A community survey with more than 700 responses told the Hastings School Board what it wants in a new superintendent.

Current Superintendent Dr. Bob McDowell announced in early March that he’s resigning to pursue other interests at the close of this school year.

That left the board with an aggressive schedule to seek his replacement for the district’s top job.

The school board held a special meeting with Barb Down of the Minnesota school Boards Association, which is coordinating search efforts for the next superintendent.

An initial step in that search was an online survey that parents, staff, students and other community stakeholders were invited to participate in. Dorn said the Hastings participation in the survey was exemplary, with 701 surveys completed. Dorn said a district Hastings’ size would typically have 475 responses.

“You are above average,” she said. “It’s wonderful to see that level of engagement in the search process.”

With the advanced timeline and that level of participation the board decided to use those survey results as the stakeholder participation in the interview and hiring process. Dorn said that many school districts do this, rather than having a separate interview panel to speak to finalists.

The deadline for applicants for the position was April 29, and the first round of interviews will take place in the district administrative offices on Tuesday, May 16.

Deliberations will be held at the close of those interviews, and finalists will be chosen. Background interviews will be conducted, and finalists will be interviewed Tuesday, May 23. The board plans to offer the position to one of those candidates on May 30.

The survey did show the diverse opinions in the school district.

Dorn said what was most encouraging is that most of the classes of stakeholders were in agreement on the kind of person and superintendent should be and what the superintendent’s skills should be.

Of the survey respondents, 60.89 percent were parents, 21.35 percent were school district staff, 11.89 percent were community members and the remaining less than 4 percent were students, business owners/agriculture or other.

Areas of expertise for the new superintendent were identified as:

• Budget and finance
• Collaborative leadership
• Curriculum development/evaluation
• Diversity, equity and inclusion
• School reform, such as strategic planning
• Personnel management.

Dorn said that with the top two areas of expertise being budget and finance and collaborative leadership from the groups of stakeholders, that’s a good sign.

“I really like this alignment. The two are exactly what the board has says it’s looking for. That is really good. There were 26 choices on the survey. To have the same two is terrific. You’re in tune with your district,” said Dorn.

More than half the respondents – 56 percent – said it’s not important that the new superintendent have previous experience running a school district. The majority of staff members, however, would like to see an experienced superintendent, with 57.55 percent giving that response.

“It was a direct flip between parents and staff members, and community members was a complete split at 50-50,” noted Board Director Carrie Tate.

The top survey answers in specialized skills for the leader were that the superintendent:

• Acts with honesty and in an ethical manner in dealings with the school board, staff and community
• Is visible and accessible to the school board, staff, students, parents and community.

Top personal characteristics were identified as honest and ethical, effective communicator, problem solver, transparent, consistent and personable.

Questions respondents were invited to give response to were reviewed by Dorn, who noted that there is division in the district but agreement that, overall, the school district is doing a good job educating its students.

“This is invaluable,” Board Chair Lisa Hedin said. “I think it’s easy to dismiss a survey. When I look at the number of people who took the time to respond and many of these are so heartfelt. They’re so accurate. They’re so honest. It feels like such a comprehensive touchstone. I too was struck by the range of interpretations of what’s happening. That focus on student, that hopefulness, that desire to be unified. Holding that common goal was so encouraging.”

The survey results are located with the meeting agenda from the night.

“Your candidates are going to want to take a look at this,” said Dorn. “They want to know what your district is seeking.”

With that solid survey and the expectation of a hire this month, the board decided that in the interest of time, the survey will stand as the voice of the community. Dorn said of 52 searches MSBA has helped on in the last couple years, 35 districts have done this, rather than picking staff and community members to serve on an interview committee.

“They felt like the report was so thorough as far as who got to be heard. It was different than elevating some stakeholders. For them, it felt like it was more fair,” she said.

Director Mark Zuzek spoke in favor of using the survey responses, rather than picking an interview panel.

“I think it’s opening a can of worms,” he said, noting it would be logistically difficult given the timeline. Also, groups not represented could be offended.

“I’m more concerned about who’s not represented in that selection than who is, given the sense of divisiveness in the community,” Zuzek said.

Director Jessica Dressley agreed.

“No matter who is picked, I think it would be a really hard thing to agree on,” she said.

Hedin concurred.

“How you identify the range of voice here and capture them into 10-16 people does not feel like it would be successful. If we commit as a board to remember that this is the stakeholder voice and we hold each other accountable in evaluating each canadine’s responses, that would be the most representative way to hear the range of voices.”

The entire school board will serve as an interview panel. A tentative plan laid out by Dorn showed interviews getting underway at 10 a.m. May 16 in the conference room in the district offices at the Hastings Middle School building. The interviews would be open to the public.

Each candidate would have a time slot of 1:15. Under Dorn’s scenario, there were six candidate interviews. With a lunch break after the first three, the board would then reconvene in the media center where their meetings are held for deliberations of the candidates and picking finalists.

The board decided against livestreaming the interviews.

“I don’t think it should be livestreamed,” said Director Stephanie Malm. “Candidate six is going to have the upper hand compared to candidate one.”

Hedin said, “I do not support it being livestreamed. It’s inequitable.”

Director Becky Beissel asked what would happen if members of the public speak out at interviews.

“We’ve had meetings where the public is unruly. What happens then?” she asked.

Dorn said she’s handled that person.

“I’ve never seen it happen in a superintendent interview yet,” she said. “People are respectful of the process.”

Given that interviews are held during the workday, it’s not expected that they’d draw a crowd. If there’s too many people in the conference room, a closed-circuit broadcast of the interviews will be set up in another room.