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Yuma Elementary District board approves superintendent search timeline, survey and application materials
Summary
The Yuma Elementary District Governing Board on Jan. 20 approved an ASA-led superintendent search process, authorizing an online community survey, a position posting and narrative application questions and setting a timeline that includes screening, interviews, a community forum and a final selection in late March.
The Yuma Elementary District Governing Board voted unanimously Jan. 20 to begin a consultant-led search for a new superintendent, approving an online community survey, a position announcement to be posted to national job boards and a set of narrative application questions. The board also set a timeline that includes a screening session, first-round board interviews, finalist interviews accompanied by a community forum, and a final selection day.
Dr. Nick Clement, a search consultant working with ASA, told the board the search will balance confidentiality for applicants with community input. "I'm here to serve you," Clement said, adding his role is to "provide you information but not insert myself in that very important decision that you're gonna make." He recommended the board refrain from contacting applicants directly and allow him to act as the primary spokesperson for the search to preserve fairness and legal safeguards.
The board approved three formal items on the agenda: the online superintendent leadership qualities/community survey; the position announcement (including district and community profiles, position profile, salary range, district financial information and timeline) with a change making Arizona superintendent certification "highly preferred" rather than required; and narrative questions for applicants, including a note that written responses may be checked for use of artificial intelligence or other outside writing help. All three motions passed unanimously.
Clement outlined a phased process the board accepted: Phase 1 is posting and applicant collection (posting to ASA/AASA job boards and commercial job sites including Indeed and LinkedIn); Phase 2 is application intake and survey collection; Phase 3 is an executive-session paper screening of application materials; Phase 4 is board interviews of selected candidates and Phase 5 is finalist interviews, a community forum facilitated by the consultant, executive-session deliberations and a public vote to approve a finalist for contract negotiations. Clement said ASA will host the application portal and deliver hard-copy folders of complete applications to the board prior to screening.
Key timeline elements discussed and confirmed during the meeting: the application filing deadline will be noon on March 8 (as stated on the posting); a paper-screening executive session is planned for March 11; first-round board interviews are scheduled for March 24; finalist interviews and a community forum are scheduled for March 26 (community forum to be held the same evening); the board will review forum feedback on March 27; and the board aims to make a final selection and begin contract negotiations on March 28. Clement recommended the board designate one member (typically the board president) to act as liaison with legal counsel during contract negotiations, with the final contract returned to the full board for a vote.
Board members and staff asked operational questions about recruitment, posting platforms and applicant travel. Clement and district staff said the posting will include the district and community profiles and that ASA will place the announcement on multiple boards to maximize reach. The board also discussed applicant travel: ASA will not pay travel for candidates; candidates are responsible for their own expenses. Clement said some national firms sometimes offset travel by charging districts up front, but ASA does not do that for this search because of legal restrictions on gifts of public funds.
The approved narrative questions include prompts to assess leadership qualities and local fit; the board added language warning applicants that written responses may be checked for use of AI or other outside writing help, while allowing candidates to use the district website and district materials as research sources. The board and staff also discussed using a rubric during the executive-session paper screening to protect the process and document how applicants were evaluated.
The board approved the posting and survey by voice vote (all members present voting aye). The motions were moved and seconded as recorded in the meeting minutes: the online community survey was moved by Jeff Stoner and seconded by Corey Rico; the position announcement was moved by Corey Rico and seconded by David Abaro (motion passed unanimously); the narrative questions were moved by David Abaro and seconded by Corey Rico (motion passed unanimously).
The district will distribute the community survey via ParentSquare, social media and the district newsletter; SurveyMonkey will collect responses for ASA to summarize and present to the board in advance of the screening session. Clement said he will provide printed copies of applicant folders and a slide summary of survey results before the screening meeting.
Next steps: ASA will post the position and collect applications; the board will hold a paper-screening executive session to select candidates for interview; the board will hold first-round interviews on March 24, a community forum on March 26, review feedback on March 27 and aim for a final decision on March 28, when a board member will be designated to negotiate a contract with the selected finalist and return that contract to the full board for approval.
