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Public meets two applicants for School
Superintendent position |
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February 15, 2015 |
The search is well underway for a new
Superintendent for Boundary County School
District 101.
Current Superintendent Richard Conley announced
his retirement a couple of months ago. The
District has been accepting and reviewing
applications, and on Friday night held formal
meetings and interviews with two individuals the
School Board considers to be qualified for the
position.
These two applicants are:
• James Phillips, who currently
serves as Superintendent of the Bisbee Unified
School District #2 in Bisbee, Arizona.
• Jan Bayer, who currently
serves as Curriculum Instruction, Assessment,
and Federal Programs Director for the Kellogg,
Idaho School District, along with serving as an
Educational Consultant in the Wallace, Idaho
School District, and Lead Strategic Planner for
the School Districts in Mullan, Wallace, and
Kellogg, Idaho.
Last Friday, February 13, these two applicants
met through the day with a School District
committee, with the School Board, and with some
of the District staff members. They also toured
through some of the buildings. That evening, the
District presented the two applicants to the
public, in a meeting at the auditorium at
Bonners Ferry High School. Approximately 75
people attended that public meeting. At that
meeting, community members had the opportunity
to listen as each of the applicants spoke
briefly about their backgrounds and
qualifications, then the floor was opened for
those in the audience to ask any questions of
the candidates.
Each applicant also provided a brief written
professional resumé. These written resumés
provided the following information:
James Phillips Resumé Information
(partial)
Mr. Phillips obtained a Bachelor's Degree in
Fine Arts at the University of Arizona in Drama
and Speech Education, and later a Master's
Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova
Southeastern University. He has worked in
education in Arizona, New Mexico, and Idaho. In
Idaho he served as principal and, for a time, as
Acting Superintendent in the Sho-Ban School
District in Fort Hall, Idaho, and later as
principal of Lakeside High School in Plummer,
Idaho. His current position is school
Superintendent in Arizona as noted above.
Jan Bayer Resumé Information (partial)
Ms. Bayer has Bachelor's Degrees in both
Secondary Social Studies and in Special
Education. Both degrees were obtained with Summa
cum laude honors at the University of Idaho. She
also has a Master's Degree in Educational
Leadership from the University of Idaho. She has
worked in education in the Boundary County
School District in Bonners Ferry, and currently
at the school districts in Mullan, Wallace, and
Kellogg, Idaho as noted above.
Following is a summary of the public meeting
with these two applicants, in which the
candidates supplied background information and
answered questions from the audience.
Mr. Phillips provided background
information
Mr. Phillips started off by reporting that he
has family in the Bonners Ferry area, including
his wife's mother, sister, and brother. He and
his family have often spent time in this area
over past summers.
Mr. Phillips indicated that in the first year he
served as a principal, he was responsible for
750 students in grades 7-12, and also had to
oversee construction of a new building, along
with dealing with five gangs in the area.
At one point, while serving as principal in Fort
Hall, Idaho, the School Superintendent left the
area, and the District asked him to take on the
duties of acting Superintendent along with
continuing his job as principal. Later, while
working in Arizona, the School Superintendent
retired, and Mr. Phillips was asked by that
District to become the new Superintendent,
responsible for around 800 students.
"What I've learned in the last four years in
being the Superintendent," said Mr. Phillips,
"is be there, be responsible, make sure people
know that you're there, and that the kids know
who you are. I can honestly say after my four
years of being the Superintendent where I'm at
right now, there are very few children who don't
know who I am."
He recounted how he had spent some of his time
since arriving in Bonners Ferry for these
interviews: "I spent yesterday just going out in
the community, talking to many different people,
not identifying myself, just saying 'You know,
I'm thinking about moving out here. What can you
tell me, what do you hear about the schools?'
And I've heard a lot of things, and most of the
things, you need to understand, were very good
and very positive and very supportive. And that
was a good thing for me to hear."
Some of the audience questions for Mr.
Phillips
In response to a question on turnover of
teachers, and the goal to attract quality
teachers to our area, Mr. Phillips responded
that a big factor is the climate in the district
and in the schools. What is needed is a climate
where people feel good about being at work. He
indicated he would emphasize the benefits of
working in our school district, and would help
people to feel they have value and are part of
something important.
