Stewartville board selects MSBA to lead superintendent search; presentation details process and safeguards

The Stewartville Public School District board voted to hire the Minnesota School Boards Association to run the district's superintendent search, passing the motion 6–0 with one abstention after an MSBA presentation on the firm's services.

MSBA representatives Barb Dorn, director of leadership development and executive search, and Amy Jordan, associate director, outlined the search process, public‑input options, candidate recruitment, application handling, and post‑hire transition support during a roughly 45‑minute presentation. Dorn said, "Superintendent search is one of the most important things that you will do as a board," and described common components of a search: a leadership profile, public input (surveys, listening sessions, focus groups), recruitment and marketing, application facilitation consistent with state statute, and interview coordination.

Dorn and Jordan emphasized several MSBA practices the firm said distinguish its work: statewide and national connections, confirmation that candidates hold or can obtain a valid Minnesota superintendent license, full access for the board to view every application, bias‑training for boards and interview panels, and a complimentary transition workshop and a fall site visit for the newly hired superintendent. Jordan told the board that, while MSBA manages many searches statewide, each client will have a single main point of contact and access to additional MSBA staff for support.

Board discussion stressed limited internal staff bandwidth and the workload needed to run a search internally. One board member described previous in‑house searches and said the district no longer has the dedicated staff time to carry that work. The board also discussed whether to include an optional pre‑search workshop MSBA offers for boards with little or no search experience.

At the vote on agenda item 9B, the motion to hire MSBA was made by Mr. Welch and seconded by Mr. Ravenhorst; the board chair announced the motion carried with six yes votes and one abstention. The transcript did not name the abstaining member.

Next steps discussed during the meeting included scheduling MSBA’s planning meeting, deciding whether to use the optional workshop, and confirming the district contact who will handle logistics and communication during the search. MSBA representatives said they will record a public Q&A session and prepare a public input survey report that the district may post on its website.

The board did not discuss contract dollar amounts or a hiring timeline in open session during the presentation; those details were not specified in the meeting transcript.