001Good evening. Um, calling the meeting to order. Please stand for a the pledge and a moment of silence. Roll call. >> Baringer. Bomb. Ramsey >> here. >> Ritz. Robo >> here. >> Sheer. >> Stein. >> White >> here. >> Wilson. >> Uh, we did hold executive session for personnel this evening. Um I do have a list of those in the audience uh that want to speak. So we'll go in order. Uh starting with Jay Sterner. >> Yep. And state your name and township or bureau of residency, please. >> Thank you. There we go. Okay. Good evening. My name is James Sterner. I'm a taxpaying resident of Spring Grove. The position of superintendent is a vital one whose first concern concern should be the students and staff. Any decision regarding this position should be held with
002honesty and with best intentions. At this moment is important for you to hear how some people are feeling about the entire superintendent situation. First and foremost, thank you to the brave members of the board who have let it be known that they didn't agree with the initial hiring, Dr. Bradley, and we appreciate you. From the outside looking in over the past year at this debacle, I have many concerns from the effect on the students and staff to the considerable loss of money and the lack of remorse shown by the board. As far as the current hiring process being considered by the board, a hybrid search and hiring process to be conducted by school staff and an outside consult consulting firm. If this is the way we do it this time around, the following items should
003be considered. No, no member of the board should have any personal, business, financial relationship or responsibility with those chosen consultants, past, future, or present. No member of the board should be allowed to push a candidate through the process. It is concerning that you are choosing to search within Pennsylvania only as this could lead to the possibility of past ties with the board and possible candidates. Hopefully, this will not be the case. All of this comes from the actions of the board in the hiring and resignation of Dr. Bradley. The sense of mistrust towards the majority of the board is due to the fact that public opinion was not considered and that we still have a complete lack of transparency. The rumors going around are surely worse than what has happened to with with Dr. Bradling.
004At a past meeting when discussing the resignation and severance package, attendees attendees expressing concerns were told by a member, "Don't on the board." When most of us feel we were already shhat on. Hopefully, other districts are hearing of our situation with Dr. Bradley and will know not to hire him. As for Spring Grove, we can only hope for integrity and transparency in their hiring process this time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh Brandon Huffmegel Good evening. Brandon Huffenegel, Jackson Township. Let me start by saying this clearly. This is not about the decision to let Dr. Bradley leave, or the reasons behind it. That's done. What this is about is transparency, accountability, and public trust. It's about how this situation was handled, how decisions were made, and whether they followed the law and respected the
005public's right to know. When timelines don't match, when explanations shift, and when financial agreements aren't made, public loses trust. This is not a political issue. That's a leadership issue. So, let's recount the timeline. In August 15th, staff received an email stating that Dr. Bradley was on sick leave. There was no mention of administrative leave or an upcoming resignation. On August 25th, the board voted to accept Dr. Bradley's resignation pending the use of a crude lead. During that meeting, several board members raised concerns about a separation agreement and how could they vote on something without seeing the details? One board member even said, "How can we vote if we don't know what's in it?" Meanwhile, another board member stated, "If the board did not vote to accept the resignation, personal stuff with Mr. Bradley would become
006public knowledge and it could get way more expensive with court hearings and staff above my head. I'm not going to go on to read the rest of that quote. That statement alone shows that not everyone understood exactly what was being voted on. On September 2nd, Dr. Bradley signed his letter of resignation saying it was due to stress of being away from his family and an aging mother. This is a voluntary resignation. This was also confirmed by the solicitor at the board meeting on August 25th. Then on September 5th, Dr. Bradley signed a separation and release agreement giving him paid administrative leave retroactive to August 11th. I use the word retroactive, but it went back and paid him from August 11th to September the 8th. They also gave him pay for unused leave, two month severance,
007and his health benefits. My tallies have that close, if not over, to $100,000. So, here are the questions that need answers. Why was a separation agreement created for someone who voluntarily resigned? Did the full board ever see this agreement or even vote on this agreement? Who authorized this agreement to be signed? Why were staff told he was on sick leave when the agreement says paid administrative leave? That was a change. How were board members referencing a separation agreement on August 25th when it wasn't even signed or noticed until September 5th? Was this agreement behind closed doors? Did it not come out to the public? And most importantly, when will the board take formal action to approve or reject that agreement as required by law? or is the board saying that voting to accept his resignation
008somehow counted as approving the deal? The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act states, "Official action and deliberation by a quorum of members of an agency shall take place at a meeting open to the public." It also defines official action to include the making of policy or decisions on agency business, including the vote on any motion, resolution, rule, regulation, or contract. I believe the separation agreement is a contract. That means that any separation agreement involving taxpayers funds must be approved in public. Period. No exceptions to that. This is not about Dr. Bradley anymore. This is about process, law, and public accountability. And I'm finishing up. And right now, this board has a chance to rebuild trust by being transparent, answering questions, and take official public action on the agreement, just like the law requires. Transparency isn't optional. It's your
009obligation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, >> question for you. Why did you read on everything we we already know? The other thing is you're you were an educator so you know there's things that can't be public that and again we still don't know what is >> what what is your point >> we want to make sure this isn't a Q&A so >> then that's why I want to say do you want me to respond or what's my point >> not >> it's not Q&A so we can talk later >> thank you uh Sean Burke I'm Sean Burk, pastor at St. John's in Abbottztown. Also the pastor to Cody Becker and the family. I'm here for a different reason, but also have my uh my sediments on uh I'm very thankful that Dr. Dave Renat
