D21 criteria set

Board members started by listing various qualities, and the 56 they listed were grouped into eight categories. From there, they chose their top three.

Rounding out the top three were the qualities of being a “servant-leader” who helps people develop as fully as possible, and a “connector,” who is into the collaborative process and is a good listener with honesty, integrity, tact and transparency.

The board hired an executive search firm to help with the process, and the company, McPherson & Jacobson, has already announced the general job opening on its national website, said Dr. Steve Lowder.

“People are beginning to share their interest in the position,” Lowder said. He said the board’s candidate requirements were “very realistic and quite thoughtful and I think we’re going to have some great candidates.”

The new superintendent will likely be hired by next April.

The full description for the job, which will incorporate the top three desires of the board, was set to be on the website by the end of the week, Lowder said.

Two public meetings are set for the first and second week of November for citizens to give input on what they want to see in a superintendent. The dates have not been announced yet.

Just outside the top three was the fourth desired category, which was having a successful record with bond issues.

Board Chair John Nelson said some board members were surprised that category didn’t rise to the top given the district’s recent failed bond attempt and current efforts toward another attempt.

“When you consider it, this is a superintendent that we want to be in the community for awhile and she/he has to have a broad perspective about what the job is and what that entails and it’s more than just passing and bond for facilities,” Nelson said. “There’s a lot of other things on a day to day basis that the superintendent is going to have to be experienced with, practiced with, able to respond to.”

Under the diversity category, board members listed desired qualities including being bi-cultural and bi-lingual, and to “foster that kind of thing in the whole district,” said Nelson.

Also under the diversity category was having an “equity focus,” Nelson said. That is the major push behind the state’s new massive investment in education—to reach underserved student populations and close the “achievement gap” between lower-income and higher-income students.

The new legislation is putting $1 billion a year into schools, with D21 slated to get $2 million a year.

Also desired by the board under the diversity category was experience with the homeless and poverty and how that relates to schools and families. Also included in that category is that the successful superintendent is a committed anti-racist.

The “connector” category included the desire that the top candidate have community relations experience and be an effective communicator skillful at community outreach and responding to criticism.

One specific descriptor was that the top candidate must “work well with contrarians.”

In early November, staff with the recruiting firm will come to The Dalles and not only meet individually with various stakeholder groups, from students to staff to community officials, but will have two community meetings.

The information gleaned from the meetings will help the recruiters “match the applicant to the community,” Lowder said.

“It’s for us so that we can select the right candidate to bring forward he candidates that best fit the criteria.

“It also helps us get information that would not be self evident that we would share with potential candidates as well.”

Lowder said the community meetings allow the public to have a role in the process. “It’s been my experience people are very comfortable telling us their thoughts and concerns” about what a superintendent would need to deal with.

Superintendent Candy Armstrong retires next June.