Sequim schools superintendent Kelly Shea still has nearly 15 weeks remaining with the district, but the Sequim School board of directors is well on its way to naming his successor.
The board unanimously agreed Monday night to hire McPherson & Jacobson LLC — the same firm they used to find Shea three years ago — to recruit, vet and help select finalists for the district’s top administrator job.
Board directors also agreed to a timeline that could see Sequim’s next schools superintendent selected by mid-May.
Richard Parker, representing McPherson & Jacobson LLC on Monday, told the board that his firm has handled 10 similar searches this year and averaged about 20 applicants per position.
“You have a number of applicants who have applied and gone through the process and found out they didn’t get the job they applied for,” Parker said.
“Sequim is more attractive than most districts,” Parker said, noting the large pool of applications Sequim received in 2012. “I think you’ll get more (than 20).”
Parker said that because of Sequim’s relatively late starting time for opening up the superintendent position, the traditional timeline for accepting applications of four to six weeks should be cut to three or four.
School board director Michael Howe asked Parker what the possibilities are of using an interim superintendent. Parker warned against it. “(Using an interim) stalls all the momentum in the district,” Parker said. “It’s the last option, but it is an option, and it does happen (in other districts).”
The McPherson & Jacobson LLC representative did note that if the board chose to use an interim, his firm would help them find that candidate and drop some fees for a superintendent search the following year.
Sequim’s board of directors agreed to contract with McPherson & Jacobson LLC for the superintendent search for $9,000, an increase of $500 from its 2012 contract.
The timeline
Parker and board members agreed on a timeline for the superintendent search, starting with the application that would be on several regional and national school administration websites by today, March 18.
The search will include a community forum in late March.
The timeline is as follows:
• March 18, open application for position
• March 24-26, McPherson & Jacobson LLC reps meet with stakeholders (staff, students, community members)
• April 13, school board meets with Parker for an update on applicants
• April 16, close application
• April 20, applications to school board directors
• May 4, meeting with Parker to shorten list of applicants
• May 11-13, finalist interviews
Other board action
Sequim students may be losing some sleep-in time on Mondays but getting a bit more the rest of the week, as the Sequim School District looks at changes to next year’s school calendar.
School board members got a look at the proposed 2015-2016 calendar Monday night, one that sees the school year start before Labor Day, moves two snow days from mid-year to June and has teachers working a full day on the last day of school instead of the traditional half-day.
The calendar also proposes the elimination of late start Mondays and tweaks the daily schedule for students to start their days at 8:35 a.m. instead of 8:15 a.m.
Several of the changes were made to ensure Sequim students in later grades get their mandated 1,080 hours and 180 days of instruction.
The recommended changes still need to be negotiated with the Sequim Education Association. Representative Brian Berg said the recommendations will go to the teachers’ union and be discussed in the next couple of weeks.
“We would not be able to do this without the cooperation of the teachers’ association,” Shea said.
Late start Mondays was designed to provide time for teachers’ professional development. Berg said that in theory that works very well, but in practice can be less fruitful, particularly with large groups of staffers. Teachers still will be required to start their day at 7:45 a.m., Berg said, but with the proposed changes teachers will have 50 minutes in the morning (7:45-8:35 a.m.) and 10 minutes following class on a typical school day, instead of having 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after.
