The Fairbanks School District has a good start on its path to finding a new superintendent.
At a board of education meeting Monday night, Kathy Lowery, with K-12 Business Consulting, presented the results of a survey conducted on the Milford Center community that asked what residents want in a superintendent. Within its search profile, the consulting company gathered opinions from 77 people who participated in community forums and 134 people who submitted online surveys.
Lowery said the report identifies the residents of Milford Center want a superintendent who can match the district’s good reputation and traditions.
“The community is conservative, and that came out loud and clear many times throughout the conversations,” Lowery said. “People want the traditions that are here, they want the value system that currently exists and they want someone who recognizes that in the community and in the school district.”
Lowery said the report indicates the community heavily favors a superintendent with “strong interpersonal and public relation skills.”
Other characteristics she highlighted the district favoring in a superintendent included the ability to fairly deal with faculty, parents and students, being effective at creating and implementing a vision for the district, have organizational and management skills and have personal involvement an interest in the community.
“They just want the best leader for the district,” Lowery said.
She also showed the biggest concerns of the community revolves around finding a leader who is “invested in the district” and will make a long-term commitment to the district.
She said the community wants the next superintendent to focus on fixing and updating the district’s buildings, as well as make the future bond issue, which will address aging buildings, be transparent and involve everyone.
The report also states the community wants a superintendent who understands the growth of the district while respecting its culture and establishing trust among the the board, superintendent and community.
“They want someone who can come in and work with all kinds of stakeholders, all of the people involved in the district and they want to feel included as a part of the district,” Lowery said.
Brian Phelps said it is interesting how the community wants in a superintendent can be different compared to a board member.
Resident Kaye Phelps said she enjoyed reading the report. As someone who attended the public forums, she said the company was “very accurate” with its report.
Lowery presented a tentative timeline of events. The job will be posted Wednesday, and the deadline will be Jan. 11, 2019. Interviews will wrap up Feb. 5 and the “action to employ” will be made later that month.
The new superintendent is slated to begin Aug. 1, 2019.
Also at the meeting, board president Mark Lippencott announced the board will try using the consent agenda practice, which lumps smaller issues together to be voted on in a package.
Lippencott asked residents to let them know how it works for them, as it was demonstrated that night.
“We’re not looking at a full consent agenda on the amendments. We want everybody to have an opportunity to see what we’re looking at, but we do want to use consent agenda to speed up the meeting and keep us from having a lot of time spent on pretty minor items.”
Within the consent agenda, the board approved of the replacement of Fairbanks Elementary School’s security cameras, by recommendation of interim superintendent David Baits, for the approximate cost of $26,000.
Baits said this is a move to replace the 10 to 11-year-old analogue cameras at the elementary school, as they are “starting to die off.”
He said some of the cameras that are still in good shape will be installed at Fairbanks High School to replace its bad cameras.
Later in the meeting, Baits said he investigated a report of a gas odor at the elementary school Oct. 10.
He said coincidentally, Union Township firefighters were there giving a demonstration to students on fire safety. Baits had the firefighters inspect the boiler room to see if there was a gas leak.
“They did not find a gas leak, but there was some evidence of carbon monoxide,” Baits said.
He said the students were evacuated from the building for 10 to 15 minutes while the building was inspected. Then, Columbia Gas was called to investigate, and its inspectors didn’t find any trace of carbon monoxide or other noxious gases.
Baits said boilers at each school were then inspected, and adjustments were made on the elementary school’s boiler to “correct the problem.”