Following about five hours of closed-door meetings to “compare and contrast” candidates, the Haines Borough school board on Wednesday narrowed to three finalists its list of 21 applicants for superintendent.
Robin Gray, a superintendent-principal in Yakutat; Anthony Habra, superintendent of Paw Paw Public Schools in Paw Paw, Mich .; and Tom Yahraes, chief executive officer of Big Sky Academy in Big Sky, Mont .; will come to Haines for interviews with board members, staff and members of the public Feb. 23-24.
Yahraes worked for three years in St. Michael, Alaska, for the Bering Strait School District in the 1990s.
The decision followed 25-minute Skype sessions with six semi-finalists Wednesday afternoon.
Board chair Anne Marie Palmieri said she was satisfied that the finalists meet the board’s parameters for the job. “There are three people we’re all interested in hearing more about and seeing if their vision matches our vision and how we might work together.”
Board members credited consultants with the Alaska Association of School Boards with providing information that helped distill the field in three hours to just six semi-finalists on Tuesday.
The consultants performed reference checks and other research on candidates, and had the advantage of using professional contacts as sources, Palmieri said.
During the board’s previous hires, board members were tasked with checking references. “I think people are more willing to talk to (consultant) Timi Tullis because she’s with the AASB,” Palmieri said, noting that another consultant, Peggy Cowan, is a former Alaska superintendent. “I think more people are willing to talk to her because she has a personal relationship with them.”
Board members Googled candidates, but weren’t able to get the same kind of information as when Cowan checked references, Palmieri said. “I knew Peggy would be calling references and talking to people she knew in those districts that knew about the candidates.”
The consultants provided information but didn’t steer the board’s choice, Palmieri said. “Their feedback was very objective. I didn’t feel like they were advocating one candidate over the other. I thought they provided balanced information.”
She said the AASB team spent additional time checking references on Lower 48 candidates “to get an apples to apples” comparison to candidates from Alaska. “They also know the questions to ask. As lay people, we don’t know as much about education. They ask questions that get deeper than we could get.”
Sarah Swinton has been on the school board for the hire or promotion of five superintendents. In some instances, the AASB consultants were able to get better information than the board would be able to and some other information could have been gleaned by board members, but it would have taken considerable time, she said.
“The last time we (hired), we did it on our own and the results weren’t what we hoped for. I feel a lot better doing it this way. We’re much better informed,” Swinton said.
The six semi-finalists included Norma Holmgaard, superintendent of Yupiit School District in Akiachak since 2014; Kristina Brinkeroff, principal at Orchards Elementary School in Lewiston, Idaho since 2006; and Connie Newman, Pribilof School District superintendent/principal since 2012.
The board kept confidential the names of 15 other candidates for the position.