By: Madison Fugate
What is the next step moving forward for the Powell County Board of Education after voting against the renewal of the Superintendent’s (Dr. Anthony Orr) contract last month? Many have wondered what will be next for the board and who might fill these high-ranking shoes. These questions were addressed during the most recent special-called meeting held just last week, on March 30th.
Tim Eaton, on behalf of Kentucky School Boards Association, was present at this meeting to sit among the board members and provide a superintendent search presentation to the board. Should the board choose to utilize KSBA’s services throughout this process, Eaton clarified the details the board will need to bear in mind throughout the process.
As explained by Eaton, the search for a new superintendent will be divided into five distinct phases. To begin the process, the first phase includes what Mr. Eaton refers to as a “planning meeting” where he will meet with the board once again to develop a timeline, ad preparation, and establishing a screening committee to aid in the process. The ad prepared at this meeting would be advertised on KSBA’s portal, across the United States.
Kentucky state laws require any and all districts to form a screening committee for the purpose of reviewing applications when hiring a superintendent. Eaton adds further clarification to these laws, “The law also says that the board is in charge of getting the screening committee together.” Therefore, KSBA would work with the board to form this committee if hired. There will be one board member who will serve on this screening committee. Along with said individual BOE member, there will also be two teachers elected, a principal from the PCS district, a classified employee and one parent. The screening committee will be made up of six individuals. Once the committee has been formed and all responsibilities have been met the process can now transition to the second phase.
The second phase includes advertising and recruitment of a new superintendent. KSBA will at this point advertise the available superintendent position for PCS and each application will be processed for the screening committee. Once the screening committee completes their work in meeting the board’s charge for finding the best fit for the district, then there will be a second joint meeting. At that time the screening committee would present to the board the number of applicants that the board would consider. However, the board will get the opportunity at some point to view all applications. Eaton provides detail on the extensive measures KSBA will take when acquiring applications, “Our application is quite in depth. A new applicant, they tell me it takes 5-6 hours to fill out our application process.”
During phase four, after the top candidates have been decided upon with the help and support from the screening committee, the committee will then be dismissed, and the remainder of work will be left to the board with the support of Tim Eaton and KSBA. The interview process is the new focus at this point in the process. Eaton shared with the board from his personal experience, that recently “sitting superintendents” or superintendents from other districts have not been applying for new positions as superintendents in other districts, “they’re staying where they are or retiring.” With that being said, Eaton reminds the board that it’s very probable that many applicants, if not all, will not have superintendent experience. The final phase would include appointment, legal guidance, and contracts.
KSBA’s cost for the entire search process is $6,000.00 plus mileage for Eaton’s travel. There are few other organizations that handle these types of services. It was mentioned during the meeting that Eaton is currently assisting Owsley County’s board of education in their search for a new superintendent as well.
One other vital piece of this entire process the board can’t lose sight of is the potential gap before the newly hired superintendent comes aboard, “It could be possible that you all might have to have an interim superintendent for a short period,” when the current superintendent, Dr. Anthony Orr, leaves on June 30th, there must be someone with a superintendent certificate in charge as of July 1st regardless.
Following this presentation on what’s to be expected throughout this hiring process, the board entertained a motion on the agenda to consider approval of KSBA for superintendent search. The board unanimously carried a motion to approve the hiring of KSBA for their aid in a superintendent search. Following this motion, no other impacting decisions were made, and the board adjourned the meeting.