010is enjoying his vacation, but was also here in a time of great need. Um, I'm here on behalf of Jordan Becker. Um, also Ken and Ren to just say thank you. The outpouring of care, the expressions and the heartfelt gratitude for all that happened in the last three weeks, not just of my life, but of Spring Grove School District. The compassion and the coordination that the entire Springrove School District has shown has been unreal. It's been amazing. In the midst of heartbreak, this district be became a place of refuge. It became a place of healing. The way this community came together to support one another and to honor Cody's life and his service was a witness to what makes Springrove so special. It was an act of grace that went far beyond logistics. It was
011ministry in motion. Dear friends, I especially want to acknowledge the dedicated staff who gave so much of themselves. Of course, to my friend Dr. Dave Renat for his leadership and his compassion. for Mark Zap for his tireless coordination and deep care for the staff of the district, for Bill Styles for his steady presence and attention to every detail. To Ronda Priest, the head custodian, and all of her team that transformed a school from homecoming into a place of worship in less than eight hours. It was a sacred space. It offered comfort for people that didn't even have faith. For Chris and his technology team, for the students that are now tyrously trying to edit film and share it for the family, for my friend Tim Bup and the music department for being here on Saturday
012mornings and picking up all the pieces after everything was done. There was so much care and respect for neighbor. And I almost thought I lost that last year when having some of these conversations. As we move forward, dear community, may we continue to be a community that stands together in love and mutual support. May we keep in our prayers, of course, the Becker family and the Baker family and the Emaniser family, but may may we also continue to lift up Northern Regional Police Department, York County Sheriff's Office and the courage that they offer every day and the sacrifice their families make every morning. I also just want to say thank you and may we continue be may we continue to be reminded what it means to be rocket strong a community grounded in compassion faith
013and love. I will tell you the honest truth. I don't know if I would have been able to do what was done on September 28th with the leadership we had last year. I am very thankful that God has been in this place and is helping us to be restored and renewed together. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sean. We need more people like you. Appreciate your message. Um, anyone else in the audience that would like to address the board at this time? Right. Seeing none, I am going to open up uh possible board and administrator comments to public comment. Um this is not a Q&A, but if there are any comments on statements that were made, please uh board members, you are welcome to make a comment. All right. I do not have any correspondence at
014this time. Uh we are moving to personnel with Mr. Stein. Good evening everyone. Uh so as outlined in the memorandum with background information, Mr. Stein, myself, Dr. Renault and Suzanne met with the three consulting firms that the board requested to move forward from the previous meeting. We met with each consultant individually and two of the three have come here tonight to give a 15minute presentation on what they can offer the school district. As each consultant concludes their presentation, there will be a question and answer session and ex extensive discussion and deliberation will take place at the conclusion of both presentations. Uh the first of tonight's presenters is Dr. Edward Albert of Al Albert Consulting. He's representing Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools. Dr. I'll turn it over to you. This survey, this can they
015hear me now? Okay. This survey serves as two purposes. One, it gives the community input as to what they're looking for the next superintendent. Two, it allows you that when you're interviewing, you are seeing what the public has said. folks, you voted them in as board members. You can have input. At the end of the day, they do indeed make the final decision. You're aware of that. And by the way, my father was a school board member for 30 years. And if he was with us today, he's with me today on my shoulder. He's deceased, but I know he'd be saying, "Keep going, Eddie." He's one of the few people that called me Eddie. All right. So, that survey is important. The other way this survey is used is this. When the results are done,
016I think it's important to share it with the public. Yes, if there's a misspelled word in there, don't fix it because somebody might have put the misspelled word in there to see what you're going to give back to them. The other thing is if you hire a new superintendent and this survey comes out and says, "We want to see the superintendent be invisible all the time," the superintendent, he or she would have to be crazy to stay in their office all day long. This can be a road map for the new superintendent. So this plays a very valuable role and is big on transparency. All right. So I just want to share that also along with that getting information there's a document in your packet which has 14 questions where I will call you up
017or meet with you personally as a board to get your take on what you're looking for as a superintendent. I have that document in there for it too. In addition to meeting with you or talking with you on the phone and doing the public survey, I will come out and sit in buildings and any teacher who wants to come by and give me input. I jot it down and I'll put it in a chart. So, there's a lot of data out there and I think you're really being transparent with the public. I did all my searches this way of what you're looking for. Now, let's go through the process. So, everybody that comes in here and makes a presentation, you're going to advertise. Yes, I would work with this young lady to perhaps put out
018the advertisement, etc. All right. We're going to then collect the applications. Once we get all the applications, I will be bringing each one of you a booklet like this. And please excuse me for holding it. start looking at the applicants. Why do I give it a week? Because you have a homework assignment to do. You know, as a board member, you just can't show up for the meeting. You have to do some preparation for the meeting. Once you're given that booklet and I will ask you to sign a form of confidentiality. It's just a formal and informal thing to do. It shouldn't be a problem at all. And then what we'll do is we'll discuss the applicants. But here's something that I do that nobody else does. If Mickey Mouse applies for a job, Mickey
