Dayton School District considering plan for superintendent search

DAYTON—The Dayton School Board is considering whether to have Educational Services District 123 assist with the search for a new superintendent to replace Doug Johnson, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

At last week’s Board meeting ESD 123 Superintendent Darcy Wiesner and his team at the ESD discussed the whole process with the Board of Directors.

“We are here to work with the Board and community to do the search the way you want it done,” he said.

The importance of hiring a superintendent that fits the community and the school’s needs was emphasized throughout the entire presentation.

Kaylee Holt, Human Resources Director for ESD 123 said, “You are very early in the search and that is a good thing.”

Their search would begin with a job posting, closely followed by surveys of the DSD staff and the community. The surveys will provide the team with a good idea of the needs and wants of the community and schools. They will also play a crucial part in selecting the best suited candidate, she said.

Holt explained that she participates in back ground checks, internet searches and other investigative activities of the potential candidates.

Molly Curtiss, Director of Communications for ESD 123 spoke about the educational professional websites the job would be posted to, including general hiring sites like LinkedIn. She said the job will be posted to trusted sites, only.

Supt. Weisner said once the candidates are selected the process moves into the interviewing stage. Selected candidates will go through a video chat interview, and if they advance they will be interviewed by the whole community, he said.

“We do this one of two ways,” he said. “The last hiring we did, we called the candidates in for a staff interview, and then opened the interviews to the community. We want to make sure people ask questions.”

He compared the other method to an open house with all the candidates being interviewed by members of the community, during the same time frame, an approach he said he likes.

“It gets harder to fake it by the end of the day, and I think it is important for parents and the community to see how a potential candidate handles a long day,” Weisner said.

Weiser said the cost to the District if the ESD were to be hired would be about $4,000, plus travel expenses.

He said if the Board approves the ESD plan, he and his team will begin the process immediately. A new superintendent will be in place on July 1, 2020, he said.