School board sets superintendent self-evaluation deadline for Nov. 12 and schedules closed-session review Nov. 14

The Gloucester County School Board voted Oct. 8 to set a timeline for its upcoming superintendent evaluation, giving Superintendent Dr. Ladue until Nov. 12, 2024, to submit a written self-evaluation and supporting documentation and scheduling a closed-session meeting for Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. to deliberate and finalize the evaluation.

Vice Chair Solomon Arsenovic led the discussion of three decision points: the deadline for the superintendent's self-evaluation, whether to conduct additional stakeholder surveys, and whether to use an existing meeting or schedule a separate closed session for deliberations. Dr. Ladue told the board he could prepare his materials "in as little as 2 weeks or as long as 30 days," and the board agreed a 30-day window ending Nov. 12 was preferable. "The self evaluation and supporting documentation will be provided by Dr. Ladue to the board no later than 11/12/2024," the chair summarized.

Board members also agreed there was no need for an additional stakeholder survey beyond the working-conditions survey recently completed. The board voted to advertise and hold a closed-session work session on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 5:00 p.m. to complete evaluation deliberations and to decide whether to meet with the superintendent afterward to provide feedback. The board discussed whether the superintendent should be present for deliberations; some members favored a two-part approach (board deliberation followed by a meeting with the superintendent), and the chair said the board could adopt the same combined in-night approach used in prior formative evaluations.

Next steps: Dr. Ladue will submit his self-evaluation and supporting documents by Nov. 12; the board will advertise and hold a closed session on Nov. 14 to complete evaluation work and determine scoring or feedback to be shared afterward.