019Mouse's information will be in here. The night we go over Mickey Mouse's application, etc., We're going to watch a video up on this screen if we're in this room of Mickey Mouse who will be given five questions off the cuff and he will have to respond or she will have to respond two minutes to each question. So now what you're getting to see is you're getting to see Mickey Mouse's paperwork and you're getting to see a 10-minute video of Mickey Mouse. So yes, if you have 20 applicants, you better order pizza and we better start at four o'clock in the afternoon. But it's part of your job. Or you can split it up to two evenings. We've done it a myriad of different ways. Again, I'm working for you. You want to do it in
020one night, fine. You want to do it over two nights, fine. So, we go through that process. Why do we do that? You don't want to bring somebody in here and spend your times are very valuable. You all have jobs. You're doing this as a voluntary type of thing, and I thank you for that. But you don't want to go through looking at paperwork thinking somebody's good. bring them in and in five minutes you start asking them questions and it's like what are we going to do for the next 45 minutes the video adds another layer to that I use a system called spark hire it's used by carnival crews airlines etc and again the questions are asked to them they don't get the questions in advance we can develop the questions I can share
021with you what the questions would be that I would use and you can say you want to alter it and they get two minutes. So now you're seeing the paperwork on the individual and also you're getting to see the video. I doubt very seriously if my competitors and I know my competitors and they're good people. I they're some of them are most of them are my friends they will not use that and I feel that's important because now you get to see an extra layer of the person. So once you go through all that and you decide who you want to bring back, then you have maybe a second you you you go through the applications, you go through the videos, now you decide how many people you want to interview. That can be four,
022that can be five, that can be six, that can be seven. All the way along this process, folks, board members are going to be getting a weekly report from me all along this process. And the weekly report will be the advertisements continue on LinkedIn, PSBA and the PAR's website. We have over 200 impressions of these advertisements. We can um the local newspaper has an article in it. We have 11 cover letters and resumeumés. We have six completed applications. I am not a search consultant that pads numbers. Just because I talk to somebody, I don't put them on my list. If somebody sends me calls me up and talks to me at length and then they send me a cover letter, now I consider that as an applicant. Once they complete the application, I will report
023to you that one person repeated the application. Some of you, and this has been asked in previous board meetings, can you put the people's name in the interview? The answer to that is no. We have to keep some confidentiality here, but we will be getting to that a little bit later on. So, we'll interview maybe the first round. You might then say,"I want to do a second round." You might say, "I want to do a third round." I will give you a bank of questions to add, but if you have some questions that you want to ask, you may. So, for the example, you might ask each candidate the same amount of questions, but for each candidate, you might have one or two different questions based on their background. So for the most part you'll
024have the same questions but for each candidate you could have a variation of one or two depending on who the candidate is. You go through that process which lasts typically about an hour and then when you get down to the final two I've done this a few times. I've done it sometimes not. I maintain in light of what has taken place and folks I'd have to be a liar. My nose would be getting long if I didn't if I'd look at you and say, "Geez, what happened around here?" I'm the executive director of Porspe and I watch the news and I'm in education. Come on. I strongly believe my suggestion would be again, you make the decision, but I would say you have an open forum night in the auditorium bringing in the two candidates.
025Now, the question might be, well, what about their former bosses? Folks, I've interviewed for jobs already, and maybe the first interview I didn't tell my boss, but if I'm getting down near the end, out of respect, and I think the word we used was integrity, I think I'd want to have some integrity to my boss to say, "I'm a finalist at Spring Road." Now, if we bring in two or three candidates for the public to see, it's not going to be a shouting match for you guys to start firing off questions. I will be the moderator. It'll almost be like, if I can make the comparison, a presidential debate. I will be the moderator. I will ask the questions and the audience will get to hear. I will strongly invite you to come to that
026night as well. So, you can intermingle with the staff or the audience and find out who it is. Audience, I want to repeat one more time. You can sit there and if you bring in two candidates and you all say you like candidate number one and they all say they like candidate number two, remember there was a process. They were voted into office. They make the final decision. It can't be that the entire community votes on who they want for the next superintendent. I think you know that. But there is a transparency for that. Lastly, and I did this at West Perry, once you select a candidate, let's get in a car and go for a ride. Let's go to the candidate school district. I remember going to Fain Middle School District and meeting with
027the staff. And the first three people we met with, you would have thought we picked the wrong guy because the staff talked about him. Well, then we went and talked with the superintendent. You know, sometimes people say when they hear no, they think you're not cooperating with them, but no doesn't mean you're not cooperating. No just means no. And these people had a run in, and the person ended up um being a good candidate at that time. And um the board selected that person. We did that at another district that I worked as well. Reference checks. I just did the upper Adams school district search. I called 15 people on the final candidate. I will give you names who I called. I will give you dates when I called and I will give you the
028time of when I called and I'll give you a little summary of what I talked to that person about. I think that's important because remember in this document, they're going to send me five current letters of recommendations. So, if a letter comes to me and it's 10 years old, I kind of have to question that. I want current letters. Nobody's going to send me a letter of reference that's going to be bad. Nobody's going to do that. But because of my position as the executive director of PARS, I travel the state. So, I get to know people. Yes, I know your past superintendent. Yes, I know George. Yes, I know many of the superintendents in York County. Yes, at one time I worked at Red Lion. And I can go on and on and on.
