Ann Arbor school board sets initial parameters for superintendent search

The Ann Arbor Board of Education approved several parameters Wednesday night for a superintendent search that trustees hope will yield a new leader of the district by late July.

School board members voted on a four-item list at the close of its meeting at Huron High School. The parameters approved were:

• An expedited search to try to have a permanent superintendent candidate fully vetted and hired in time for the 2013-14 academic year.
• Using the Iowa-based consulting firm Ray & Associates to help conduct the superintendent search.
• Scheduling a special meeting (start time to be decided) for prior to the April 24 regular meeting at which the board will develop a superintendent profile that outlines what the board is looking for in a candidate.
• Appointing an interim superintendent from within the district in the short-term.

Even though a few trustees raised some concerns about specific items on the list, the list passed unanimously.

Every board member was in favor of using the search firm Ray & Associates for a second time, given that the bulk of the firm's services will be free. The board cited the benefit of being able to start the search immediately and not having to go through the lengthy process of bidding out and selecting a search firm again.

Ray & Associates was the company the Ann Arbor Public Schools board contracted with during its 2010 search that resulted in the district hiring Superintendent Patricia Green, who resigned on April 10 to enjoy retirement.

Green's resignation came less than two years after her initial date of employment in the district, evoking a "satisfaction guarantee" clause from the contract between AAPS and Ray & Associates. This clause states if the employment relationship between the district and the superintendent is dissolved via resignation, retirement or termination within a two-year time period, Ray & Associates will conduct a new search at no cost to the district, except for "reasonable expenses."

These expenses could include things such as travel, food and lodging to bring Ray & Associates consultants to Ann Arbor, as well as some printing and survey costs associated with the search and the cost of advertising for and posting the position, said Board President Deb Mexicotte.

The initial contract with Ray & Associates was for $21,000, but the firm only charged AAPS $14,000, said board assistant Amy Osinski. She said the incidentals that Ray & Associates consultants racked up last time "probably was not much more than $1,000." The remainder of the $29,919 the district spent in total on the 2010 search is not clear.

The district did pay for six candidates to come to Ann Arbor for site visits and interviews, which Mexicotte said the board could choose to do differently this time or to reduce the number of candidates included in this stage of the process.

Trustee Susan Baskett said she would push for doing this search as cost effectively as possible, which could include using some of the same materials as last time and having Ray & Associates fly to Ann Arbor less.

"They've met us; we've met them… They just need to hear from us, so let's use Skype or speaker phone or whatever," she said.

The majority of the board wanted to move quickly on the search, with a target of having a candidate selected around mid to late July and able to start prior to Sept. 1, if not earlier.

Vice President Christine Stead was apprehensive about the quick turnaround and concerned it could add to the stress felt by community members. She said she can't imagine sending out surveys to the community about what it would like to see in a new superintendent at the same time the board is "vetting what massive amounts of cuts it would like to make" for the 2013-14 budget.

"I would like to keep those a little separate if at all possible… I just don't know that (doing both simultaneously) is going to generate the focused attention from our community that this (search) deserves … and in a positive way," Stead said.

Ray & Associates assured the board there still would be good candidates out there if the district starting searching right now, Mexicotte said.

"If we don't find what we want, we can always pause, regroup and go on until we do find it."

Stead said in the district's superintendent profile this time around, she does not want to set a single number as the target salary. She explained this was something Ray & Associates pushed for in 2010, but she would be more comfortable with a range. She added anyone interested in applying for the job could easily look up the past salary at AAPS, as well as national averages and superintendent salaries statewide.

To select an interim candidate, the board will request a recommendation from Green. Each board member also will be able to propose someone.

The suggestions will be submitted to Mexicotte who will work with Green to determine the best candidate or candidates to bring forward to the board in about a month in a formal recommendation.

Previous Superintendent Todd Roberts, when he resigned in 2010 to take a job in North Carolina, recommended the board appoint then-Deputy Superintendent for Operations Robert Allen as the interim leader. Mexicotte said the board favored Allen as a temporary superintendent at the time because he was not interested in holding the position permanently. She said knowledge of a viable internal candidate sometimes can impact the overall pool of candidates a district is able to attract.

The board decided Wednesday that this time it would consider an interim who wanted to apply for the position long-term, and he or she would not be discouraged from doing so.

The idea of an interim superintendent from outside of the district, such as a retired administrator, was debated around the board table but eventually was dismissed due to the fact that this interim position is expected to be very short-term. Board members felt having someone with an established knowledge of and trust within the district would be better suited to serve as a temporary, "strong and informed caretaker" of the district, as Mexicotte described it.

Green will be with the district until her resignation is effective on July 9, so the greatest length of time an interim superintendent would serve would be less than two months, if all goes according to plan. But Stead stressed it could be longer if the board has to extend its search to find a permanent replacement.

Stead, Baskett and Trustee Simone Lightfoot said they want to see the board do more work to evaluate the backgrounds of the proposed interim candidates and to select the best one, rather than be given a recommendation from Mexicotte. They stressed the timing with the budget and the need for the interim to handle key transitions in AAPS, to implement the cuts the board will approve and to prepare the district for the start of the school year.

"I liken it to selecting a babysitter for your kids," Lightfoot said. "If there are two parents in the house, you may not be as selective. But if one parent dies, your going to be more careful about who you get to watch your kids… The kid down the block may have sufficed in a different time. But when there has been trauma … special considerations need to be taken into place."

Mexicotte said the board could go back at any time and revisit the topic of an interim superintendent and could appoint a new interim if the search takes longer than expected.

Stead was not in favor of hiring an interim, followed by another interim and then possibly a permanent: "That doesn't feel like the best we can do for families in the community."

The type of search the board would conduct — be it national, Midwest, statewide or local — was not finalized at the meeting by way of a vote, although most trustees discussed launching another national search. Mexicotte said a national search does not preclude internal candidates from applying.

"The type of search we conduct is really how wide we cast our net," she said. "The idea that if we cast a wide net, we somehow aren't catching the close fish, that just isn't the case... Internal candidates were in the process last time."

Baskett suggested being more creative, and perhaps having an initial application window solely for internal candidates, prior to opening the position up to the outside. She said this is how the Ann Arbor Administration Association posts principal positions.

Other components of the search that are still to-be-determined include how and when the board plans to engage the community.

Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.