Public gives input into what it wants in a new school superintendent

After the school board completed about an hour’s worth of business at Monday’s meeting, Dr. Rodney Green was given the floor.
He asked the 50 people present in the audience for their input on the superintendent search and they were ready with lots of responses.
Dr. Green represented the Michigan Association of School Boards which was chosen to conduct the search for the district in order to get a new superintendent in place by July 1.
Former superintendent Michael Van Tassel was fired in February.
Dr. Green started off the day Monday with an 11 a.m. meeting with school personnel and continued on with meetings that included students. He said he met with six groups throughout the day before asking for input from the public at the 7 p.m. board meeting.
Dr. Green gave the upcoming schedule for the search as:
• April 18 – board work/study meeting to approve candidate profile and get final report on online survey.
• March-May – advertising vacancy and recruiting candidates.
• May 10 – application deadline, notebook of all candidate’s resumes prepared for board members.
• May 16 – prepare interviews in a work/study meeting, narrow the field down to six or so, referring to candidates by numbers until they are selected for interviews, then they are named.
• May 24, 25 – initial interviews, choose two or three.
• May 31 – final interviews.
• June 2-6 – site visits, if desired.
• June 13 – superintendent contract approval.
Dr. Green said the superintendent search will be completely open and all decisions made in meetings open to the public. He said all deliberations and interviews will be open to the public.
For the first round of interviews, the public will be invited to fill out feedback sheets on the candidates. For the second round, the public will be invited to write questions for the candidates that will first be screened by Dr. Green to make sure they are legal and not repetitive.
Dr. Green said there are 60 superintendent searches in Michigan this year and the MASB is doing about 20.
At Monday’s meeting he asked the audience the following questions:
What are you most proud of? What are some of the challenges? What background do you want the candidates to have? Describe the individual you want for superintendent.
After the answers had been called out and he took notes, he said, “You are not different from other places. You’ve got some healing that needs to occur. That will happen…
“I will come back next week at 7 p.m. and report to you on the survey.” He said the online survey closes at 2 p.m. Friday, April 15, and he’ll get the report by 4 p.m. that day so he can bring it to the April 18 meeting.
Dr. Green said some candidates will be looking for a larger school district to lead and Van Buren Public Schools has about 5,200 students.
“They know there are problems that have to be resolved,” Dr. Green said.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board:
• Heard a report on Belleville High School focusing on how staff members are handling the new state tests, the achievement gap, and the school’s new culture. The presentation was by Principal Abdul Madyun and Assistant Principals Falisadoll Green, Stacey Buhro, and Dan Wright;
• Approved the retirement as of June 30 of Savage teacher Lori Diacomo after 30 years of service;
• Approved the resignation of Tanyea Johnson, after 3 ½ years of service in the Transportation Department as of March 18; and approved the hiring of Lenore Sykes as part-time secretary at Savage Elementary School, starting April 6;
• Heard Joanne McCollum ask about what the district is going to do with its property in West Willow. Interim Superintendent Shonta Langford Green said a person is interested in renting a portion of the space on that property for a billboard on the highway. She will meet with him the next day and then she’ll know more about what is being requested. McCollum asked if the neighbors would have input and Supt. Green said the issue would come before the board;
• Heard CeJay Marshall ask about how preparing for the SAT test, as the high school was doing, is any different from M-STEP preparation, for which the Savage teachers were penalized. Board President Mikulski said, “We are not going to talk about that tonight.” Marshall said the community is concerned about the safety of the school children and they don’t want to see a Columbine or Sandy Hook here. “I’ve heard we had metal detectors at BHS and Van Tassel had them removed because they were too ‘ghetto.’” He said he hears there are problems with discipline in the classroom and the teachers need help. “We need our students and teachers protected,” he said;
• Heard Angela Mears say she heard Mikulski read a statement that said the board isn’t talking about Savage, but she has questions. She started to question each board member on whether each read the letter Van Tassel sent to the state before he sent it, but Mikulski stopped her. “We’re not going to talk about the time frame. The teachers are at the table,” Mikulski said. Trustee Sherry Frazier said it’s not up to the board to discipline employees. That is up to the superintendent, she said. Mears said she saw what the state recommended as better training of staff and oversight by the state for the 2016 M-STEP, but there was no recommendation to remove teachers from the classroom;
• Heard Ginny Gearns say the district needs to go back to a place where the staff can speak out to recommend improvements; and
• Heard Trustee Frazier thank the community and parents for their interest and involvement at the board meeting. “It’s nice to have more than two at a board meeting,” she said, referring to the audience.