School Board Starts Superintendent Search Process

 — by Margie Doyle —

At a special meeting of the Orcas Island School District (OISD) board on Monday, Dec. 30, four board members and district administrative assistant Cathy Ferran met with consultant Rich Parker to begin the first phase of the search for a new district superintendent. (Board member Jim Sullivan was absent.) Earlier this month, the board selected Parker, of  McPherson & Jacobson Consultants, to help them advertise, vet and present candidates for the superintendent position.

The new district head will take on duties after Superintendent Barbara Kline retires on June 30, 2014.

The phasing of the process took some hammering out. Parker suggested that the Board begin drafting a set of five “criteria” statements to bring back to community stakeholder meetings in January. (As explained by Parker, his follow-up with the applicants will be based on their responses to the criteria statements in their applications.) However, OISD board member Janet Brownell was emphatic that criteria statements should be formulated after meeting with the community.

Board member Chris Sutton suggested that the community meetings and the board criteria statements could be developed together; board member Tony Ghazel said he was confident the board could develop some of the criteria that expressed the will of the community, while it would welcome additional stakeholder input.

OISD Board Chair Scott Lancaster asked if the delay caused by meeting with the community first would be “hurting ourselves candidate-wise.” Parker suggested the board keep in mind that candidates may be applying to multiple districts and may accept an early offer.

The board decided to adopt a “hybrid” solution and put a survey online for the community to register their opinions. That survey will be on the OISD website (www.orcasislandschools.org) from Jan. 6 to 15. Lancaster said, “This is the first step of the community input process. Any information the public can give[in the survey] is helpful.”

With assistance from Career and Tech Education (CTE) and Special Education Director Kari Schuh, the board and Parker agreed on the following timeline:

• Thursday and Friday, Jan. 9 and 10 —  community stakeholder meetings with the schedule to be decided upon after conferring with school administration;
•  Monday, Jan. 20 Parker will meet at 1:30 p.m. with board to develop criteria statements
• Friday, Jan. 24  Application will be posted online for one month, to Feb. 21;
• March 13 at 2 p.m. Parker will meet in executive session with the OISD board to review and evaluate all applicants, and decide upon whether to hold both semi-final and final rounds, based on the number of likely applicants;
• March 17-28 Parker will contact candidates and arrange for on-island applicant interviews.

Those applicants will have the opportunity to have a day-long interview on Orcas Island, meeting with students, teachers, staff, administration, parents, and search committee members.

The opening will be advertised for one month online through the McPherson & Jacobsen website, and on the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) and Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) websites; it will also be advertised on American Association of School Administrators (AASA) for an additional $385 dollars.

The board discussed the salary schedule pf $96,000 to $110,000 for the first year, dependent upon the candidate’s experience. Parker encouraged the board to set a higher salary ceiling, and mentioned that San Juan Island and Coupeville (on Whidbey Island) offer salaries of $118,000 for districts with comparable student populations. Currently, OISD Principals receive salaries of $92,000 and $96,000.

The term would be for three years, to indicate commitment on both the applicant and the OISD. Human Resources Manager Sara Morgan advised the board in its discussion of the position’s benefits.

In discussion of whether to hold a semi-final round to winnow down the candidates, Parker said that if the board decided to have only a final round “You want to get a sense that the top candidates emerge right away; rarely will you have more than four that really fit the criteria.”