D21 board to seek firm for sup’t hiring

Armstrong, who is retiring June 30, 2020, said the goal was to have a new superintendent hired by April 30, and for them to take office by July 1, 2020.

Up to three board members would review the proposals and make a recommendation to the board. She said the board did not have to hire anyone if it chose not to.

The tasks an executive search company would help with include gathering community input on the desired qualities in a new superintendent, doing a thorough search for applicants and creating a pool of qualified applicants.

The goal is to provide a thorough, thoughtful and timely process for finding a new superintendent, Armstrong said. She added it needs to happen soon to take advantage of the timeframe when superintendents are looking for positions, so the best qualified applicants can be reached.

She said the request for proposals would be sent to all the companies they knew who do searches.

Board member Dawn Rasmussen said she assumed the district had a fully formed job description that had been parsed and updated. Armstrong said that would be worked on at a board retreat in August.

The board also heard the district has received a valuation for acreage it owns on Columbia View Heights, where Mid-Columbia Medical Center has said it wants to build a new hospital. The next step, said D21 Chief Financial Officer Randy Anderson, was to survey the 30 acres the hospital wants in order to create a legal description of it. In all the district owns 100 acres there.

Once that is done, the hospital could pay for a one-to two-year option to purchase the land.

Also, John Nelson was named chair of the school board and Jose Aparicio was named vice chair.

Armstrong said the school district has signed up for 18 hours of professional development for the board, which is made up of almost entirely new members.

As a result, the district will receive either $2,500 or $5,000 in student scholarship money from the Oregon School Board Association’s Promise Scholarship Program.