Board reviews KASB report on superintendent search; sets application deadline and interview timeline

The Lawrence Board of Education on Jan. 21 heard a report from the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) that summarized focus-group and community survey feedback to guide the district superintendent search, and was given a timeline that closes the application period at midnight on Feb. 7.

Dr. Hart, a KASB representative who presented the report, said the packet includes a condensed set of priorities drawn from stakeholder focus groups and a community survey and asked the board to flag any characteristics they wanted emphasized when screening candidates. "We will utilize these characteristics as you finalize them tonight to help screen candidates," Dr. Hart said.

The consultant said KASB gathered both small-group input and broader survey responses and presented ranked lists of desired personal and leadership qualities. The top personal qualities in the survey summary were "student-centered" and high integrity, while top leadership qualities included efficient management of resources and budget, proactive forward thinking and innovation. The report also highlighted prior experience stakeholders valued, including business operations and prior CEO-level district leadership and curriculum/instruction knowledge.

Board members pressed for precision about priorities. Board member Shannon Kimball emphasized the need for a superintendent who can hold the district to its strategic plan and measurable outcomes; another board member, identified in the meeting as Carol, urged stronger outreach to Indigenous stakeholders. "We have over a hundred tribes in the district," Carol said, and requested an explicit focus group with Native American Student Services and the indigenous curriculum committee.

Board members also discussed how the report framed safety. One member said the community input conflated multiple safety concerns — structural building security, behavioral health needs that affect classrooms, and community violence that carries into schools — and asked for clearer wording so a candidate would understand that nuance.

Dr. Hart said KASB will incorporate the board’s additional feedback into a Friday update for the board and reiterated procedural details for the search: "The application process closes at midnight on February 7. We'll be back in front of this group with your search committee to talk about candidates on February 12," he said. He added, "You own every candidate. KSB does not," describing KASB's role as advisor and the board's ownership of the candidate pool.

KASB handed out the raw survey data and a thematic summary; Dr. Hart encouraged board members to review both the condensed themes and the raw comments. The presentation listed participation counts from multiple activities: more than 30 people across focus groups, a building-level administrator group of 24, and two different tallies referenced for survey participation (an 804 count shown in the packet overview and a separate comment in the meeting that about 550 people "took time" to complete a portion of the instrument). Dr. Hart said KASB would reconcile and confirm those response counts in follow-up materials.

The board discussed confidentiality procedures for the executive-session candidate review. KASB provided a draft confidentiality agreement for review and said members of the search committee and other invited participants will sign confidentiality statements before entering the executive session. When asked whether the confidentiality agreement covered all information discussed in executive session, a KASB representative said it did: "Anything in that meeting" is included in the confidentiality requirement.

KASB also distributed a draft candidate interview day schedule and a salary-comparison packet that compares superintendent pay and fringe benefits across Kansas districts; Dr. Hart noted the district is the seventh largest in the state and its superintendent salary ranks ninth among districts. The consultant said final salary and contract negotiations are appropriate for executive-session discussion.

Before adjourning, the board approved the meeting agenda at the start of the session and later moved to adjourn. Both procedural motions passed by voice vote.

What remains next: KASB will finalize the focus-group outreach to include Indigenous stakeholders, reconcile survey counts in the Friday update, and return on Feb. 12 for the board and search committee to review the candidate pool. The application deadline given to the board is midnight on Feb. 7; interview dates were described as tentatively scheduled for "the seventeenth through the 20 first" in the consultant's timeline materials, and the board will clarify and confirm those dates in follow-up communications.