029So, I'm blessed by the good Lord that I'm wired to many different people and can go and ask. So, let's say you get somebody from Pittsburgh. I might not know that person, but I would know the executive director of that intermediate unit where perhaps that person's coming from. That executive director might not have a letter of reference in this book, but I certainly would call him up and give that to you because I really feel that that's what you need to do. Once that's all said and done, then I kind of hand the baton over to Gareth and the board president and you work out the contract and do the rest. I do provide mentor capabilities if you would want to uh be engaged in that and that's a discussion for a little bit later
030on. I am impressed and I need to share this with you with the thoroughess that they took me through to get to this point. Out of the 20some superintendent searches I did, I never was sent a questionnaire to answer 10 questions. Never. And then by the way, when I was answering the 10 questions, I was trying to cut and paste this so I could elaborate more than two or three sentences. And this thing was designed that it wouldn't let me take it out of this. So over the weekend, I had to send an email to Hope and said, "Hey, I can't really move beyond this. Is this like this?" And many of times she responded and said, "That's how it's designed." So good for you because you could probably have dissertations here. So I I
031did that also in the beginning I was asked for a paragraph of what I would be doing and of course I said I would be honored to do this search and I would I can assure you that I would be the most transparent person because I'm going to be in the schools. I'm going to have a survey. I'm going to interview you. We're going to have the survey online. I'm also which I didn't mention this. I would come to a community night which I did in most places and said the auditorium's open let the public come in and share their concern. I can tell you I did that at Y lucine and why lucine was a difficult um place because they had board members coming on and board members low going off and I remember
032one of the questions that was asked of me during the interview was what was my most memorable superintendent search I'd say the most difficult one Blackhawk because the board at Blackhawk public wanted to hire somebody before the new board took place you use the word integrity And my integrity as a search consultant was wait folks, you're not going to hire somebody before the November election and then the other board inherits them. That's not fair to anybody. So I convince that board to hold off and then I personally work with the board enough I come to every meeting. I talk with them often and I come to every meeting and then we work together and I can say that the board hired a person and it was a 90 person and the person's been there now
033almost three years and is doing an incredible job. So in my 15 minutes and I'm watching my time here um that is basically what I have in the document. I just want to share with you one of the questions that you ask me in your questions is um I find it interesting which I respect. It says how do you ensure that vetting is accurate and complete for reference credentials and background checks? Well, I was taught I'm oldfashioned. I was taught by Horde Knox, if you're going to vet a person who's coming in for superintendent, you better vet me. You better vet me. And by the way, I'm published on this and I just got to put this out that when I was an educator and a superintendent, my staff evaluated me every year. I can
034give you the citation and the magazine that's in. I believe in staff evaluating administrators. A lot of administrators don't buy into that. I have no problem with it. But when you want to talk about vetting, I would suggest that you do vetting. And for a moment, I'm just going to toot my horn. First of all, I just did Upper Adams School District. There's a letter of reference in there from Upper Adams. I would suggest that you call somebody from there. Next thing you know, there's a board member who took it upon herself, K. Holland, a school board member at Upper Adams, who wanted to write me a letter of reference. Unsolicited on my part. After that, another school district nearby was Bemudian Springs School District where I did a very successful search there. And then
035those are the most recent ones. And then I have Blackhawk in there because obviously I talked about that earlier. And then I have one in there from Wooine. I thought those were the ones that you might want to see. Again, what's good for the goose is good for everything else. And that is those are my good letters of reference in there. or if you want to call a board member or something like that, I would suggest you do that. So, that's kind of my spiel. Um, I know that's a lot, but I only have 15 minutes. And I'd like to conclude with this. You have some healing to do. And that's understandable. I think what I like I heard the most tonight was I think you have a good chance of doing. I can assure
036you personally because of my upbringing and who I am and the integrity that I have, I can help you with that process. At the end of the day, you're going to select a candidate. And I would conclude with this comment, whether it be me or somebody else. I hope for the goodness of all kids that this district serves. I would hope that you could heal, come together, and I wish you the best of luck, whether it be me or somebody else, in your quest in finding the next superintendent of the Spring Grove School District. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do you want these back? You said you want these back, correct? We'll just pass them down. Yep, that's fine. Thank you so much for your time. We'll open up now to question and answer. nothing
037that you need clarified. >> I guess I have a question. How broad uh of a base do you have to, you know, candidates to pull from? I know I heard a couple of things being posted online, but I don't know if you, you know, had connections and to help kind of connect people to here. >> Eric, we can do a couple things. First of all, the questions always asked back to you, how far do you want to go? I can tell you typically every search that I do, somebody from, bless you, somebody from New Jersey or something like that will apply, somebody from Chicago will apply. And the first question I always ask is this. If the completed application's good, but do you have certification from Pennsylvania? Typically, the answer is no. So, I say
038yes, somebody applied, but they didn't have certification. So, we can go out as far as you want. We can advertise an education week. Okay. Um, throughout the state of Pennsylvania, the PARS, Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, where I'm the executive director, we have about 300 members. I can tell you I was just in the western part of the state four times already this school year. So I would be out there and in my meetings I would be able to network with the principles uh um group with the IU group with PASSA Pasbo and all those different groups. So it be a word of mouth too. So I can take it as far out as you want. Um keeping in mind sometimes when you get outliers and not that I'm against it sometime they're
039coming this way. Now let me give you an example of that. We had a lady from pre Wisconsin. I know that because I'm a Packer fan. Sorry. But she's um from Wisconsin and she applied at Upper Adams. She was going to get an interview. I was in conversation with her. The board really liked her. She ended up getting a job at Mannheim Township, which is right outside of Let It in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So that word gets out there. In my document, I will tell you that one of my expenses is PSBA. A lot of people really go to PSBA. I'd say 80% of the people go to the PSBA website. You can advertise for $500, which would be part of my expenses. $75 to be on top of the list. So, it's 575. And most
040of the time when people apply, the first question I ask them is where did you see it? PSBA. of course pars LinkedIn and and my word of mouth adds the other 20% but PSBA I have to give them credit they do get a bulk of that's where people are typically looking >> uh yeah I have a question yes sir so so when when does >> the confidentiality stop and the public get involved in it which >> well to me confidentiality is you know I heard some of the people talking and boy it brought me back to my superintendent days. And you know, unfortunately, folks, there there, you know, you have sunshine and you have personnel issues and you can't when you're in personnel, you can't air the dirty laundry out in a personnel. I'm sorry,
041that's just how the law is written. I know you want more transparency and I think it can be as transparent as you can, but there are some things you just can't talk about in public. So, in this particular case, sir, we would keep confidentiality. Keeping in mind, some of these people are applying. They didn't tell their boss yet, and they don't want it out there. But once we get down to the final two candidates, it's going to be advertised somewhere that Ed Albert and um Tom uh you know, Tim Swam is going to be interviewing at West Perry, then then you can go talk about it as much as you want because you know who it is. I don't think you have to get into the weeds of, you know, what they got in their
