LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Konocti Unified School District Board held a special meeting Wednesday afternoon with a consulting firm to discuss the recruitment process as it begins the search for a new superintendent.
The meeting at the district office included the approval of the contract with Education Leadership Solutions LLC, which the board had voted last month to hire to lead the recruitment, as Lake County News has reported.
The firm is led by Wally Holbrook, a retired Lake County superintendent of schools, and Dr. Richard Smith, also a retired school superintendent.
President Sue Burton, Clerk Mary Silva, and members Joan Mingori and Patricia Bening-Hale were present for the special meeting. Member Bill Diener was absent.
Also in attendance was district Superintendent Donna Becnel, who is retiring at the end of the school year.
The board voted 4-0 to approve the contract, which is not to exceed $12,000.
Holbrook said he and Smith consult with school boards and administrators, especially in small rural districts, where they do leadership and board trainings.
They wanted to give the board an outline of what the process will look like along with a draft timeline. “We'd really like to hit the ground running on this,” Holbrook said.
Smith emphasized the need to have a positive hiring process to help get off on the right foot with the new superintendent.
“We believe that small school districts have special needs that are very difficult to meet,” Smith said.
This will be their first time leading a superintendent recruitment process. “And to be honest with you, that's why we're so excited about this,” said Holbrook.
The process to be used this time will closely resemble one the district has used previously, with one if its key aspects including two interview teams – one team consisting of the board and the second a community group of up to 17 members.
Smith and Holbrook recommended a structured interview process, with questions determined in advance and all of the candidates asked the same questions in order to be able to compare their answers.
“it takes a lot of guesswork out of the process,” Smith said.
Holbrook said the questions will be based on input from community members, the board and district certificated, classified and management staff. The board also will determine who is appointed to the community interview team.
The process timeline has them hosting the first meetings to gather input on desired superintendent attributes with classified and certificated staff on Thursday afternoon and meeting with management on Feb. 13.
The board will outline its superintendent attributes at a special meeting ahead of its regular board meeting on Feb. 20, with a special board meeting tentatively scheduled on Feb. 27 to develop its final attributes list.
Further meetings with certificated staff are planned on Feb. 20 and 21. Meetings with community group members haven’t yet been scheduled.
The superintendent’s position will be published in EdCal – a publication of the Association of California School Administrators – on March 4.
Applicants must fill out an online survey through TargetSuccess, an educational human development organization, by March 21, and that survey must be completed ahead of the application deadline at noon on March 22.
On March 30, the board will review the applicants and determine the candidates to be interviewed. The interviews will take place all day on April 6, with final interviews to take place the following day. The board can then schedule a site visit to the finalist’s school site on April 10, negotiate the contract through April 16, and have the contract document ready for board approval on April 17.
Holbrook went over how the interview day on April 6 will look, with the candidates being separately interviewed by both interview teams and the finalists being notified that night for a less-structured interview just by the board on April 7.
Regarding the TargetSuccess profile report to be completed by each of the candidates in an online survey, Holbrook explained that he helped develop the organization’s superintendent survey, so it is allowing him to use its survey for Konocti Unified at no charge.
“That provides you some more data. It's good, clear, measurable, informed data to make a decision,” he said, and will provide a detailed report on each candidate. He said they can also get the reports early and condense them, which is a new process.
He said it takes about a half hour to complete for each candidate, and then TargetSuccess generates a report and sends it to him.
Mingori asked if March 22 is too early for the application deadline.
Becnel said it has more to do with the length of advertising time. She explained that people seeking this type of job are looking in February and March. Traditionally, interviews are in April and contracts finalized in May.
The board finished the hour-and-a-half-long workshop by briefly going over the job announcement. Some of the key requirements will be a teaching credential, six references – three professional and three nonprofessional – and five years of teaching experience, desired.
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Konocti Unified School Board discusses timeline, process for superintendent recruitment
- Elizabeth Larson
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