Robbinsdale schools considers superintendent candidates

The Robbinsdale Area School district has been searching for a new superintendent since David Engstrom resigned in July.

While Marti Voight has been acting as interim superintendent, the Minnesota School Boards Association has been contracted to help the district find a permanent person. After the first batch of candidates left the board unimpressed, the search was paused. But it’s since been restarted with an open-until-filled job listing and they an added requirement for superintendent experience.

School board directors met with Minnesota School Board Association representatives to discuss the next steps on May 15.

The board looked at eight possible candidates. Due to data privacy laws, until the board chooses to interview a candidate, the identities are confidential. For the purposes of the meeting, candidates were referred to as Candidates A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H.

Director Helen Bassett spoke about how the open-until-filled process is different from the board’s first attempt at finding a superintendent. The first time around there were defined dates, clear rounds of interviews and compiled lists of candidates with their experiences. This time, “it feels a little awkward,” Bassett said.

Director John Vento said four of the eight people in the pool did not have superintendent experience, despite that being a requirement listed in the application.

“They might have the title of assistant or interim at some point in time, but they do not have the title of being a full superintendent and that concerns me,” Vento said.

Bassett, Chair ReNae Bowman and Director Greta Evans-Becker agreed with Vento.

“We need someone ready,” Evans-Becker elaborated, “that we’re not going to have to spend a year, two years training in.”

Director Caroline Long asked about the possibility of paying to relocate a new superintendent.

“A lot of the candidates weren’t from our state and then I was worried about what kind of expenses are we going to have to pay for moving and things like that,” Long said.

Dorn said moving costs were negotiable.

Long added that “there’s nobody that I’m interested in” of the eight new candidates although Long said she knew Candidate E professionally.

Candidate C

The Minnesota School Boards Association recommended the board possibly interview Candidate C, though Dorn said it was entirely up to the will of the board who they might pick.

Directors Bassett, Kim Holmes, Sharon E. Brooks and Bowman said they would like to interview Candidate C. in addition to other candidates.

Candidate G

The Minnesota School Board Association had asked candidates not to contact board members. However, Candidate G had sent two emails out to the full board. Despite this, Holmes Bassett and Brooks both said they’d like to interview Candidate G.

“My one concern with G was the circumvention of the application process,” Bowman said. “That was really disappointing to see ... but I am willing to interview the candidate, just on a sense of grace.”

Holmes asked Dorn to elaborate on how the no-contact rule was communicated to applicants.

Outside of confirming that Candidate G read the brochure, Dorn did not explicitly ask them not to contact board members.

“The main area of sharing that information’s on the brochure,” Dorn said. “The brochure says ‘applicants are requested to not contact board members.’”

Bassett said she was surprised to see the emails, but thought it showed “the person was eager and interested and very positive about the district. ... I felt like they really wanted to be here, and that was a positive.”

“My rebuttal to that is when people can’t follow rules, it’s really concerning,” Bowman said.

Holmes asked why the Minnesota School Boards Association wasn’t recommending an interview for Candidate G.

“No red flags, which is good,” Dorn said. “The lack of director of finance — and Minnesota finance being unique and challenging — probably indicated there were other people more familiar in Minnesota.”

Candidate G was familiar to the board because they applied the first time around, but did not get an interview.

“That gives me pause,” Vento said. “If they didn’t make it into the final six last go-around, why are we gonna put them in the final two or three this round?”

Vento said Candidate G was not the only one who came from the first batch of applicants.

“These are new applications,” Dorn explained. “... The initial pool was closed out and some people applied again with a new cover letter.”

Candidate H

The Minnesota School Boards Association recommended the board interview Candidate H. Vento said he knew Candidate H professionally. Bassett, Bowman, Brooks, Evans-Becker, Vento and Holmes said they would like to interview Candidate H. For Evans-Becker and Vento, Candidate H was their only choice.

“Qualifications are there,” Vento said, shaking his head. “But I’ve got hesitation. ... I was frankly expecting a lot stronger pool.”

Vento added he didn’t feel comfortable interviewing just one candidate and he think any of the other candidates would be appropriate. Long said she didn’t want to interview Candidate H, but couldn’t elaborate on why while keeping the identity protected.

Evans-Becker suggested saving Candidate H and interviewing them with other people. Others agreed.

Next steps

The application was set to close on Monday, May 20. The board will meet to discuss additional candidates at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 23. Interviews are penciled in for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 28 and 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 29. 16 stakeholders will be invited to the May 28 interviews.