my name is Maryann fredman and I have Tim Tian with me here tonight and we are from New Jersey school boards Association to talk about the facilitation of the superintendent search for Robinsville School District so thank you for coming whether you're here or whether you're virtually hanging out with us so we do have a PowerPoint that we're going to go through and um we can take questions at the end so first of all I'd like to thank the board for Contracting with us to facilitate their superintendent search I'd also like to thank Food Services because they have a nice spread of food out there for anybody who's here and um also to say that in the 15 years that I've been doing this I haven't seen a board or a district provide a nice spread for of snacks and things for the people who are attending so thank you very much for that so a successful superintendent search is really going to require that everybody understand that the board only hires one person and that's the superintendent and hiring the superintendent is the most important thing that the board will do over the next three to five years and I'll explain why three to five in a few minutes but this is the most important decision that the board will make and success really starts with a proven process of crit of criteria based decision making for the board so the board hires one person that's the superintendent and the superintendent hires makes the recommendation for all other District staff so legal requirements for for a school administrator or a permanent superintendent or they must possess a certificate as a for a school administrator a standard certificate or a Certificate of Eligibility they need to be a New Jersey resident within one year so while the ad that is placed on our website and goes to All State Schoolboard associations and also goes to all the um colleges and universities in the tri-state area there will often sometimes be people from other states that will apply for the position and one of the things that we need to let them know is that in New Jersey there are residency laws so if they don't live in New Jersey they would need to either move into New Jersey within a year or apply for a waiver the next thing is it's a three to fiveyear contract the board can only offer a three-year contract minimally or a five-year contract at the maximum so since the position is going to start in January 1st they'll need to offer a three and a half year contract or a four and a halfe contract because that it will every contract has to end on June 30th then they have to have the contract approved by the executive county superintendent and once the executive County Superintendent approves who the board has selected to be their finalist and their new superintendent then the board can actually appoint the super that person at their next meeting and compensation is really subject to comparability data and we provide the district with all the comparability data for Mercer County so the role of the staff really and the community is this is your opportunity to provide us with your input many times um the board boards don't want to have that Community input but this board does want to have that Community input and so that's why Tim and I are here tonight we met with staff this afternoon and administrators this afternoon and then um on June 11th we'll be meeting with this the high school staff and also the Sharon Elementary schoola staff and the board is very interested in your input this is your opportunity to be able to provide them with information about what you feel is important or important characteristics for the next superintendent to have what kind of experience you would like that person to have as they're coming in to take on the role of superintendent in Robinsville and also what questions you would like to ask and we're counting on you to be able to supply th that information for us we have two Survey Monkey tools that are on the listed on the district webs site and those will close on June 14th so we're hoping that you'll be able to go in and access the Survey Monkey tool so the applicant names and the interviews and that entire process of the interview process and selecting those names and who's going to be brought in for interviews re only sits with the board uh with the Board of Education the board of education is the only entity that's authorized to appoint the next superintendent and so they are the one only ones who can sit at that table for those interviews so that's why this input is important for you and it's now so that they can use the input to help them select candidates to bring in for the interviews and also questions that they would like to ask of the of the candidates so it is the legal responsibility of the board it has to be an inclusive process and part of our process is that we ask the boards alwayss to have that input from their staff parents and community and Guardians and from students as well only the board is legally um bound to confidentiality so that's why board members are the only ones that can sit at the table with the during the interview process and reading all of the applications because they are the only ones bound to confidentiality by law through this um this school ethics commission and the um code of ethics for school board members so we really do want you to be able to participate through the online surveys or through this input set session the input sessions that we've been having and as I said that will help the board will be giving them all of this information whether you supply the information in an input session in person or online on the Survey Monkey tools that information is all Anonymous so your email address will not appear next to your comments or or next to your name or any input that you've provided the only thing that you'll have is a number depending on which number person you were that went in and submitt subed the information and then a date and a time would be assigned to that when you submitted that actual information but unless somebody knows exactly when you submitted the information and what date it was nobody's going to know who it was that submitted that information this is the ad and this is more for the the folks at home that may be watching the folks that are here have that ad and this is the criteria that the board developed and some of the things the the one area on here that is required by law by state law is that any qualified candidate needs to have a standard certificate for a school administrator or a Certificate of Eligibility which we refer to as a CE so that is required also the board felt it was important that this person have experience as a superintendent an assistant superintendent or have experience in central office that's also Al a requirement principal experience is preferred classroom teaching experience is preferred and an earned doctorate is preferred so in order to be a candidate that meets the A or B qualifications they would have to have that standard certificate or Certificate of Eligibility and have experience as a superintendent an assistant superintendent or in central office the rest is is preferred and we will rank these candidates Tim and I are already starting to go through the applications and we will rank these candidates in ABC order a is those candidates who exceed your CR the board's criteria and remember it is objective criteria because we have to have that information it's not subjective and then um B is our candidates that meet their criteria and see your candidates who don't meet the criteria and the application is online it's on the district website it's also on New Jersey school board's website we get a approximately 8,000 hits a month on our superintendent search page at njsba New Jersey school boards Association and um we also send it out electronically to about 900 folks who