would be looking for as as one of the four core competencies in a super tenant um so I that one gives me pause if that's who you're going to bring us resumés of three
038people who who have this as one of their life goals uh for their career that's that's concerning I I certainly understand that and U Not only was this um resonated in the survey data that you know you you'll get the full report this evening but we heard this um this compc he talked about and with the 81 people we had with the focus groups in the open forums now having said that Randy we won't bring you someone who is a Dei cheerleader and nothing else but I also want to make sure that these are not you for you to understand that these are not uh Diane or M opinions these are what has emerged from the people that we spoke to and the people who responded to the survey those are the data sources and
039we are bringing those those data forward to you we know and we want to make sure that you understand and just like we understand and the public understands we will bring a well-rounded set of candidates so that you can give whatever way you want to any of these data points and profile uh explanations and and choose the person you feel is the best fit for Francis how yeah I certainly understand these are the survey results and I if if I understand the point of this meeting is is for the the board to you know give you the the nod to move forward with these as the competencies and that's I guess that's my feedback for you is that if these are the kind of uh you know some of the key skills you're going to
040be looking for I'm not sure that person's going to work out um it it will lead to that will lead to where we uh where we were a few years ago when it comes to things of uh you want to call people called it culture wars and other things um we had very very strong-minded uh I'll just say Dei uh superintendents in in in the past uh the two before Dr Romus and it it has led to where we are I I I I hear and value your comments sir I also think um what I don't see in here is um I suppose I see leadership and high performing systems and experience with high academic standards extracurricular offering offerings um I maybe this is more of a chief academic officer role but I I I
041feel like academics should be first on this list I realize they're not numbered yeah this is this is not rank ordered yeah I hope not yes that these are crisis management I agree commitment to excellent these are kind of I would say core skills of any you know leader CEO type like a superintendent certainly okay I have a u question so Randy I hear your concern that you definitely don't want the main strength or the main uh quality of a superintendent to be uh promoting equity and inclusivity that your idea that that definitely should not be the main thing about a candidate um if it was the fifth sixth seventh thing that was on their mind is that something that is possible or in other words if they focus on academics fiscal responsibility crisis management
042commitment to Excellence and then somewhere along the way they're okay with having a a district that works better for different people groups is that possible is that a candidate who we can consider but the idea is you just don't want it to be somebody who is all about that as their first second and third priority um I think that within this uh within this space within the these terms which are which are highly charged I mean we all share the same vocabulary uh but many of us shared a different dictionary when we Define these terms and uh there is the type of leader who thinks about this all day how can I make my numbers of this student make you know this student group um you know match this student group more closely and and
043then I'm just arbitrarily setting goals based on race and other identity groups and I I I don't think that's good we need you know when it comes to you know inclusion or diversity and the way I Define them I think everyone would agree that we want to treat students as individuals uh if an individual has a struggle uh with with reading or some other aspect whatever it may be uh we certainly we we cater to that we we deal with that student on an individual basis but when you know all students with uh red hair come in we don't we don't say oh my gosh you're a red-haired student I'm going to uh make sure you get this extra help um and that is you know or I want to bring up all the scores
044of students with uh with with blue eyes you know those I just don't think arbitrarily classifying students um in that way is helpful it's gotten Us in all sorts of uh issues in the past and and I think the I just think it's tough so thank you we can classify students any way which way we can do it on Race we can look at how well firstborn students do versus second third born single only child twins yeah we can find dis disparities between student groups any which way we slice it and the the best thing a superintendent can do is be um is be supportive of an environment that values the individual student um and and not f fed on their reporting numbers to Desi or what have you that's that's where I'm at with
045this when I talk about thank and there are definitely leaders who um who want to do you know social change as as their role as superintendent and that's y I don't think what I would right I would not be in support of That So Randy thank you for clarifying that I do appreciate you offering that um and for me I know there's other things on on this um part of it is U so this is regarding these questions for U you know Kevin and Diane do you have this broken up in terms of what the student said versus what the teacher said or I don't know how much that would shape it all but I just I wonder how many of these answers if you look at it from community members even though that was
