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Home My WebLink About2014-08-11-SC-min-12noon Lexington School Committee Superintendent Search Planning Meeting August 11, 2014 12:00 Noon The meeting was held on August 11, 2014 at 12:00 pm in the School Committee room. School Committee (SC) members in attendance were Chairperson Margaret Coppe, Judith Crocker, Mary Ann Stewart, Jessie Steigerwald, and Alessandro Alessandrini. Representing Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates were consultants John Connolly and Gary Burton. John distributed a series of handouts that are segments of a manual that describes the recommended search procedure. An individual manual (3-ring folder) will be sent to each committee member within a few days. John explained the purpose of each section of the manual and the importance of adhering to the search procedure. John pointed out where modifications to the procedure were possible and made specific recommendations for the Lexington search. The discussion among the SC members and the HYA consultants focused on subsections: 2. Confidentiality and Community Engagement, 3. Background Checks, 4. Calendar for Search, 5.Online Survey, 7.Identification of individual and/or groups to meet with the HYA consultants, 8. Number of candidates, 9. Internal candidates, 10. Advertisements, 12. Residency Expectations and 13.Committee liaison during the Search. As a result the following has been tentatively decided, subject to further refinement and/or change. Dates were agreed upon and tasks were assigned to the SC and consultants. It was agreed that a Search Committee of approximately 9 to 12 individuals, including two SC members, would be utilized to assist the committee in narrowing HYA’s slate of five semi-finalists to the three finalists that will be publicly presented to the School Committee. The SC will discuss the composition of the Search Committee before October 1, 2014. The SC will also prepare public announcements for distribution throughout the community calling upon interested residents to declare their interest in serving on the Search Committee. Once the Search Committee is established HYA will provide a training session for this group prior to their review of applications and interviewing the five semi-finalists. #4. Calendar for Search – the following dates were established. Activity Date(s) Planning Meeting with School Committee August 11, 2014 Leadership Profile development Interviews/Focus Group meetings September 23 & 24, 2014 Online survey open/close September 8 – September 25, 2014 Leadership Profile Report presented to the SC October 7, 2014 Advertising by mid-October (SC to determine package option) School Committee selects Search Committee members by October 21, 2014 • Seminar for interviews & final stages of search process for SC and Search Committee • Presentation of the slate of semi-finalists by November 25, 2014 Initial interviews with semi-finalists by December 4, 2014 Meet to identify finalists by December 12, 2014 Interviews with finalists by December 19, 2014 Meet to identify preferred candidate by December 19, 2014 Announcement of preferred candidate by December 26, 2014 Site visit By January 9, 2015 Announcement of appointment by January 16, 2015 Superintendent assumes responsibilities On or before July 1, 2015 #5. Online Survey The HYA on-line survey will be open to all interested citizens and school district employees from September 8 through September 25. #6& 7. Focus groups to assist with the development of a Leadership Profile Report. Each SC members was scheduled for an individual one-hour session with the consultants. The purpose of these sessions is to discuss the district’s strengths, concerns or issues facing the district and the preferred characteristics of the new superintendent. The SC also initially identified the following individuals/groups and is responsible for scheduling focus group sessions. In no particular order of importance, these groups were identified as: 1. PTA/PTO 2. Support Staff unit 3. Student Leaders 4. CAAL & IAL 5. Town Manager and Selectmen 6. Elem Faculty 7. Secondary Faculty Student leaders 8. SEPAC 9. Metco 10. SHAC 11. Public Safety Officials 12. Capital Buildings Committee representative 13. Central Office Staff 14. Council on Aging 15. Asst. Supt of Finance 16. Former SC members 17. LEF 18. PALS 19. Site councils 20. Chamber of Commerce/Business Association 21. Union leadership 22. Elementary Admin 23. Secondary Admin 24. Religious leaders 25. Two hours will be for any interested persons HYA will also conduct an evening public forum from 7-9:00 at a location to be determined before September 22. The times assigned to the individual school committee members were established as Monday September 22 Alessandro and Judy @ 8:00, Jessie @ 9:00, Mary Ann (and former SC members) @ 10:00. Margaret will be interviewed at 11:00 on Tuesday, September 23. The open community session during the day is scheduled for Tuesday, September 23 from 10:00 to 12:00. The locations of these focus group meeting will be determined by the School Committee or administrative liaison (TBA). #8 Number of Candidates Five (5) candidates prescreened by HYA will be presented to the search committee for interviews. Additional candidates will be submitted if requested by the search committee. #9 Internal Candidates It was recommended by John and agreed upon by the SC that internal candidates for the position should be treated alongside all other candidates. #10 Advertisement John explained the three recommended advertising packages. The SC will discuss the advertising packages and make their choice know to the consultants before October 1, 2014. #14 HYA liaisons and consultants It was agreed that the SC chair Margaret Coppe (mcoppe@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us) will serve as the committee’s liaison with the HYA consultants and that an individual within the HR department (TBA) will be asked to do the same for scheduling and logistical purposes. HYA contact information: Name Role Email Telephone John Connolly Lead Consultant jpc91@comcast.net 781-789-9648 Gary Burton Consultant garyburton.nh@gmail.com 603-279-5669 Steve Dlott Consultant sdlott@gmail.com 774-258-0267 Therese Meyer HYA Office Manager theresemeyer@ecragroup.com 847-318-0072 #15 Other It was suggested that the HR Liaison work with HYA’s Therese Meyer to establish a HYA web site link specific to the Lexington search. Finally a review of SC responsibilities and tasks were agreed upon. These include (1) scheduling the focus groups for September 22 & 23, (2) determine the HR liaison person, (3) prepare a letter for the different focus groups identified above to solicit their input (HYA can provide templates for these invites), (4) confirm the dates above as correct, (5) prepare a letter to invite interest in serving on the Search Committee, and (6) placing information about the search procedure on the Lexington School District web page. The meeting ended at approximately 2:45 pm Respectfully submitted Gary A. Burton Voted by the School Committee August 26, 2014