Haines Borough school board members agreed to offer a salary range of $105,000-$115,000 for a 260-day contract for its next superintendent Tuesday, at the close of a five-hour meeting aimed at determining language that will be used in recruitment ads.
Timi Tullis, director of membership services for the Association of Alaska School Boards, distributed a three-year-old ranking of superintendent pay statewide showing the pay offer – at its lower range – apparently would be less than what’s offered at comparably-sized Southeast districts.
The district hired AASB to help it hire a new superintendent after former superintendent Ginger Jewell resigned after serving only one year on a three-year contract.
For 260-day contracts, superintendent pay included Metlakatla, $118,270; Craig, $108,000; Wrangell, $121,000; Petersburg, $118,833. Skagway, with a district of 64 students, paid $104,500, and Yakutat, with 95 students, offered $107,700 for a 240-day contract.
Former Haines superintendent Jewell was paid $103,000 on a 230-day contract.
School board members said the advertised range would make Haines just barely competitive, with some citing a recent municipal pay comparison published in the Chilkat Valley News. “We’re a lowball kind of place,” said member Sara Chapell.
Interim superintendent Rich Carlson suggested the range up to $115,000, asking whether saving $3,000-$5,000 per year was worth jeopardizing the hire of a superintendent that might last in the job.
Tullis explained that most superintendent contracts are based on a 52-week year, but include a negotiated number of vacation days. The district should also set aside $5,000 to $8,000 to cover a candidate’s moving expenses, she said.
Most of Tuesday’s meeting involved a discussion of what qualities the district wanted in its next superintendent.
Board members listed five main objectives for the district for the next superintendent: 1) to engage all students, particularly targeting higher achievers and middle schoolers, 2) develop a process that leads to an accurate and transparent budget, 3) continue growth of the district’s homeschool program, 4) improve communication, and 5) evaluate the use of technology in enhancing instruction and engaging students.
Board members listed personal traits they’re looking for in the next superintendent, including collaborative leadership, vision and integrity. The next superintendent’s areas of expertise should include communication, community relations, special education, instructional technologies and personnel management, they said.
The meeting started with review of an informal survey asking citizens what traits were most important in the district’s next superintendent. “Integrity” outscored all other traits in the survey, getting 23 mentions. Other ranked traits included “leadership skills” (20); “team player” (19); “knowledge of Alaskan schools” (17); “communicator” (16); “financial knowledge (12); and “community minded” (9).
More than 100 citizens participated in the survey, an amount interim superintendent Carlson said was impressive.
Board member Sarah Swinton said she would “definitely like somebody who’s well experienced and been through the lows and highs of being a superintendent. I understand the importance of Alaskan knowledge but I don’t want to shut the door on people from Outside… but I want them to understand we’re different up here, too.”
The consultants also asked board members and administrators to identify the district’s assets. They mentioned recent awards for academic improvement, board support for programs including athletics and music, a vocational education program, high school independent learning center and support of the borough.
As for the town’s assets, board members include road access, outdoor recreation and a safe atmosphere. “People here are caring,” said Swinton. “We have our differences but we all come together when we need to. It’s a loving place most of the time… except don’t cross the street or have a dog in the back of your truck,” she said, alluding to a controversial minor offense recently passed by the assembly.
Peggy Cowan, a consultant working with Tullis, said the AASB aims to land “the best candidate who is the best fit” for the town. “It’s about fit.”
Using information from the meeting, Tullis and Cowan will develop an advertisement and electronic “brochure” for the superintendent job and advertise it as early as Friday. The deadline for applications is Thanksgiving, with a hire as early as late January.
If the district does not land a suitable pool of applicants for the job, the hiring process could be extended. Tullis and Cowan said most school administrators don’t decide to leave their current jobs until after the Christmas holiday.
“I have a feeling we’re not really going to have a pool (of desirable candidates),” Swinton said.