East Mills and Sidney CSDs Board of Directors Provides Update on Shared Superintendent Hiring Process
East Mills and Sidney CSDs Board of Directors Provides Update on Shared Superintendent Hiring Process
March 25, 2024
The East Mills and Sidney School District Board of Directors would like to provide an update on the superintendent hiring process. The board recently met with staff at Grundmeyer Leader Services to review the candidate pool.
The position was posted and resulted in 12 applicants, including four from outside the state of Iowa. The candidate pool included 11 males and one female. Among these 12 applicants, there is a combined total of five that held a specialist/six-year degrees and two terminal degrees (Ed.D. or Ph.D.).
After the review of candidates’ application materials, references, licensure verification, and social media checks, five candidates were selected for digital (Zoom) screening interviews that will take place the evening of March 26. The screening process will allow the board to further evaluate the candidates’ qualifications for the position and narrow the finalists to three.
The search consultants will set up and facilitate the screening interviews, and finalists will be selected by both boards; finalists will be publicly named shortly after semifinalist interviews. The desired qualifications identified by the district and board (based on results of the Stakeholder Survey) will continue to drive the hiring process. These desired qualifications include:
• Effectively manages district resources and maintains financial stability
• Effectively works with school administrators, staff, and board
• Meaningfully engages with families and community - builds community and school relations
• Recruits, hires, supports, develops, and retains effective staff members - fosters a sense of community for teachers and staff
• Models district’s vision, mission, and core values - maintains clear district policies
• Effective communicator in tough situations - embraces public transparency
The boards will conduct formal interviews with the finalists on April 3, 2024. Staff, administrators, parents, community members, and students will soon be contacted to serve on formal interview teams; each district will have one mixed interview team. Each person asked to serve on the interview teams will provide the boards with feedback on the finalists after the interviews. Additionally, each finalist will be interviewed jointly by both boards, and tour both districts and communities.
The new shared superintendent will officially begin on July 1, 2024.