001Stand [Music] [Applause] first to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I welcome everyone here tonight before you go too fast approval of the agenda. Move to approve the agenda. Motion and second to approve the agenda. All in favor say I. I. Those opposed say no. First section we got committee comments. [Music] Can I can I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda. Okay. I can't hear second. I'll second. Okay. So motion is made. discussion is to move community comments to after can you hear after this work session [Music] hello Ben so the motion was made to [Music] reconsider the agenda to move community comments to immediately following this uh TSBA work session
002which should be soon but those in favor I so the eyes have it committee comments will be before we start the rest of the agenda and we're doing that because we've got time a limited time on this screen. So, yeah, sorry, I should have done that first, but anyway, that's where we are. So, on to number six, TSB work session Google Meet. Well, good evening, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for having me and thank you for uh coordinating this uh Zoom Google Meet work session or meeting. It's certainly uh very helpful to do it this way. So, we were asked to just uh present some of our options for superintendent search and the superintendent search process. Now, just to start off, our search process is for our members and you
003are a member. So, if you want to use the search service, that's fantastic. If you don't, that's okay, too. We are here for you and we're here. We're here to help and assist. All of you received a packet and it contains information on our search service and at the end of the day probably the most important information you want to know about is on page six and those are the different options that are available. So I'll certainly touch on the the process but I think going straight to this so you can look at the different options that are available may be just helpful for you all. So the way our search service works, if you all use us, we will work with the board to develop a brochure, an advertisement for the position. It will
004be based on a few things. It will be based on your board policy. It will be based on different characteristics or attributes you want to see in a new superintendent. Once the board approves that brochure and advertisement, we send it out to the to basically um we post it on our website. We send it to a number of different entities that you will see on page six. We also post it nationally and we take care of all that. That is all covered in the fee. The board doesn't pay anything extra. What you see the number in front of you, what you that you see is that's it. There's nothing more to it. Um we have three different plans available. So once we present the brochure and we advertise, we will receive applications. If you go
005with the plan one, we take in all the applications, we advertise and we send that board. The board screens the candidates and you select the candidates. If you go with the second option, that's a little bit more detailed. So, prior to the brochure, we actually send out a survey to the community with the help of the school district. We take all the results in. We look at the results. We analyze the results. We present a report to the board and we help you develop the brochure. We also screen applicants under plan number two. So as applicants apply, we go through we contact references. We do specs on their education level, um their current employment, and we present the board up to three candidates that best meet the criteria that the board adopted. Now, at the
006end of the day, the decision on who to interview, on your next superintendent, that all lies with the board. We just make recommendations. So, we would recommend the candidates, and you would decide whether or not you want to interview those candidates. If you do, you interview them and then you all determine how to move forward. Plan three is the most intensive plan if you will. We host community meetings in addition to the survey. Um those are a little bit more in depth as far as the number of meetings. We have six community meetings. We meet with um teachers, staff members, uh members of the community, elected officials. We meet with all those different groups. We ask them what are the good things happening, what are the things they want to see improved, and what are
007the characteristics they want to see in a new superintendent. We place all that information in addition to the online survey in a report and present it back to the board. The goal with plan two and three is for you all to solicit feedback from the community so you are more informed when you make that decision. Once again, under plan three, we present up to three candidates that best meet the board's criteria, and you all decide who you want to interview and move forward from there. Those are the three different levels of service we offer. Now, part of this, if you turn to page nine, you will see a sample timeline. So part of the process is helping to ensure that you make a determination within the timeline you all vote on. So this is a
008sample timeline. This is something the board vote on. We ask you all when you want to see a new superintendent in place and we backwards plan from there. And you will see different areas and different board decisions. the search schedule, if you have community meetings, the date and location, a document criteria, you will see that selection of the candidates, it lies with the board. We just make recommendations, but at the end of the day, you all make the decision. You all will interview the candidates and then make a final determination. We also assist you in the interview process by providing you with sample questions that align with the criteria adopted by the board. You can use those questions. You can decide not to use those questions. Our goal is to provide you with as much