046only 50 um students 179 staff 274 parents safy before it'd be just interesting to see how those numbers all broke down like priorities um I don't know if that's something you can share with the board later for me personally um and R I think you're the idea that we all have the same vocabulary but different definitions I think there's accuracy there and for me U the word Equity just means um giving somebody the education they need regardless if it's the same as the person next to them and so like we have parents as teachers some kids get it some kids don't some kids have Paras some kids sit in the front some kids sit in the back some kids have IEP some kids don't and the idea for equity for me is you just give
047everybody the same education regardless uh if it's different than the person next to them and so maybe we get tripped up on some of the other words and like you said these words are very loaded they're loaded because they they get loaded right but um when I see the word Equity I just mean every single person gets the right education that they need and I see inclusivity I just think it as um when somebody's new to your school you make sure they feel like they're absolutely welcome as they are if somebody has uh an impairment one way or another if they're in a wheelchair we just want to make sure every student gets the best experience um and so whether that's number one or maybe we should rank these um but I think underneath those
048definitions I think it's a good thing to aim for for superintendent well uh when I when I look at those words as a teacher um and I think about my class I would want everyone in my class to think that I treated each of them equally and then I included everyone and that's all that is that's about being giving everybody a fair shot and keeping your students equal that you don't treat one better than the other and I think that's so important to teachers Carly we agree on that I think think there are some there are some who will and this is a current practice actually who who use the term Equity to mean that students meeting certain uh identity criteria uh can score lower than other students and uh for admission into certain programs
049so to put that in teacher terms you know if you have uh if you have blue eyes uh you need to score 90 on a test to make uh an A but you know if you have hazel eyes we'll take an 88 and you can earn an A on your report card that is what I'm against that is what happens uh I'm using a I'm not using a real example there but I have a real example at my fingertips uh if anyone's interested so that is what I'm this is the type of equity that type of I I would actually call it discrimination uh that happens in the name and people you know hold up an equity sign in front of it it and say well we need to do this because because of equity
050it's treating everybody fairly that's that's all that is you can make it something else if you want but it's it's treating people fairly and giving everybody an equal shot I agree with an equal shot yes everyone plays by the same rules yeah I don't I don't think we need to get bogged down with political ramifications of these words and think of it in the educational environment and how teachers think of it they're not thinking of it as a political thing they're thinking of how do I treat everybody well and how do I treat everybody in the best interest of them that they can achieve because it's very difficult when you have a room full of 25 kids and you've got a wide variation in abilities and IQ talents everything and somehow you have to reach
051all of them and you don't want any child to perceive that you favor any over the others and I really think that's all we're talking about here I agree that that kind of a leader would be ideal all I'm saying is we've had leaders in the past who use the equity in the name of the type of things I was just talking about and that is what I think most people would would uh would have a problem with well it sounds like most of the sounds like the conversation from the board is we all agree on what what what we feel it should be should be looking like yes thank thank you helps that helps Diane and I understand as well and and I appreciate the the the comments and and the insights um once
052you get the full report there's going to be lots of data there for you to review both individually and collectively as a board and when we when we visit again we will kind of work some of these details out Adam um if you could do me a favor and look at um the email I sent you earlier this week or I forget on when I did it and and so we can work some dates to make sure we meet your deadlines I know those are important um but we've got to block out some times on our schedules as well to make sure that we meet your your deadlines and we want to make sure that at the end of the day you get that one person that meets your needs um and and is a
053great fit for Francis H that's our goal and uh we're dedicated to making sure that takes place other questions you might have for Diane or me yeah I had one I know we've been moving at warp speed here but um had the opportunity to review the contract that was signed and I noted that the threshold to request more fund funding to be approved by the board for expenses was $18,500 what that means is that we originally at least I did know that we signed a contract for 29,500 but instead um the actual contract that was signed was for 48,000 before any additional board um approval was needed I I think $188,500 in expenses is a rather large amount maybe a little oversight is needed so I'm going to request that all all expenses be submitted
054to me as Treasurer with receipts monthly if other board members would like to see them I could submit them or they can go directly to to you guys to get a copy of them is that is that possible can I address that sure so um Kevin and Kevin and Ma's expenses are detailed when we submit them we do have copies of receipts and we have we have it all detailed in what our expenses are um a lot of that is an allowance we very rarely get up to the amount that we use for cover for a thres fine yeah aart and and we're happy to be we'll be very transparent with you um in that but um what what the reason we make that kind of a high number to start with is should we