042freshman year on their uh transcript, but at that point in time, the public should know. But up until that, you're keeping those names close to your chest. >> And I believe that's how we ran it. But I mean, I don't believe I know that's how we ran it when we hired Dr. We. We had three candidates and we had a community forum. And at that point in time, those names became public. By the way, I know you have a sunshine, so you can't all get on and have a meeting with me at night. That's breaking every law there is, but when I talk to you individually, fine. I'm not going to get together with five of you at one time either. That's a no can do. Um, if I would come to an event, I'm
043not talking to five of you at one time. But I will talk to each one of you and each one of you will have an opportunity to tell me what you are. And by the way, nothing against you, Madame President, but if you would say to me, send me the weekly report and I'll disperse it, I would look at you and say, "Do you mind if I just send it to all the board members myself?" >> Isn't that how we operate? >> And that's what I would like because you don't know if something would happen in your life that you couldn't get it out. And I want people and typically folks, I usually send this out on a Friday night, early Saturday morning. So please, if you have a response, you can respond and ask
044a question. I just want to make sure our last search we would always meet in executive session for personnel through our process with our last consultant. Is that how you would operate as well? Because I just want to make clarify your comments. >> Yes. If you would like me at every personnel meeting that you have throughout the entire search process, I will be here. >> Thank you very much. >> Anyone else? Yeah, just in terms of timing, um, last search happened, you know, in February, March time frame. If we opened up the search now, uh, we have a little bit of time, right? So, in terms of next school year, um, so what are your recommendations? Do we, um, start now and because we know that the superintendent pool is smaller and smaller, right? Yes.
045>> So, is would that be your recommendation? My recommendation would be we sit as a whole team and come up with a timeline. Typically, it's three to six months, but it can expand. But let's just take me I'll take you through a timeline. First of all, before we'd start, all of us need to meet again because there's a lot of things we have to agree on for transparency purposes, okay? I'm just not going to come in and be a dictator. You want hybrid, you'll get hybrid. Again, it's the only way I roll. So I would say once we do that, so let's say we get advertisements up and let's say we'd advertise all the way to Thanksgiving. Let's just use that. Now when the applications come in, that window from Thanksgiving to Christmas is always
046a short window. Concerts and all those type of things. So perhaps maybe we could squeeze in the videos and the paperwork. After January 1, we could maybe start doing the first round, second round, possible third round, January, February. Let's say in March, you after February, you find a person, you want to bring the person at the March board meeting and approve the person. If that person is from another school district, they might have a 90-day contract. So, let's say it's March 1st. Now, it's April 1st, May 1st, June 1st. So there's a timeline for you. If you would say to me, well, your interim superintendent, Dr. Renault, doesn't want to stay that long, and you want to speed that up a little bit. We could speed that up a little bit. That all again lies
047on you. I'll come in and give you a recipe. I'll give you a timeline like I just did. At the end of the day, you're going to be hybrid and transparent. I'm using those one and the same. And we're going to work together to do what's best for Spin Road. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Albert. I'm going to take a moment and go get Miss Kindler quick. The final presentation for the evening is going to be by Connie Kindler. I want to clarify that Miss Kindler and Dr. Draco are associates, but if selected, she would represent Springrove independently under her uh LLC, Connie R. Kindler Educational Consulting LLC. And I'll give you the floor, ma'am. Hi, can you Yes. >> All right. Can you hear me? Okay. All
048right. So, um before it gets started, I just uh want to take a moment to thank you for giving me this opportunity to share uh the search service uh that um my firm has. And um I also want to take a moment to thank you for your service to public education, to the students in this district, and to the community. Um I know I know that the work is challenging. I know that it requires a lot of hours and um and but it's it's very important work and your most important job will be the selection of your next superintendent because it will be very important uh that you identify our uh superintendent uh that um that you're going to be able to work uh collaboratively with. And so uh I hope to be able to
049help you through this process. So just a little bit about uh my background. I followed the traditional uh pathway to the superintendency as a teacher counselor. Uh I worked in um Susuanita school district uh for a while in Perry County. uh also uh worked in the Westshore School District. Uh but I've had most of my career in the Camp Hill School District where I uh retired as as the superintendent there. Uh when I uh retired few months later, I received a call uh from the secretary of education asking if I would step in as the acting deputy secretary for a period of uh six months while the uh secretary uh the deputy secretary was on a medical leave. Um and that really opened um you know my world to sort of statewide um leadership. I
050served in a variety of uh consulting roles after that uh capital area uh intermediate unit did comprehensive planning uh Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units. Uh I helped uh be the gobetween between the IUs and the Department of Ed. Uh but prior to starting searches, I spent six years as the uh consultant for professional development for PASA, the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators. And um and it was uh there uh where I was doing training of superintendants, training for those who are aspiring to be superintendent and um and where I decided that when I uh left that position, I wanted to do searches because I saw such such a turnover uh in superintendence. And I know uh from the research that uh when you have a uh strong uh stable superintendent uh who stays in a
051district uh for a period of time, it does have a a positive impact on uh student achievement. And so that's ultimately uh what you want to strive for. and and so um superintendent what I've learned many of them were leaving because um either the board or they saw a mismatch between their values and aspirations and and the school districts and uh and sometimes there were they left also because uh of a divisive board and um they weren't able to work uh collaboratively. Sometimes it was the board's decision to let them go. Sometimes it was their decision uh to look elsewhere. So, but that really uh told me that this was something that I I wanted to do. I worked in partnership uh still work in partnership with uh Dr. Mark Dco. Uh he uh was
052the executive director at PASA. Uh but um he's currently involved in some other work. And uh so the last two searches uh we did under um under my consulting firm. So uh just a little bit about uh since I've been doing searches 2023, I've done uh seven searches. Um I highlighted uh the first and the last uh that uh superintendent in Lower Dolphin School District was there for two years. The school board loved him. the community loved him. Uh but he received an offer back in his hometown and left. And um I think it's a a testament to the trust that that board uh has in uh my consulting firm that they they contacted me to see if I would uh do the search for their next superintendent, which was uh completed um last summer,
053this past summer. And also I highlighted Keystone Central School District and Central Intermediate Unit because the one of the board members at Keystone Central is the board president at Central Intermediate uh unit 10 and um he had contacted me to uh complete uh IU10 search. So I think both of those are a testament to uh the kind of trust that the board members uh had in my uh leadership at their search. Uh just some of the uh unique uh strengths with the Connie Kinler uh consulting. I customize every search. Every contract that I send out is different because it's really highly dependent upon what the school district uh needs. I I was able to learn a little bit about that uh when I had a conversation uh with your current superintendent um and uh Mr.
