Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Colfax school board heard a mid-search report Monday night from its consultant hired to help find the next district superintendent.
Dr. Dennis Ray of Northwest Leadership Associates briefed board members after a late arrival at the regular board session.
Ray reported six applications had been received to date along with 12 to 15 inquiries.
“I think we’ll pick up some more,” he said after apologizing for the mix-up in his arrival time. “It’s not as many as we would’ve guessed.”
Two weeks remain until the application deadline. Ray went on to tell the board that open superintendent jobs elsewhere also had smaller responses than expected – Longview School District recently closed with 12, Yakima with 14 and East Valley of Spokane Valley with 17.
“We’re talking to some people we think are strong candidates,” Ray said, adding that the Colfax applicants will include current superintendents, assistant superintendents and principals.
The next step in the process is a screening report. Set for March 2, Ray will convene with the board to share results of background checks and provide the applicants’ files for board members to look through.
“The object then is to select the ones to invite to interview,” Ray said.
He recommended the board aim for three candidates.
“Above four and you’ll probably need to move to two rounds of interviews,” he said. “Usually with a district this size we can do with a single round of interviews.”
At that point, all candidates will still be in the running.
“You’re selecting the candidates to interview. You’re not rejecting the others,” said Ray. “It doesn’t mean ‘no longer under consideration.’”
The board then discussed March 19 for the day of interviews, which is to include candidates meeting with administrators, touring facilities and appearing at an open forum with school staff and another one with the community.
Ray then sent around a handout and went over the logistics of coordinating the interview day.
“I don’t see you have a lunch in there for them,” said board member David Nails.
“We’ll take care of that,” Ray said.
Another element of the interview day is a writing exercise in which Ray, or another representative of his firm, gives each candidate a prompt and allows an hour to write something on the subject.
Sample prompts he mentioned were “How would you spend your first 90 days in the district?” or “How would you introduce yourself to school staff?”
Ray, or another member of Northwest Leadership Associates, will be in town to facilitate the Colfax interviews, including the forums.
“You see a different side to a candidate at the forums,” he said. “It’s good to have board presence at the public forum and general staff forum.”
Ray then told the board to be prepared at the end of that day to talk about contracts and salary.
“I want to be sure a candidate is not $25,000 under expectations,” he said. “If we’re $5,000 apart, we can probably resolve that. If we’re $25,000 apart, we probably can’t.”
The school district will pay the travel expenses of the three candidates. Ray’s consultant fee is all-inclusive.
He concluded with another apology for arriving at 6:50 p.m. for what was intended to be a 6:30 p.m. work session. Ray had it in his calendar for 7 p.m.
“I have to drive to Yakima. I would’ve loved to have started earlier,” he said as he and the board laughed.
Ray will return to Colfax Feb. 18 regarding the Colfax High School principal search. A community meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m.
Current principal Buck Marsh submitted his resignation Dec. 29, after which the school board adjusted their contract with Ray to include a principal search as well.
The timeline to hire a new principal will stretch longer, by design, so the new superintendent can participate in the decision.
The hiring of a principal is predominantly a superintendent’s decision, with board approval, while hiring of a superintendent is the board’s responsibility.
Dr. Ray’s previous work includes directing WSU’s Superintendent Certification program from 1996 to 2007.
Michael Morgan is the current Colfax superintendent, a veteran teacher and administrator leaving to pursue another career direction.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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