055have have candidates that are coming from out of state typically their expenses are covered and so if we would have a flight or hotel and things like that we want to make sure that we've got enough money that that the board realizes that it it could cost that much ultimately very rarely does it we just want to make sure that we are not needing to come back to you saying oh my gosh we've blown through $229,000 of expenses now we need 14,000 more I don't see that happening um I think 29 is like way kind of out there you are not going to get near those kinds of expenses from Kevin and I I can guarantee I I understand that but I still like would like to see those um submitted monthly so I would
056hope that by the end of this month we'd be able to take a look at some of those um what was also what also was missing in the contract was any allowance for an internal candidate um as you know there is an internal candidate working through I think the necessary paperwork for the temporary Assumption of the superintendent duties I think that this might give us some you know some extra time to make a not so hurried decision and under under item 18 so is there any is there let me read to you item item number 18 if the board deems no final candidate can be chosen from those presented on the Slate the Consultants will continue to present candidates for actual expenses only until the board signs a contract with the new superintendent no consulting
057fee will be charged in addition uh a couple questions I hope that doesn't mean in perpetuity because that's already been remedied by case law but all contracts that I have been involved in negotiations can included an out clause for both party parties so does this contract only end when a new contract is sign that that you know I'm not an attorney Jane but that's my understanding if if you or some member of the board or your legal counsel wants to talk to our attorney that's fine I just don't want to render an opinion here uh in an open meeting that may be legally inaccurate well I'm wondering if if you're willing if we do find an internal candidate if you're willing to cut your prices on that or somehow make an allowance on the on
058the contract are you about an internal candidate or an interim candidate probably maybe both um an internal candidate I think as we discussed at our original session is that all in if there are any internal candidates that they would go through the same exact process that um outside candidates would go to and that they would not receive any type of favoritism so uh they in our eyes they are a legitimate candidate where I think that that um the price should stay the same should you decide to pick that internal candidate as your final candidate because we've gone through the entire process bringing you multiple candidates to look at and as you interview and Screen down if you determine that the internal candidate is the is the best then the process worked um likewise if you
059decide the internal candidate is not the best the process worked but they are treated just like all the other candidates okay so I don't see there should be an adjustment if you ultimately decide to pick the internal candidate because technically you had that option to just go that way without even doing a search right that was like I said it was done at warp speed so there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity I understand that we're feeling that too Jane I know I know typically appreciate appreciate you doing that yeah typically when we start a search we would give a presentation to the entire board before a decision is made where these kinds of questions would be asked and we would explain our process and all of that kind of stuff and and not how
060this one started so we kind of feel we were under the gun to start with and we are on a very short time frame we realize that yeah I hear I hear you yeah and I understand I understand so thank you for your responses thank good question other questions for Dian or myself we're getting to know your District I'm I'm thinking this is going to be a great opportunity for the right person so thank you for your time this evening um and Adam and Jane heer I'll be sending you that report this evening we're hoping that you share that with your stakeholders on your website and and there's lots of details in there I'm hoping the board takes some time as individual members to to review the report I think um it'll it'll add some
061light to the to the overview we we we shared with you tonight during the power PowerPoint could I just take a minute Adam uh definitely yeah one of the things that we still are unresolved on are uh whether or not we're going to have Community engagement participation in the interview process or the board's just going to do the interview process themselves and we need to nail down the exact dates for interviewing we we um suggested some dates on that original timeline we need to be able to know exactly which dates uh the board is available to interview so that we can let candidates know as we are interviewing them what you know find out what their commitments are um some if we have a sitting superintendent they may have a board meeting already scheduled or
062some type of a finance committee meeting that they can't get out of so we just we just really need to nail down those those dates um very soon before if at all possible before we meet you next time because the next time weet meet you we are presenting candidates to you so we we really need to know like in the next week y me me and Jane hler working working on that we'll give that back to you I I know I know you are Adam thank you I hate to put pressure on you but worries people from out of town or whatever we want to make sure we're ready to make make sure that we we keep the board members happy I agreed great no I really appreciate all the time and effort appreciate you
063guys being flexible and doing the zoom call so we can keep the process rolling in in safe cost by not having all the travel right exactly thank you very much thank than you guys have a great evening thank you thank you board oh Adam will have to adjourn yep I'm still here all right all right yeah so Bard like a motion to adjourn so moved it okay first by director cook second by director Ponder all those in favor say I I hi hi all the suppos say know eyes have it thank you very much every