SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH DEBACLE

Dear PFT Brothers and Sisters,

On February 10, the board of education announced that they were on a “fast-track” to hire a new superintendent. At the same meeting, the board looked for “input” from the “stakeholders”. A special board meeting was planned for Saturday, February 28. They announced they would be including everyone affected by this decision.

On February 24, after a long agenda, the board announced no one but they would be part of the hiring for the new superintendent. For the few people still in attendance at this late school board meeting, this was a shock. No selection advisory committee is part of the planned (and now approved) process. It was also announced that there would be a very short timeline: the job closes onMarch 13.

Although the board made great attempts to reach the public to attend the special Saturday meeting, a communication process that we have been asking for, there was no explanation of why the board is not using our district hiring protocol…except a citing of the need for “confidentiality” in the process. Although reminded of the confidentiality clause in our protocol, the board is adamant that they will use their own process. Clarifying questions were asked that night, and all public attendees were told was that was the decision.

Many people attended the special board meeting on Saturday, February 28. Approximately 70 community members, parents, teachers, administrators, and others attended the three-hour meeting. Although many wished to discuss the process, most were told to stop and that it was not appropriate, that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss criteria only. There was no discussion, only a formal, rigid presentation of ideas. There was no feedback from the board, no indication of next steps, nothing but note-taking.

Thank you, in advance, for your action in this process as we move forward.  This hire is an incredibly important moment for our district.  Our voices need to be heard.

In solidarity,
Kim


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President Board Address                         February 24, 2015

Good evening.

In order to foster good dialogue and communication, I respectfully ask that the board move item L.1.1 to earlier in the agenda. Thank you.

In that vein, I wish to begin tonight to heartily thank you for all of the communication efforts this week about the special board meeting this Saturday. I received two robo-calls in addition to the district email about the event.

This is such an important time for our district…and this type of inclusive, wide-spread communication is exactly what we need to build a district our students deserve.

The Federation has also been busy communicating: emailing, creating surveys, passing out reminder memos, so all voices can be heard. The efforts of the district perfectly complements the efforts of PFT…almost as if we planned it! Whether it is hiring processes, technology, curriculum or other business of the district, we always are more powerful when creating the systems together.

Let us take this example of successful collaboration and build on it and move forward to once again be the envy of all other districts in the county.

Thank you.