The Aberdeen School District is asking community members to provide their thoughts on the type of individual who should be hired as the district’s next superintendent.
Northwest Leadership Associates is conducting the search. “Community members and staff are encouraged to participate,” said Glenys Hill, an associate with the search firm who directs Washington State University’s superintendent certification program.
Hill and Roger Rada presented school board members with a timetable for the hiring process during the school board meeting on Tuesday evening.
There will be focus groups on Tuesday and Wednesday conducted by Hill and Rada, as well as an online survey for people to fill out posted on the school district’s web site at http://www.asd5.org
“We listen to group after group after group,” Hill said. “And we share everything we have heard.”
A community forum will be held on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Aberdeen High School Community Room.
Information gathered during the workshops and online will be used to create a “leadership profile” to present to the board on Dec. 20.
The application deadline is Feb. 8. Interviews will begin soon after that. March 15 is the target date to offer the successful candidate a work contract.
Superintendent Tom Opstad will retire June 30, 2017.
Trimester planning continues
Board members heard from staff about the trimester schedule set to begin next fall at Aberdeen High School.
The new schedule will increase the number of courses in a school year from 12 to 15. Students will take five courses during three school terms per year.
The change to the new system will bring the district into compliance with a new state requirement for high school students to complete at least 24 credits to graduate. AHS currently requires 22 credits minimum to graduate and will increase this to 26 starting with students graduating in 2021.
The board will be asked to approve District Policy 2410, which details graduation requirements. This could occur as soon as their Dec. 20 meeting.
Policy changes
The board postponed a decision to move forward with updates proposed in policies regarding the relationship between the board and superintendent and how board members evaluate the performance of the superintendent.
Board member Christi Boora asked that there be a workshop about these changes before a board vote is taken.
The board did adopt policy updates to students’ rights.
One change stipulates that on middle and high school campuses where more than 10 students aren’t in physical custody of a parent or guardian, or in other specific living situations, the school principal will appoint a staff member to identify homeless and unaccompanied youth. This staff member will also connect these students with the district’s homeless student liaison, the new policy states.
The update also encourages all staff members to learn how to better identify homeless students and notify these students — and their families — about services and types of support available to them.
Added to the district’s nondiscrimination policy were references to not discriminating against students based on their religion, creed veteran or military status, and marital status. The policy also now states that the district will take “prompt and effective steps reasonably calculated to end the harassment, prevent its recurrence and remedy its effects.”
