Medford Board suspends recruitment policy, delegates interim superintendent contract negotiations to chair and vice chair

The Medford School District Board of Education voted unanimously on March 6 to suspend Board Policy CBB for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year and delegated authority to the board chair and vice chair to negotiate an interim superintendent contract with Deputy Superintendent Jeanne Grazioli.

Chair Cynthia Wright opened discussion after acknowledging Superintendent Bret Champion's resignation and said the Board had reached out to the Oregon School Boards Association and the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators for interim support; she also noted Grazioli had indicated a willingness to serve. "Legal counsel suggested the Board make a motion to suspend Policy CBB ——Recruitment and Appointment of the Superintendent in order to move forward with appointing an interim," the minutes state. The first motion, made by Suzanne Messer and seconded by Jeff Kinsella, passed on a roll-call vote: Ferguson, Messer, Kinsella, Williams, Caballero, Atkinson and Wright all voted yea (7-0).

The Board then voted unanimously to delegate authority to the Chair and Vice Chair to negotiate an interim superintendent contract with Jeanne Grazioli; that motion was made by Lilia Caballero and seconded by Suzanne Messer. Grazioli told the Board she was "humbled and grateful to continue the consistency and provide stability for the district during the transition." The Board plans to consider and vote on the interim superintendent contract at its March 20 meeting.

The actions taken on March 6 pause the district's normal recruitment rule for the remainder of the school year and allow the Board leadership to complete contract negotiations with an internal candidate before the new Board takes up a longer-term hiring process.

Next steps: the negotiated interim contract will be presented to the full board on March 20 for final action.