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Board reviews proposed superintendent evaluation forms; members urge required examples for non‑middle ratings
Summary
Board members reviewed draft superintendent evaluation templates and debated requiring concrete examples whenever a board member rates the superintendent above or below the middle rating.
Williston Basin School District 7 board members reviewed draft superintendent evaluation forms and discussed procedural safeguards to ensure ratings include supporting examples.
Board member Chris said he wants board members to be required to cite examples when giving ratings other than the midpoint, arguing that without examples the review can be unreliable. "If you're going to rate any employee ... there should be specific examples or comments if you're going to rate the employee anything but that middle one," Chris said.
The consultant and board discussed operationalizing that requirement: using a survey tool (for example, an online survey) that compiles board members' responses, and then the board president or governance committee would collate the final report. Board members raised concerns about policing or editing individual comments and agreed that the board needs a clear process for handling comments perceived as unprofessional; one board member said the board itself can decide whether to remove comments from the final report at the time of the vote.
They also discussed who writes the superintendent's goals. The consultant said the superintendent sets professional goals and discusses them with the board president; board-directed goals can be added during the summative evaluation. The group agreed this evaluation template and process should be finalized by the incoming governance committee and included in new-board orientation so it is ready for fall evaluations.
No formal policy change or vote occurred during the workshop; staff were asked to bring the draft evaluation tool to the governance committee for refinement and legal review if warranted.