have participated in a superintendent search with us in the past so it really goes out to a lot of folks it also goes out to every state School Board Association and I think I said that already the state the colleges and universities in the area it goes out to all of the executive County Superintendent every County in New Jersey has an executive county superintendent and they can take that to their Roundtable meetings which they have with the superintendents in their County once a month it also goes to ASA or the association of school administrators which is the superintendence administration it goes to asbo the association of school business officials and many other links and and um organizations that we have listed so it's available online by by nature of it being electronic and going to all of the state Schoolboard associations it is actually a national search this is also the calendar that has been developed by the board and by Tim and myself and so we'll be holding to this calendar as much as possible we met with the board on April 22nd and developed that criteria and the calendar the ad is up and posted until May 31st at 5:00 pm that's a hard stop on May 31st at 5:00 pm for the ad the ad will come down uh we're having meetings with student staff and community members today May 16th and also on June 11th as I said the deadline for the receipt of the applications is May 31st at five all the information that we receive from the Survey Monkey tool and also from the input sessions will be provided to the board on June 25th when we report to them and bring them the pool of candidates and at that point they'll be able to see we'll go through a process with them provide a lot of information on how to handle the application materials make sure that everybody understands the confidentiality is vital to this process and then they'll be able to start looking through the applications they'll let us know on July 17th who they'd like to bring in for a first round of interviews those first round interviews will be conducted on July 30th 31st and August 1st Tim and I will be Pres present for those interviews we're here for the for the duration we'll provide the board with sample questions when we bring in the pool of candidates on June 25th and also um questions that they would like to look through and also all the applicants then after the first round of interviews we'll discuss with the board whether they'd like to bring anybody back going through a processing out process and then we will handle scheduling those interviews again having provided them with samples second round questions and um they'll provide us with that information as well usually the board will bring in around 9 or 10 interview candidates for the first round of interviews and then for the second round it's usually five or six so we have three days allocated for the first round of interviews the interviews are 45 minutes in length and there's 15 minutes in between and we usually do three on an evening so we like to hold those three consecutive nights and that's July 30th 31st and 1st the second round will be an hourlong interview with 15 minutes in between and we'll hold those interviews on August 14th and 15th and then if the board decides that they have a few candidates that they really can't make a decision upon we can bring those folks back for a third round of interview that intervie those interviews would happen on August 22nd and those would be anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half long onor about August 22nd we hope that the board will be able to select their finalist and this is a selection process not a settling process and then they'll start doing reference checks once I have the name of the finalist we'll let them know we'll ask them to contact their references and let them know that they'll be contacted by the Robinsville board members and then once those reference checks are completed which usually will take about four four to seven days to complete especially over the summer people are away so they may not be completely available able um hopefully by August 27th the reference checks will all come back and be okay be good and then the board can start contract negotiations we usually recommend that the board um use their board attorney for contract negotiations for their part of it and that the finalist use their attorney from the association of school administrators or ASA to negotiate for them hopefully honor before September 1st will be able to get that contract settled by both parties and agreed to and goes off to the executive County Superintendent who will review that and needs to approve it before the board can appoint their finalist and their super their next superintendent so we're hoping that will be by October 1st that gives the candidate the finalist 60 days which is usually par for the course in terms of their contract their current contracts where they're leaving they usually have a 60-day clause if it's longer than that we see if the board would if their boards would would let them go earlier and if not we make arrangements and to to work through all of that and then on January 1st your new superintendent would take that seat and be your new superintendent moving forward so again we've we're advertising your search through our website and our social media accounts um as I said we receive about 8,000 hits a month on that site it's with asbo the association of school business officials ASA the association of school administrators and and also on New Jersey principal and supervisors administrators um Association rather so it's on their websites as well it's also on your District website and as I said we email the to our database which is about 900 to a th000 people also so they also will get that information nearby colleges and county offices and then National advertising as well through the national affiliation of superintendent Searchers and other states that are using our the program that we use for the application process which is ralis and that's Arkansas and all of those states that are listed up there so it really does get national attention the application materials are pretty um comprehensive so there's an application that the um candidate needs to fill out they give us a letter of interest or their cover letter their resume they need to have copies of their any certific educational certificates that they have including the school administrator certificate or Certificate of Eligibility they need to provide us with transcripts from all of their colleges that they've attended for their various degrees they need to provide us with references and their last performance evaluation and then again that confidentiality is really vital to this process and the board is the only entity that's required to maintain that confidentiality by Statute and code of ethics there are also custom application questions that are asked and the board has selected three different application questions for the essays and um some of the topics that they have chosen is effective Communications and Outreach building Partnerships um budget and finances and operations and also personnel management and when we ask when we have those questions listed in the application we're asking for actual accomplishments in those areas not theoretical or not philosophical examples then the all of the criteria is based on that crer all the review is based on that criteria so from the board input from the qualifications that are in the ad the selection criteria and then the stakeholder input and this is your opportunity for that and again the board in Ro in Robinsville really does want you to participate in this process in the best way that you can and that's through those surveys on that are online Tim and I as I said before will wait that pool of candidates give them an a a b or