Board appoints Capital Region BOCES to run superintendent search; board members signal preference for confidential process

The Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District Board of Education on the evening of the special meeting voted to appoint Capital Region BOCES to manage the district's superintendent search and debated whether to run a confidential or traditional search.

Lauren Gemmell, district superintendent at Capital Region BOCES, told the board she presents search options as two models: a confidential search and a traditional search. "The difference between a confidential search and a traditional search is one round of interviews that involves stakeholder groups," Gemmell said, describing the confidential model as one that can encourage sitting superintendents and mid-career leaders to apply without alerting current employers.

Gemmell said both models begin with community input: a one-month survey and public forums that ask five core questions about district strengths, needs and candidate attributes. "The board of education sees every single survey response and all of the notes from the forum," she said, adding that Capital Region BOCES synthesizes common themes for the board to use in recruitment materials and interview questions.

Gemmell outlined a typical timeline: about four to five months for a confidential search and roughly four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half months for a traditional search, because traditional searches add stakeholder interviews. She said formal reference checks are performed at different stages depending on the model: at the end for confidential searches and before stakeholder interviews for traditional searches.

After the presentation, the board moved to appoint Capital Region BOCES. The motion carried on a voice vote; no individual roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

Board members then discussed the two search models. Several board members said they were torn but ultimately the majority expressed a preference for a confidential search to maximize the candidate pool and protect internal candidates. In the discussion, one board member stated, "My other concern is trying to coordinate so many stakeholders, and that it may delay our timeline," and later, "I think I'm still leaning towards confidential." Another board member said they "personally lean towards traditional" because of community involvement concerns, but acknowledged it could reduce the candidate pool.

Board members who spoke by name during the discussion and their stated positions included Jenny (Board member) — voiced concern about coordination and leaned confidential; Dan (Board member) — argued confidential increases the likelihood of mid-career applicants and favored confidential; Melanie (Board member) — favored confidential; and several others who voiced confidential as their final preference during the round-robin. The board did not take a formal recorded roll-call vote on choosing search model during the meeting; discussion was taken as a direction for staff and BOCES to proceed with next steps if the board elected to work with BOCES.

Gemmell said, if the board engages BOCES, the firm will work with board leadership quickly to schedule the survey and forums, host screening interviews during the application window, and bring recommended candidates to the board for screening interviews and subsequent rounds, if needed. She estimated that, if timeline and scheduling allow, the announcement of a selected finalist could be targeted for late June under an expedited schedule.

The board also completed a housekeeping item earlier in the meeting: Jesse was appointed pro tem district clerk for the evening on an unrecorded voice vote.

The board then moved on to other agenda items and a separate budget workshop later in the meeting.