Damakant Jayshi
Wausau School officials on Monday established a tentative timeline in the search for a new superintendent, but took no action on an employee investigation that took the board into closed session.
The Wausau School Board expects to conclude the superintendent search and award a contract by mid-April.
Fran Finco, search and governance consultant from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, was hired by the Wausau School Board to assist in the superintendent search. Finco said the district will begin advertising Tuesday, but the actual application won’t go live for about a week or so.
The time to apply has been shortened to three weeks. It starts when the notice goes up on Feb. 22 and ends on March 15. At first, the consultant recommended a month to apply, but since there is a week off for spring break starting March 22, the schedule had to change. The hiring process is expected to take around three months starting with the job posting on Jan. 25 or 26, with a new superintendent chosen by April 22.
Late last year, Superintendent Keith Hilts announced he will retire after the academic year concludes. His replacement is expected to assume responsibilities on July 1.
Although termed a stakeholder-driven process by Finco, two important segments of the district – parents and members of the larger district community – will have a limited role compared to other groups of people.
Parents and people in the local area will have two chances to give their opinions and ask questions about the district’s survey – they can fill out a survey or go to a public meeting. However, they won’t be included in small group discussions about the survey results. The school board decided to create five small groups to have in-depth talks. These groups will include teachers and other staff from elementary and middle/high schools, employees who help around the school, people who manage the schools, and members of the school board itself.
Gathering opinions through a survey and discussions with small groups will be used to shape the ideal image of the next school leader, as mentioned by the expert from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB). These methods will help determine the key characteristics that people want in a new leader, such as strong guidance, understanding of different cultures, or knowledge of money management. Initially, there were talks of having four small groups to gather insights, with the chance of adding another one if the school board thinks it’s necessary.
Vice President Lance Trollop asked if the fifth potential group is “parents or community of some sort.”
“It could be a community group. If you have somebody that you have in mind,” Finco said. “When you distribute the survey and get the responses back, you are pretty much hitting your community group.”
He also suggested breaking up the professional group into elementary and secondary levels.
When board member Pat McKee asked who would be selecting the participants for the focus groups, the WASB consultant said he and the district’s Human Resources Director, Tabatha Gundrum, would do so from a random set of people. McKee said the board should guard against another complaint about cherry-picking people participating in the focus groups. He added that there were “disgruntlements” when the district formed focus groups for subcommittees on district restructuring.
Indeed, there were complaints from teachers, staff and parents that their offer and inquiries about participating in the massive restructuring plan were ignored. Some said they were invited only for the very last meeting.
Gundrum said the district uses a tool that can generate the random names from among those who have expressed interest to participate in focus group if the number is high. The focus group of 8-15 people will have 45-60 minutes to review the survey response. Their feedback will be shared with the board.
Finco said he expects six finalists to be interviewed in the first round in a closed session spread over two days, with three candidates interviewed each day. All of names would remain confidential including to the board until the application closes.
An estimated six finalists will then be winnowed down to two or three. These names will be known and the community will have a chance to interact with candidates at an open forum around the first week of April before the second round of interviews takes place on April 11 or 12. The selection will be finalized in a day or two after that.
Finco suggested that when there are people from inside the company who want the job, the board doesn’t have to keep looking for other candidates if they think the internal ones are good enough. But, to be fair and open about it, he recommended letting everyone apply for the job, including the people from inside the company. This way, the board can pick the best person for the job from all the applicants.
Board Secretary Karen Vandenberg agreed, saying if external candidates knew there was an internal candidate that the board was considering, some could choose not to apply. The board agreed to keep the application process open. Internal candidates will have to apply like everyone else.
Following the Education/Operations meeting, the board held a closed session to discuss an employee investigation. So far, officials have not named the employee at the center of the discussion.
“At this point in time, no action was taken,” Bouche told Wausau Pilot & Review. He declined to provide any further details, citing Wisconsin statutes that bar from disclosing matters “which, if discussed in open session, would likely have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of the individuals involved, and which involves confidential student information protected” by the state statutes.
