Byron Public Schools hires MSBA to lead superintendent search; board sets timeline and salary posting range

Byron Public Schools’ board voted to hire the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) as the district’s consultant for a superintendent search and agreed on a timeline and public-input plan to guide the process.

At the start of the Jan. 28 planning meeting, board chair Jeremy Agard introduced the MSBA proposal and the board voted to approve it; MSBA consultant Barb Doren then led the remainder of the session to outline posting platforms, public-survey procedures, interview training and interview dates. MSBA told the board it will post the vacancy on MSBA’s jobs board, MASA’s jobs board, EdPost and Revelus and will run a community and staff survey in English and Spanish.

MSBA summarized the legal constraints that shape the search: the state open meeting law and the government data practices act require board deliberations about the search to be public while candidate application materials remain private data. Doren said board members will receive training on reviewing candidates without revealing private information; only the names of candidates chosen for interviews will be released publicly.

The board tentatively agreed on a condensed search timeline. MSBA will provide secure access to applications (target date March 11). The board plans to hold interview training March 12 (evening), determine finalists at a special or regular meeting on March 24, conduct first-round interviews the week after finalists are named (proposed March 26–27, afternoons), hold a second-round session about a week later (proposed April 1) and begin negotiations immediately after finalists are chosen. Contract approval was scheduled for the regular April 7 meeting at 6 p.m.

Board members discussed whether negotiations should be handled by a committee or by a single designee; the board favored a designee (often the chair) to negotiate within parameters set by the full board to avoid delays. The board also designated the board chair as the media spokesperson for search-related inquiries.

MSBA and the board reviewed the vacancy brochure and leadership profile that will accompany the posting. Board members suggested highlighting district programs such as career and technical education pathways and noting that the district is a short drive from Rochester and the Mayo Clinic. MSBA advised leaving a potentially negative general-fund figure out of the brochure and instead describing fiscal progress; the board agreed.

The board discussed the new state requirement to publish a salary range with a job posting. After reviewing comparables and debating lower and upper bounds to remain competitive, the board reached consensus on a posting range of roughly $155,000 to $180,000. MSBA noted that the exact figure posted can affect who applies and that the board may negotiate a different final salary with a chosen candidate.

MSBA also explained background-check options. The district must run a basic criminal check as part of hiring; MSBA recommended, and the board agreed, to run in-depth background checks through a vendor (Baker Eubanks) on finalists (national criminal search plus employment and education verification) if the board needs additional assurance before contract approval.

The board selected two screening questions to require in applications (a probing resource/finance question and a Byron-specific motivation question) and affirmed that MSBA will regard AI use when evaluating narrative answers and will recommend experience-based questions to reduce canned responses.

Next steps: MSBA will finalize the posting and brochure language, confirm dates with district staff and post the vacancy and survey in early February; MSBA will provide the board with a public-input report and interview-training materials before the March 12 training. The meeting adjourned after the board voted "aye."