— press release submitted by Jack McKenna, chairman of San Juan Island School District Board of Directors

This letter summarizes our work to date in the search for our next superintendent and will lay out our plans moving forward.

The Board believes that a key strategy in selecting an effective superintendent is to have broad participation in the formation of our criteria and in vetting candidates.  A series of open meetings were advertised to community, staff and parents through District communications. Local media outlets were also notified.

Out of these meetings our selection criteria were developed by the Board. A search consultant was retained and provided with ample materials regarding our district, our needs and the benefits of island living.

We established realistic timelines to allow a good process while advertising to the candidate pool as soon as possible and we now have a pool of quality applicants.

What’s ahead:

On Feb. 24, the Board will meet in executive session with our consultant to learn the results of screening and reference checks. The next day, Feb. 25, an executive session will be held with invited participants representing parents, administration, employees, school support groups, and the community. The participants will review the resumes of the candidates and comments from our consultant and provide responses to the Board.

On Feb. 28, a third executive session will be held with the same invited participants for the purpose of conducting a first round of interviews with the remaining candidates.

It is likely that these interviews will be mostly conducted through skype and may include up to a half dozen individuals. The interviews will be conducted by the Board and the invited participants will observe and provide written feed back to the Board.

The final interviews, usually about three individuals, will be modeled on previous practice. During the week of March 9, each finalist will spend a separate day on the island starting with the Board in executive session and then meet staff and community, tour the district and some of the island, ending with a dinner with the Board.

During the day, staff and community will be asked to provide written feedback to the Board after meeting the candidate.

It is important to note that the candidates are interviewing us as much as we them, and we should be forthright and cordial in answering their questions.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We have done our best to provide a legal, open process that also meets the legal and ethical confidentiality expectations of our applicants.