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Lansing's Board of Education nailed down a plan for finding a new school superintendent in a special meeting Tuesday.  Meeting with William Silky and Lucy Martin of the education consultant firm Castallo & Silky, the board was faced with a closed search that would bring the best candidates in a short time period or an open search that would attract a less experienced pool of applicants and take longer to complete.  "The best candidates are typically interested through the recruitment process," Silky explained.  "Regardless of how we go about the search, we have to do that today anyway."


"The other aspect of that is the confidentiality," Martin added.  "The more confidential a search, the better candidates that are going to apply.  If you have an open forum where everybody can come in, you are going to find fewer candidates, because many of them will not risk having their own communities and boards of education be aware that they're even considering another district if they're not serious contenders."

In an echo of the last superintendent search, some board members said they were uncomfortable with a search that does not include the community.    Board President Tom Keane asked about the effectiveness of a compromise.  "What if a district runs a search between those two?" he asked.  "It's confidential, but the search committee is made up of 15 people, plus the board.  Confidentiality is demanded of those people, and they are held accountable for that.  Does that turn out stronger candidates or better candidates?"

Silky said that the more confidential the search the more highly qualified candidates it will yield.  Concerns about the applicants' names leaking when a large group, as occurred during the search that led to Mark Lewis being hired, is involved in the interview process made the board think twice about conducting a conventional search.  "Just involving fewer representatives of your school public, it's easier to keep it more confidential," Silky said.  "That sends the message.  Pragmatically, if you have 50 people versus 15 people, I'm not sure whether it's going to make much of a difference.  You might get more candidates."

The board considered limiting participation to one representative per stakeholder group, but most members felt that was too limiting.  "I think that the employees of the district represent a very large group," said Bonita Lindbergh.  "They will make or break a superintendent's success here.  As a candidate I would want to meet more than one person from each of those bargaining units."

"You make a perfect case for a larger committee," said David Dittman, who calculated that two representatives from each bargaining unit (including two from the confidential employees group that is prohibited from being part of a union), six community members, plus the school board would make 21.  Dittman said that a smaller committee might not maintain confidentiality any better than a larger group would.  "If you've got seven and one leaks, you've still got a leak," he said.  "If you've got 20 and one leaks, you've still got a leak.  And I think if you're going to be criticized I think you ought to be criticized for being inclusive, as opposed to being exclusive."

Mike Cheatham supported a completely confidential approach to attract the largest pool of the best candidates.  Anne Drake advocated an open search to maximize community involvement.  But most board members favored a compromise that would yield a single committee of about 20 members with representatives from the three district bargaining units including the teacher's union, principals, parents, and community members without children in the schools.  While bargaining units would choose representatives, parents and community members would be chosen by lottery to give everyone a chance while keeping the committee size down.  Cheatham said he supported the smaller committee approach if a completely confidential search is not the board's choice.

With the small committee approach agreed upon the board concentrated on working out a schedule.  If a sitting superintendent is hired, that candidate might have up to a three months notice clause in his or her current contract, meaning that if a search could be concluded by the end of this year the chosen candidate might not be able to start until next April.  Keane was anxious to fill the position as soon as possible, both to institute consistent leadership and planning and to fill the seat in a reasonable time frame for interim Superintendent Tom Helmer.

The schedule that the board roughed out could mean that a new superintendent could be hired by the end of November, with the first round of interviews taking place on October 22, a second round a week later, and a site visit by board members to the top candidate's district on October 29th.

The final sticking point was the salary range.  The consultants noted that $130 to $155 is about the going rate for small districts in a day when larger districts pay more than $200,000.  Silky noted that $155,000 is reasonable for a superintendent with about ten years of experience.  Keane advocated the $135,000 to $155,000 range in order to attract the best pool.


Lewis's salary is $145,000, the high end of the range offered in the search two years ago.  But the consultants noted that the range you have to offer to attract decent candidates has gone up to between $130,000 and $155,00.  Dittman noted that the best qualified candidates always look at the high end of the range offered.  Anne Drake said that $155,000 is too much.  "I'm willing to pay that amount," Cheatham said.  "But Anne is right, it's going to be a tough sell to the community.  I don't see that we have much choice."

Lindbergh noted that there are other costs such as life insurance and other benefits on top of salary.  She grudgingly said she could suport $155,000.  "They need to walk on water and know where the stones are for $155," she said.

Martin explained that her firm will mail over 700 brochures to make people aware of the position, as well as e-mailing a PDF version that brings the count up to more than 1,300.  They will also recruit candidates, and recommend about a half dozen for the board to consider.  Once the school board narrows the pool to three candidates, interviews will begin.

"This is a departure from what we have done in the past," said Glenn Swanson.  But the Board Of Education clearly hopes the result will be different as well, yielding a highly qualified superintendent who will stay in Lansing for years to come.

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