054Stein. So, um I I tried to customize the contract uh so that uh it would be uh something that would work for your district. Uh that it would have the components that would work. I do have a a database of u 600 plus um people that uh I would send uh advertisement to. I would advertise with all the Pennsylvania education associations. Um, I do have an extensive network. I'll know a lot of people across the Commonwealth. Uh, there are a lot of people when I'm we're I'm doing a search that I can contact that I can can get names from. And I don't just advertise. I I try to I source the right match. uh after I meet with you, after we get stakeholder input as to what it is that you're looking for um
055in terms of um you know what are you know what are the uh the characteristics what are sort of the non-negotiables for your next superintendent. uh that all provides information uh that goes into a profile document of the district and the superintendent which is something then that's a document that I use then to advertise as well as to source the right match. Uh inclusive um stakeholder input is important. Uh so uh we'll talk a little bit about that. I'm also very transparent. I create updates during each phase of the process. Uh those updates then are approved by the board and if uh the board agrees then uh with the information uh posted on the website, disseminated however uh you want to have it disseminated. Uh the transparency uh is is very critical. In addition, I
056I add value these value added services. Um, oftent times assistance is really needed during the first year and especially with a person who has not yet been a superintendent. And you know when I place someone, I want that person to be successful. I want the board to be happy with them, the staff, the community to be uh happy with them. And so um I do monthly mentoring uh with the superintendent. uh if that person is has been a superintendent before, oftent times uh the the mentoring isn't necessary, but I'm available 247. I'm also available to the board if um if there is a breakdown in communication uh between the board as a whole and the superintendent and you need help with facilitating a conversation to give uh constructive feedback. You know, I'm willing to come
057back during that first year uh after the person is hired in order to help. Um the other um the other component of my search is that I work exclusively for you during that time. I will not uh if you decide to select me, I will not be I will not take on another search. Um I put my full attention uh into focusing on finding the right candidate or the right candidates uh for you to review. Um and so with that I do offer a replacement guarantee where uh if for some reason during that first year the superintendent leaves I will do the search um free of charge but I try to put all the supports in place though so so that doesn't happen and so that the next superintendent can have longevity in your district.
058So real quick this is the overall scope of services. Um there's a planning meeting where which is so important because uh we do that shortly after the contract's approved uh so that uh I'm clear on the board's vision from the onset and uh and and can move forward. But we'll go through this is the planning meeting. uh we talk about that's where we really confirm what the process will look like, the timeline, identify some dates, uh make sure that I'm clear on the stakeholder engagement options that you want. Um t talk about confidentiality, roles and responsibilities. Um and at that meeting I also um individually have you complete a document so that you can give your input into what the what are the strengths of Spring Grove school area school district uh what are the
059challenges what are the priorities for the next three years and um and what are the characteristics that you're looking for and and the non-negotiables what you know what must that next person uh have and and so I put that together and and then you know when we get to phase one stakeholder engagement also collecting that information from the the groups of people that you want to provide input. I do that through surveys. I could do that through focus groups. Um sometimes um and the surveys have been um very helpful. Um I have found uh that there seems to be in most districts a lot of interest in providing input. Um but I also find focus groups like with high school students to be uh very informative as well. So uh but we could talk about
060what components you want and then uh the profile is developed from all that input and uh then this is where you know uh I I really focus a lot of attention on the uh advertising and sourcing and um also um I do the assessment of the applications that is it's so critical to really to do to very thoroughly check the background, the reference checks um and um scanning the internet so that I can learn as much about the candidates as possible. Um I verify things from multiple sources and pay a special attention to inconsistencies, evasive answers, and questionable information. uh because um that's you know if if for instance I see that uh that person was in a district as a superintendent, the contract wasn't renewed, why wasn't it renewed? That's something that um that
061I I would want to know. So then I screen each applicant via Zoom. I meet with them and I talk to them about, you know, their their history and I try to find answers to what some of the inconsistencies are and um and also record their self-introductions that uh that I then share with the board. So then all those documents are shared with you uh and with you I I facil will facilitate a process then for the board to select uh the first round interview candidates and the interview components. Uh then we go to phase three um where uh you're doing the interviews and um and then uh also at that phase you select your finalists. Uh if you want stakeholder input uh at the end with your finalists uh I we've done uh staff
062interviews uh where representatives of uh of the staff uh participate. Usually they select like for instance uh transportation would select someone from the transportation department. The teachers association might select someone from elementary, middle, high school to participate. Um and um and facilitate those interviews. Um sometimes boards want a public forum and if that is something that you want, I certainly would would do that. Um, however, I do have to caution you that uh oftent times when a person, especially someone who is currently in a superintendent position applies, they will ask, you know, what kind of um exposure am I going to have? And if they become a finalist um and they're a superintendent elsewhere and they don't get this job, that could be held against them. So that is something that I would want you
