11-15-2005At Warsaw Schools’ third town hall meeting Monday night, less than 60 people attended.
“This is a smaller group than what we had hoped for,” said Sandra Hess, WCS assistant superintendent, to those present.
Those in attendance to discuss the superintendent search and communication needs of the corporation included parents, patrons, students, teachers, administrators and only two of the seven school board members – Tammy Dalton and Ron Yeiter.
Hess said the purpose of Monday’s meeting was to discuss the previous two town hall meetings and the superintendent survey and search. She displayed the stack of surveys from the past two town hall meetings and said from those, they were able to narrow discussion down to three talking points. Those points include communication, having diverse classroom needs and curriculum and how the facilities can best support learning.
As for the facilities, Yeiter said the committee has been gathering data on that for some time now. “It’s been a tremendous amount of work,” Yeiter said. The board is not going to set a deadline for when the committee has to be finished, Yeiter said they are working at their own pace. However, he said they hope to have a special meeting on the school corporation’s facilities in December.
Yeiter also said a committee is being organized to conduct a full employee survey, pending school board approval. The survey will be simple, he said, with little cost. The survey will be confidential and anonymous so employees can provide honest answers.
Candidates for the next superintendent also will be kept under tight wraps, Yeiter said, so none withdraw early from the process.
Yeiter said the Warsaw School Board has been working with the Indiana School Board Association on the superintendent search. The ISBA offers specialized services to member school boards, such as superintendent searches.
Warsaw School Board met with an ISBA representative Sept. 19.
A team of university experts will screen superintendent applications down to a manageable amount, eight. Yeiter anticipates many applications for the position.
The school board met Oct. 17 to try to determine a time line for the process of hiring a superintendent. A deadline of Jan. 3 is set for superintendent applications to be turned in. On Jan. 9, Yeiter said, the board hopes to meet with the university team experts to discuss what is wanted in the next superintendent. The first round of interviews will be conducted Jan. 12-14.
People have asked if members of the public and teachers could participate in the interviews. Yeiter said the ISBA recommended against that due to confidentiality.
“We have to keep their names held as tightly as we can,” said Yeiter. But the surveys on the superintendent will help the board know what the public wants in the next superintendent, he said.
A second set of interviews will be conducted with the final three candidates in late January or early February.
After Yeiter finished speaking, the superintendent surveys were handed out and completed. The small group then was broken into two smaller groups to discuss whether Warsaw needs a public relations position or if it can handle PR on its own; what type of information they don’t want communicated to the public; and what type of information they feel they’re not receiving and hearing about later.
In the group led by Bill Kovach, the group first discussed the lack of communication about Monday’s meeting itself. One woman said she only heard about it in the newspaper last week, while others said they were made aware of it from letters received. Gordon Vanator said he heard about it on the radio a number of times. Vanator recommended the meeting should have been posted on the marquee at Warsaw Community High School, while Christine Foster said it should have been on the Web site if it wasn’t.
On the discussion of whether or not WCS needs a PR person, Nate Howett suggested writing a grant for the position. A student asked what exactly is Warsaw trying to communicate. Foster said changes in education at the local, state and national level could be addressed by the PR person.
One patron said there are higher priorities for Warsaw than hiring a PR person.
Terry Sims said Warsaw needs a systematic way to disseminate information. There has to be a way to filter information. Vanator said adding another position isn’t the solution. Warsaw needs to sell the corporation to all of the community, but many people don’t have trust in it. Sims said a PR person could do that.
Kovach said many people weren’t present at that meeting – is it because of apathy? Joanna Allison said she isn’t seeing any response from the school board from the last two town hall meetings. Someone else pointed out there were only two school board members present. Another man said in the last election a year ago, board members ran on the platform of better communicating with the public and that they haven’t been doing that.
Howett said, “I do feel it’s interesting we elect officials without knowing where they stand (on issues).” He said he wants to know where officials stand, perhaps an open debate. Others agreed. Jim LeMasters said some of the board members have never been in every one of the school buildings in the corporation, and that’s sad.
As for having a PR person, LeMasters said everyone who works for Warsaw Schools is a PR person. If they are doing a good job, the word will get out. Everyone who wants to know what’s going on will be at the town hall or school board meetings.
“For a corporation with no superintendent right now,” said LeMasters, “we’re not doing that bad.”
One patron suggested a weekly or monthly radio show with the board members and administrators, while another man suggested televising the board meetings.
“We don’t have a united school board,” said one man. “We don’t have a central focus.”
“Keep the personal agendas out of it,” said another. “Do what’s best for all.”