Firm Won't Hold Stakeholder Session Prior to Superintendent Search

When the approved a firm to conduct a search for a permanent superintendent for the school district at its regular business meeting on Jan. 23, it did so only after removing a line from the services the company proposed offering to meet with “stakeholders” prior to conducting its search.

Leadership Advantage’s original proposal included 10 points of service it would provide, including meeting “with designated stakeholder groups in a full day and evening session designed to provide for participation and information gathering that would be of further help in the search process.”

But in the resolution approved by the board, that line had been whited out of the proposal, causing concern among some residents that they were deliberately being shut out of the process.

“You want to know what kind of person, what skill set, what personality traits, what background, what experience that a district is looking for so that the search firm can tailor it,” said Fort Lee resident and parent Paula Colbath. “They always had open meetings where you could come some night and talk about the qualifications or what you think the vision should be and contribute to the process.”

She added, “Certainly once the process gets going, the search firm needs to know how do you marry these candidates with the district, and what are you really looking for. But [the board] went out of their way to eliminate that.”

That’s because the board has already taken public comment and received plenty of input on the matter at a special meeting in October and a series of public business meetings since, and intends to pass that feedback along to Leadership Advantage, explained board president Arthur Levine.

“We heard the public in terms of what they want; we have about two hours of tape on it,” Levine said. “This is not word-for-word, but they want an experienced superintendent with K-12 experience preferably from a larger district. They didn’t say that specifically, but they had some concerns in terms of handling the size budget [that Fort Lee has]. We heard what the public had to say.”

He added, “[That feedback] will be incorporated into the search.”

“Those are the components that are going to go into that when we sit down with [Leadership Advantage],” Levine said.

But Colbath said it’s not just public input that she’s concerned about, but rather that of groups like the PTA, teachers and administrators who have to work directly with the superintendent, in addition to what the public wants.

She called that level of inclusion in the process “very important.”

“This is like we’re hiring the CEO of a corporation, and if all your department heads and the staff can’t work with someone and there are issues—and I’m not saying that there are or there aren’t—I sense maybe that there’s a real disconnect with the board in terms of how motivating and inspiring the candidate that seems to be well on his way to the position [actually is].”

She added that she would even give up her own opportunity to talk about what she thinks would be best for the district going forward if teachers and administrators were given a chance to have their say.

“The recruitment and selection of a superintendent is their most important responsibility as a board,” Colbath said. “So you want to do it on an informed basis. You want to get as much information as you can.”

“We’re going to listen to the tapes once again,” Levine said. “Experience, K-12, similar in size, similar in size to Fort Lee’s budget—that’s going to be a starting point, and again, we’ll listen to what Leadership Advantage has to say.”

But as far as teachers having an opportunity to provide input, Levine said that’s “not anticipated,” and that there won’t be another special meeting to take public comment prior to the search.

Another issue that came up at the Jan. 23 meeting was whether there would be a finalists’ forum once Leadership Advantage indentifies suitable candidates.

At the time, Levine said that would only happen “to the extent that we can.”

Levine elaborated on that point Monday, saying “If a candidate does not want it disclosed, if they’re working for another district, you need to honor that, unless you want to tell the people upfront that as part of this process, [they] might have to forgo that.”

“We’ll discuss with Leadership Advantage what’s the best way to handle that,” Levine said. “You have to wonder though if that’s going to hurt who you’re going to get even applying. So that’s something that they’ll help us measure.”

Colbath said another thing that might taint the pool of qualified candidates potentially applying for the position is the fact that several board members openly expressed their support for Interim Superintendent Steven Engravalle on Jan. 23, which was, in turn, reported in the media.

“If I was sitting there, why go through the motions?” Colbath said. “Why spend my time and risk my district knowing that I’m actually looking if they’ve already announced that they made their decision? They destroyed the process by doing that.”

Levine however said the school board is “hopeful” the search firm will come up with viable candidates for the position.

“That’s the whole thing is that we want to get a look at what else is out there,” Levine said.