a c a as exceeds their criteria B is meets their criteria and C is doesn't meet the C candidates they will not be able to bring in for interviews because they don't meet the criteria the requirements of the criteria and then the board will be able to review all of the applications and then go through their selection process and make a selection as to who they would like to bring in and again they can bring in anybody in the A or B category the interview process they usually boards will usually bring in about 8 to 10 applicants for a first round of interviews it's usually 30 to 45 minutes 45 minutes is more reasonable as far as I'm concerned because otherwise you can only ask about 10 questions so this way you get to ask more than that the first round of interviews is very very structured only that everybody gets asked the same exact questions there are no follow-up questions that are asked in the first round but the board members will be able to jot down any follow-up questions that they would like to ask and then if the candidates are brought back for a second round they can ask those questions and really the purpose of the first round is to see do you want to talk to this person again where you're interested enough to speak with them again do you think they might be a good fit for your district and do we want to learn more about them then the second round is usually about a week or two later that will be usually four to five applicants it's usually 60 to 90 minutes and it's less structured the board will still select sample questions that have been customized for them from the information that you all have given us and also staff and administration have given us and then they'll be able to select those but they will be able to ask follow-up questions and some specific questions if they have them and then at the end of that second round we'll talk to them again is this do you have a finalist in this group that you know that you're selecting as your next superintendent sometimes boards know who their person is at the end of that second round and sometimes they're not sure they may have two or three people that seem equal on all levels so that's when that third interview can come in to play that's usually 60 to 90 minutes and that can be a scenario based presentation for the board or it can be a very informal conversation with just the board memb ERS and Tim and I would be there as well because we're there through everything and then when they move one candidate forward to be the finalist then that's when we will call that person let them know that they are the finalist and that they need to start talking to their references and let them know that the board will be contacting them in the next two three days when this candidate the finalist gets back to us that they have not notified everybody then we'll be able to start the board can start with the um the reference checks and we provide them a script for the reference checks and the last question that we encourage them very strongly to ask is is there anybody else that you can think of that would be worthwhile for me to speak to and the candidates have already signed a release that the board can speak to anybody that another reference gives them so again there's the reference in the background checks there will be background checks every new candidate to a school district has to go through the back ground checks so that will happen and then there can be District visits the board can go visit this the finalist School District or the and or the finalist can come and visit the school district in Robinsville there's contract negotiations that will be going on at that point as well and then once the executive County Superintendent has given the approval on the contract the Board of Education can appoint that finalist at their next board meeting and can introduce the um the finalist to the community at that point in time so it's usually a very nice celebration that takes place and we're looking forward to that happening at some point in October and then we provide a transition workshop for the new superintendent and the board we like to to do that within the first month of the new superintendent starting and we work with the board to develop expectations together with the superintendent what are the expectations the board has of this new superintendent and what are the expectations the new superintendent has for the board because once you know what those expectations are it's much easier to work together and get along and then we'll also set goals because the new superintendent who starts on January 1 will actually need to be evaluated by the board in the spring of next year so within a few months of them starting they'll need to be evaluated and part of that evaluation takes place on progress towards the achievement of District goals so we'll be set helping the board to and the superintendent to develop those so how can you participate again in person um these inperson sessions and also the online responses that we get as I said they are completely Anonymous and for those of you who are here we may have introduced been introduced to you but I'm really bad with names so I don't remember already who people are um and the online survey closes on June 14th so it's really important that that you try and talk to other people and let them know that they can go to that online survey and the Survey Monkey links are on the district website on that page about the input sessions okay and then as I said all responses will be shared with the board of education so the community staff input sessions that we have listed on your your survey that that we have here are what are the strengths of the Robinsville school district and Community what are the critical issues that will face The District in the next 3 to 5 years and again it's 3 to five years because the contract can only be for a minimum of three years or a maximum of five so what do you think the next superintendent what issues do you think they'll be facing in Robinsville what background training and experience should the new superintendent have what leadership style and professional characteristics are important in the new superintendent and then most importantly if you could ask the candidates any one question what would that be so all of this information is going to be critical to give back to the board on June 25th so they can use this information and incorporate that into how they're selecting the candidates to come in for interviews and then what questions they will ask we always put some of the the community members and staffs and um parents questions in those sample questions that have been customized that we give to the board on June 25th and Boards always select many of those questions so we're really looking forward to you being able to participate and you on the Survey Monkey tool you can ask more than one question so just a little heads up okay if anybody has any questions we'd be happy to answer them if not I believe this will be up on the YouTube channel the district's YouTube channel and will be accessible we also have extra forms of the um the ad head the input session um schedule and also the calendar that are here will be in both schools so if anybody would like to pick those up when they're in the schools picking up one of their students that's fine also and um we're grateful that you're here tonight whether participating virtually or in person does anybody have any questions okay okay I think we'll okay I think we'll say good night then if that's okay thank you so much for participating whether it be at home or in person and hopefully you'll use the Survey Monkey tools to be able to get that information out to me and to Tim so that we can provide that information to the Board of Education stay well have a happy and healthy summer thank you