063to think about, but we we could certainly talk about it if that's a non-negotiable, something you have to have. Um, you know, I certainly will do that. Um, but I that I would inform the candidates of that so that they would be aware that that is that there will be a public forum should they become a finalist. And then I facilitate the process for your selection. Um and then I I explained the value ad services uh that to promote success and longevity. Uh so um that's the onboarding and and after the uh superintendent begins uh we'd like to do a what we call a team of 10 workshop. uh where uh everybody can be clear about what the respective um leadership and governor governance roles are for the superintendent and for the board. And again,
064I would come on um on site and help if I if it was needed to uh to help with clarity uh and and understanding if if for some reason uh you feel that feedback is needed or the superintendent feels that he or she needs um more clear clearer uh feedback from from you as a board. Um roles and responsibilities. This is very busy. you have that information in front of you. Um you know typically the district staff helps with the logistics and um you know also um you know helps to uh prepare materials if printing of materials has to occur. But, you know, if you decide to go with a more hybrid approach, um certainly your your staff, if you wanted them to could could manage phase one where I mean under I would advise
065them, I would assist them, but uh doing uh the survey and and perhaps um interviews uh with um focus groups with the staff. Um I I can tell you though it's a lot of work and I and I they have other jobs so I'm not quite sure you know how um you know how how much they would be able to do there but certainly uh this you know I would do this how how you wanted to have it done. Uh and then as far as phase 4 goes, um if you decide to do uh interviews uh with the finalists uh uh stakeholder interviews, I would want to monitor those uh as well as the public forum, but certainly this uh your staff could be very helpful in terms of uh collecting questions from people. Uh
066when we when we do this at the um at the in phase four the stakeholder input I do like to collect the questions in advance uh so that I know what uh questions the public might have. There would be a period of time when public could submit questions and then I would ask those questions uh at the forum uh so that the public could hear. Uh the same with the uh if if staff or um members of the public are involved in interviewing at that stage again I would ask that they submit their questions in advance. So um I I tend to think of my searches as um having inclusivity and transparency. uh inclusive of um whoever the board wants to have involved in providing input and transparent in terms of always making sure that
067there are updates uh that are uh available uh for the public so that they know where the board is in terms of the process. Uh this is search timeline. There's three possibilities. These timelines can be adjusted. Um you know a lot depends on you know what kind of stakeholder involvement you want to have. Um typically a search takes like three and a half months to um you know maybe five uh five months. We also have the holidays in there. So uh a lot of that depends on the district's um availability for scheduling. Uh fees and benefits. Uh traditional search is 19,000 flat fee. uh that's to facilitate everything uh in the scope of services. Um it's all inclusive. It it includes mileage um advertising um and and the only thing that I would charge if
068the printing couldn't be done by the district. Um and I I would charge that at cost. uh if you want a hybrid search where uh there's more involvement of your staff, that is a 16,000 flat fee. Um and um you know, I know that um I know that my fees are higher than um the the other search firm. Um but you know, I I do believe that there is a lot of value especially uh in the vetting of candidates that I do. uh the fact that I'm exclusively yours during the time of the search and that I offer a replacement guarantee. So, thank you. Went through that quickly. Do you have questions? >> I'm not seeing any. Thank you for a very thorough presentation. Thank you for the opportunity and and um I wish you
069the very best in in your selection. >> Thank you so much. Right. Motion to adjourn DSF. Second. All in favor? Right. Moving on to our optional voting meeting. Suzanne, is that what we're doing? We are doing that. Okay. Perfect. All right. Um, calling the optional voting meeting to order. Anyone in the audience that would like to address the board at this time? Right. Seeing none, uh, we are going to roll right into, uh, departmental report personnel with Mr. Stein for some discussion and deliberation. Thanks, Eric. I think we should have some discussion here. Personally, uh I would rather vote on it at the next meeting. I because some of the stuff we just got tonight, uh but I think we can have any discussions. The other thing Gareth was going to give us a summary
070or some feedback on the the non-disclosure agreements. Are you going to speak to that at some point? Yeah, you do have a lot of information here to review and digest. Some of which you just received tonight. It's up to the board obviously when you wish to vote. Some searches I've been involved with have included non-disclosure agreements. Some have not. It's depended on the consultant firm, the issues, the dynamics involved. It's not required. Uh I haven't personally been involved with either of the consultants here and with consult with non-disclosure agreements. I've worked with both before but they have notired non-disclosure agreements. I certainly agree with the importance of at least in the early stages preserving confidentiality of applicants. Good applicants will not apply if they can't trust process and the confidentiality of the process. They'll understand
071though if they make it to the final round, they'll be disclosed publicly. So I I certainly support that concern, recognize that concern. I just haven't with these particular consultant firms you interviewed tonight. Haven't worked with them on non-disclosure agreements in the past. Are you you going to take a closer look at both of those? >> Yes. >> And also take a closer look at the two contracts they gave us and maybe at the next meeting. >> Sure. >> You're going to talk then or maybe you give us something in advance. >> I will be here Monday at the next meeting. >> So you'll just give it to us at the meeting then? >> Yeah. If you wish me to send out anything in advance, >> happy to do that as well. >> Maybe like Friday
072or something. So we just you know any red flags especially you see. I would I don't expect red flags. They're both solid. I've worked with both concerns, >> most recently with Dr. Albert at Upper Adams, whom I I represent as well. They're they're both very ultimately I think it's going to come down to who is the better fit. You know, >> I'm not saying for you to evaluate them. I'm saying their contract and their non-disclosure. Take a legal look at them. >> I will do that. >> All right. So, it sounds like we are going to take the week to digest all the information, wait for Gareth's summary of any call outs of the contracts and the non-disclosures by Friday. Yes, Garrett. >> Yes. >> Fantastic. And then moving a vote to next Monday's board