009assistance as you want, what you need. I tried to to hit the big points. Everybody always ask about cost, the different things under the the different plans and what a timeline looks at. So, or looks like. So, I tried to cover those right off the bat. All right. Does anybody have any questions at all? I do. Ben, um question for you. Do you see any difference in longevity of the directors um depending on the levels that the boards utilize with you all or not using you at all? Honestly, not really. We don't see a difference whether they use us or not or whether it's a different level. At the end of the day, it's going to come down to the relationship between the board and the director. [Music] How about performance of the district? Any
010type of relation with that that you can tie in with going one way or another? No. As far as performance goes, no. If you look, the biggest difference between plan one and the other two plans. With plan one, we're advertising for you. We're taking in all the application materials, and we're providing that to the board. With plan one, the board would have to take the time to go through all the applications and make a determination on who you want to interview. With plans two and three, we do a lot of the leg work for you. We call references, we call um former employers and even the candidates that we recommend, we actually ask them to do a background scheme uh screening. We verify criminal backgrounds. We verify education. Do they actually have the education that
011they claim to have and the transcripts reflect? We verify their current employment. Are they currently employed where they where they say? Um, so we do some of that leg work or actually all of that leg work for you all. So you know the candidates that we recommend have at least been through that process. And there's an expense involved with that. So that's all part of that 7500. Correct. Okay. We we don't charge anything extra for that. It's just all part of the 7500. what we pay for advertising, what we pay to do the applications, background screenings, it's all included in there. Okay. Thank you. So, so Ben, what's involved with the um adopting the criteria or defining the criteria that the board um I guess determines is needed for this role. So, there's two ways
012that it can work. With plan one, you all would determine that criteria individually. With plan two and three, we send a survey out to the community. And with plan three, we have community meetings. And we ask them a series of, I believe it's 21 questions and 21 different attributes. For example, prior experience as a teacher, um, background with school district finance. And we ask for individuals to rate on a scale what are the most important things you want to see in a new superintendent and what are the least important things. Once we get that criteria back along with the questions that we ask, what are the good things happening? What are the things that uh need to be improved upon? We take all that and we for lack of a better term distill it down
013into 10 different attributes. So for instance if it's really important for the community for the new superintendent to have a background in teaching that's one of the criteria has a background in teaching is familiar with curriculum and the instruction and how to uh develop an instructional program. So, when we look at different applicants, if we're screening them, we're going to look and see, does this individual actually have a background as a teacher, you have some individuals that have applied to positions before that don't have an extensive background as a teacher, and the district was looking for somebody with that classroom experience. So when you when you get those attributes, it helps you narrow down the candidates because you can look through their resume and their experiences to see do they have the criteria that the
014community and the board wants to see in a new superintendent. Thank you. Hey sir. Um, so if we were to go with say plan two and do a community survey, what methods do you use to contact the community and what kind of timeline can you estimate from from go to results? So when we communicate with the community, we use the school district. So for example, the school district posted on will post it on a website. We have worked with districts in the past if they have a parent app. Uh for example, Class Dojo, they send it out through the parent app. Some districts also send a letter with a code or a link home with the students to get it to parents that may not have access to to an app so they can complete
015the survey. So, we work with the school district to get that information out there. I would not recommend really keeping a survey long open longer than a week because we've kind of found that that's really when people fill out the survey. After about after a week time, you don't really see the return that you do as soon as it's open. And within that first week, um, honestly, as soon as you all say, "Hey, we're ready to go." We can get the survey out there. It's really putting it together, sending a link to you all and you all helping us get it out to the community. Thank you. Yes, sir. [Music] Ben, the guarantee that's mentioned um on the cost sheet, is that regardless of what plan we go with or is that only if we
