 - The Dubois School Board voted this week to schedule interviews with selected candidates for the open superintendent position in Fremont County School District 2.){kind=link}
(Dubois, WY) – The Dubois School Board voted this week to schedule interviews with selected candidates for the open superintendent position in Fremont County School District 2.
The decision came after a presentation from Wyoming School Boards Association Executive Director Brian Farmer about the superintendent selection process – including an overview of alternative district leadership structures.
“I know the question came up of, ‘Well, do we even need a superintendent?’” Farmer said this week, referring to a conversation that took place during a school board meeting in March. “And when I began the exploration of that, my first reaction was, ‘I’ve never heard of such a thing. I’ve never heard of a district that does not have a superintendent.’”
His research into the question confirmed that “there’s never been a case where we say, ‘We just don’t need the position,’” Farmer said – however, he did find examples of school districts in Wyoming and elsewhere that have appointed multiple people to a shared superintendency instead of hiring one person to fill the role, while others have asked a building principal to take on the superintendent responsibilities.
In other states, Farmer added, smaller districts have hired larger districts to provide superintendent services on a contractual basis – but “when we have talked about such things historically in Wyoming, that conversation moves toward consolidation.”
“When we engage in those conversations, legislators and others start asking, ‘So why do you need to be your own district – if the big district can do it for you, why don’t you just be part of the big district?’” he said.
Turnover
The conversation about alternative district leadership structures arose in part due to a concern expressed by a longtime local educator about the amount of turnover in the superintendent position in Dubois, Board Chair Tracy Nguyen noted this week, asking Farmer to talk about ways the district could improve superintendent longevity.
In response, Farmer said “the best thing a district can do (is) to provide some clarity around expectations at the very beginning” of a new superintendent’s tenure.
“This is research based,” he said. “If we can be clear of the expectation, and the board and the superintendent sort of have a plan together, that has the potential to impact student outcomes. … We have a plan, we agree on the plan, and we work on the plan together. When that happens, good stuff happens for kids.”
In that scenario, Farmer said, a superintendent is more likely to stay in the same position, because they will feel they have found a district where they “can make a difference in kids’ lives.”
“If we want to have a long tenure, the best thing we can do to set up success is to have that sort of common plan, that common vision, and a clear communication of expectations,” he said. “If we have that, we’re setting whomever we put into that leadership role in the best place for success.”
Eleven people from five different states have applied for the superintendent position in Dubois, Farmer said this week, including candidates with experience as superintendents, district-level leaders, and building-level leaders.
The interview schedule will be announced publicly once dates are confirmed with the candidates, according to this week’s board vote.