073meeting to make a decision and a direction on a consulting firm. Am I >> We can have any discussion tonight. Anybody wants to when I'm From what I'm hearing, we want to do a vote next Monday. Okay. But we can deliberate and discuss now. So, opening the floor to that. >> I have one question. Um, the gentleman that spoke first, um, Albert, is there Gareth, do you feel that there is a value in having somebody that says they're exclusively working with you? And if there is a value in that, is that a question we should ask of him and not assume that that's not the case with both of them? Because that was a component that I felt like uh we'd have their attention motivated to get through it and get it done but uh
074curious from your perspective. >> I think it is valuable and you should ask him directly know what his position on that is and hope could reach out to him and ask since he didn't bring it up ask him you know what his position is on exclusivity. Correct. Right. Yep. completely valid because that was like my number one differentiator between the two was exclusivity. Thank you, Hope. Anyone else? It seems like it seems like we're looking exclusively within Pennsylvania and I heard some comments too publicly that you know should we because we did get candidates the last time outside of Pennsylvania. So with the superintendency pool, we may we may have to uh is there any reason why we wouldn't other than the them not being certified in the state of Pennsylvania? >> Right. And I
075I think that that's a valid comment. I think the second part was yes, they they need to have their Pennsylvania certification, but also um things that we discussed our last search was moving to this area is so important and having a family dynamic or whatever that looks like here um is critical from my perspective. >> Am am I wrong when when we said only P? I thought we were just looking for a Pennsylvania agency, not doesn't mean we're not going to look outside of Pennsylvania. Right. So, we're open to candidates that are outside of Pennsylvania. >> Yeah. >> Right. The consultant. We wanted to be >> We want the consultant local because the super majority of candidates that we do get are from this area. And both of those people seemed really well connected to
076be able to get better references, better like they have better contacts that just play the odds on it. >> So here's my take. We spent uh what 17 18,000 when we uh hired Tom and now we're looking at another 16,000 another 10,000 of taxpayers money to find another superintendent when we have the resources in house and I'd say we you know investigate or hire or put out and use our own internal to bring us candidates and then if we need help, see if they would help us. But, you know, I I we're basically paying the same rate as looking for, you know, using these uh two consultants as full-time. And if it's supposed to be a hybrid, you know, she's saving us what couple thousand the other guys say, you know, when when we have
077in-house a lot of candidates, we could be looking at too. So, that's my feeling. you know, unfortunately as being a board member, we you know, here goes another 8000 hours putting in, but uh you know, it's all I have to say. >> Anyone else? Karen, do you have any comments, questions? No. Mr. Ritz, anything for the class? I would be interested to know how many in-house people we would have that have a certificate and a and b would they be interested you know because I agree with Mr. wait on spending if we don't have to spend it and we can get a very good person. I'm along with that. >> Don't we have to open I mean even if we would keep someone in house we would has to be posted online like we can't
078just ignore interviews. Okay. And I I mean for me there there could be excellent candidates in house but because of how important the position is I would like to have a a larger Yeah, by all means. I'm not saying that. So, say we got five internal candidates, I mean, they're all going to have to go through the same process of going through the interview and, you know, the whole nine yards. I'm just saying if we could save the district money and taxpayers and be a little more conscientious of spending, then let's bring our own, you know, put it out there and and see what we can do. Uh, you know, I I'm sure we could reach out to Mark that held, you know, helped with HR. I mean, that that guy was super putting together,
079uh, you know, for candidates and things like like that. Mark, is that right? >> Yeah. So utilize the resources we have. That that's all I'm saying. But yes, you're absolutely agree. They everyone would have to go through the equal opportunity of applying and the last thing I would say is I my concern is if we try to keep it all in house. I don't know what it would look like if Mark would be involved and that would maybe if we wanted to pursue that we could pursue that but I would not want to throw all of it on to Hope with the amount of work. I mean most of that money is spent doing all the vetting and constantly contacts like I mean I don't know how Hope would do her own job if that's
080something we would put onto her. So and if Mark is brought in to help it could look very different. I just don't want to throw all of it onto our HR department. >> And I think we need to realize too that consultants, you know, we we have the nine of us here have experienced this with Tom Templeton. The vetting and the networking that is way different than what Hope does on a day-to-day. Um, and also knowing the ideas of what we're looking for the community. Again, these are 80 plus hours that we're putting in. think about what this consultant is putting in. So again, we've been down this road. We know what this slightly looks like. This is going to look a lot different, but I think hope is going to be a great liaison
081that we didn't have this last hiring. We didn't have that liaison. So, um this is definitely a way to bridge um the district along with us on this ride. I think we did and she was like, "Don't make me do it alone." >> Yeah. So, I think any good superintendent or good school board is not just one person. So, if the recommendation were to be that the search was done internally, it would not just be hope. I can't do my job without the people that support me. So, I would have those other people in the Springrove District working with me uh as a team to do the the search. So, >> thank you. >> All right. Any final comments, Mr. Stein? Anything from you? Thank you for leading us down this path so far. I
082appreciate it. Um motion to adjurnn Second. All in favor? Meeting adjourned.