016go with a particular plan? It would be two plan two and three because those are the only plans where we actually recommend candidates. We don't recommend any candidates with plan one. So if you I'm sorry. So if you if you narrow down to three candidates and the board does the interview process and and we determine that we want to see more candidates, is that something that you can do? Absolutely. Is that would it be out just more out of the same pool that are close to what we're asking for as a community? Well, I would say depending on the pool, if we don't want to recommend someone just to recommend someone um we want to re if we make a recommendation, it's because we think this person one meets the criteria, but two would be
017a good fit with that board. So, if we don't feel like there are candidates in the pool that would meet that criteria, then we can look at advertising again and opening the application portal back up. But we we don't want to recommend and give you numbers just to say we provided you with x amount of of applicants when they're not what you're looking for or the quality you're looking for. Thank you. Is there a limit like so if we don't find one and we need more interviews and more interviews? I mean we are like going through 15 people. I mean how do you we'll we'll work with you? Um I will say over the we're doing a we've had a couple superintendent searches here lately over the last 6 months. Um we're we're looking at
018usually on the low end about 10 to 12 applicants and on the high end around 20 for each search. Um of course that doesn't mean everybody meets the basic qualifications. For instance, if you look at your policy right now, you have minimum qualifications. Sometimes we may have an applicant that doesn't even meet the minimum qualifications. Mhm. So that's that's about where we're looking. So I mean if if we have three to recommend and you don't like those three and we don't feel comfortable with making another recommendation, we can always recommend to open the application, pull it back up. If you're asking if we're going to charge you double or [Music] not recommendation. Hey Ben, so from the word go um what's a average timeline till that we start getting the candidates and things like that
019and you know how long the superintendent search takes. I mean that really depends on you all. Um we have worked with boards in the past. They just want to meet on their regular board meeting time each month. So that process takes a little bit longer. If you all are willing to meet um maybe at a special call meeting or two, the process can move faster. I would say so for instance, let's say [Music] um let's say tomorrow you call us and say, "Well, tomorrow is Good Friday. Everybody's gone." But just um you say, "Hey, we want to get the survey out." We put the link together. We get it to you all. We determine that we're going to close the survey, you know, a week from Sunday at midnight. And then what we would do
020is we would take the data, we would put it together, and that week we would present you with the brochure. Um the timeline as long as you all can meet. Once you approve the brochure, we automatically post it. I would say keep it open about 3 weeks a month at most. I mean, if people know they're going to apply, they're going to apply. And then we would screen and depending on when the board could meet, we would work in a time to present those recommendations. So it could move quick if you all want to meet more often than your monthly meeting and how long you want to keep the application. We'll have to do that. Dan, I got another question. Um, are you able to disclose to us how many other school districts are currently
021looking for a director? Yeah, I can. So, um, uh, let's see. We We're doing a couple Blunt County, Coffee County, Fyet County, Lauderdale County. Um, we just finished up Johnson City and Milin. I believe I saw a posting for another district in East Tennessee today. They're conducting their own search. Uh, Canon County is conducting their own search. They were in the interview process last week. So, those are off the top of my head that I know are happening right now or in this time window. So, there's there's several, right? Lincoln County just finished up a search. Marshall County is uh I don't know if they've had their interviews yet, and we're not doing the Marshall County search. They're doing that internally, but that's two more districts within the last I would say 6 months or
022so. [Music] Then if we were to go with the option number three, curtain number three, um I see here that you got the sample community meeting schedule. It looks like you would come out basically for one day and line the officials, the employees, staff, teachers, and then the community forum all up in one day. So that would be the very first step is to get that scheduled if you all went with plan three. Correct. I will say we have conducted plan three in large districts and had hardly anyone show up. Um just if you go with plan 3, we're happy to do you know anything. We found that we get the best responses from the survey online survey more than anything because it's an anonymous survey. But if we do the community meetings, yes, that
023would be the the first thing we would have to schedule is the community meetings and um work that out. [Music] Anybody ask any questions? [Music] I think we've got the questions ask and answer. Yes, sir. I guess at that point we're we're good. Thank you very much, Ben. Thank you, Ben. Thank you. Thank you all. I hope you all have a a great Easter weekend and thanks again for allowing me to participate virtually. Thank you. Have a good weekend. Happy Easter. Happy Easter. Take care. Okay, we're going to take a recess, reset the room, take a short break. So, we'll be back in a couple minutes to regular [Music] seats. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] sit back again my safe place for sitting down there. [Music] Heat. Number [Music] three sessions. Hopefully we can do
024that. It's easier to see everybody.