He was asked what his top priorities would be
for his first 100 days as Superintendent. "The
first thing has to be that I have to build
relationships," said Mr. Phillips. "If your
staff doesn't trust you, if your students don't
trust you—your community won't trust you, and
you need things to happen.....You don't get
trust until the relationships come, and then
trust will come, and then it flows." He also
mentioned getting involved in the community.
"People have to know who you are."
Another early goal, Mr. Phillips stated, would
be to study district data from the last couple
of years to learn of its strengths and
weaknesses.
In another of several questions posed, Mr.
Phillips was asked what background he might have
in business, and what kind of creative ways
would he be able to save money for our district.
What has he done already in the Arizona district
where he currently works to save money?
"I've taken classes on school finance," he
replied, "specifically twelve different sections
that Arizona does. If you finish all twelve you
could technically be certified as a business
manager. That's the beginning point. I've
recently been taking some more updated courses
through the Arizona school's business officials
organization.
"I have a pretty strong knowledge about how
school budgets work, and what you can and can't
do, because it's continually changing as far as
the rules and things like that go. I do rely on
the excellent business managers who help monitor
things like that.
"What have we done to try to save money?" he
continued, "we're always trying to look for ways
to reduce what we're doing, call it efficiency
or whatever it may be, efficiency in
transportation, food service, efficiency in
class size, based on master schedule for junior
and high school, are we getting the optimum out?
There's lots of things we have to look at to
squeeze every dollar."
Mr. Phillips and Ms. Bayer each had about half
an hour of questioning from the audience. Ms.
Bayer was up next after Mr. Phillips completed
his presentation and questioning period.
Ms. Bayer provided background
information
"I am a graduate of Bonners Ferry High School,"
she began. "I left Boundary County to attend
North Idaho College for three years, and then
went on to the University of Idaho." She then
recounted her college degrees and training (all
noted above in this article). She also reviewed
her years of employment with the Boundary County
School District, and various positions she has
held in the past with the local school district
and with her current school district in Kellogg
and Wallace.
"My number one priority is kids. I'll tell you
that first and foremost," Ms. Bayer said. "Kids
come first, staff second, but we have to be able
to support our staff in order to meet the needs
of our students. Just so that's clear and
upfront."
She mentioned that she has been on numerous
Maintenance and Operations Levy committees, and
served with a committee that helped oversee
construction of the current Bonners Ferry High
School.
"It's exciting to pull back up into Boundary
County, and I usually choke up. This is my home,
and it is where Kurt and I would like to have
our girls graduate as Lady Badgers."
Some of the audience questions for Ms.
Bayer
Asked what she might do to encourage students to
return who have left the district for other
educational venues, such as home school, or
charter school, Ms. Bayer stated "Our kids have
to feel like they belong here and that they're
cared about by the teachers, by the support
staff, by our classified staff. And I believe
when we create a fostering, learning environment
with trust and transparency built by our staff,
that parents will feel comfortable sending their
children to school, and we as a community will
love those kids and support those kids.
"Part of our charge is to show kids what's out
there, and what's possible. But in order to do
that, first and foremost, you have to build
relationships, especially in the community that
we serve."
She was asked about the upcoming Maintenance and
Operations levy, and what her opinion would be
regarding budget cuts should the levy fail to
pass.
Ms. Bayer replied that when the District
requests a dollar amount for a levy, the
District needs to justify that amount, and show
that the amount requested is what is needed to
operate programs deemed to be valuable. If a
levy needs to be run again, it should be run for
the same amount—if the amount is changed, that
tends to cause mistrust.
Regarding cutting programs and activities, she
stated that one person can't make the decision
where the cuts will be, it has to be a community
decision. Good communication is essential.
Asked how to address teacher turnover, Ms. Bayer
responded, "You have to have a culture that's
open, you're supportive of your staff, you're
supportive of your students, and then people
will want to be here.
"There is quite a misnomer out there that new
teachers leave for money. And that's not the
case. If teachers or support staff or classified
have three people within the working buildings
and community that they can trust and support,
they are most likely to stay in that community.
And I think it does come down to building
morale, building trust, being open,
communicating well, and if you're transparent
like that, then you will build those
relationships and people will want to stay here.
And I think that's the direction we need to go."
She was also asked about fiscal responsibility,
and about creative ways in which she has saved
money in her previous positions. "I've done the
textbook work in terms of school finance, I'm
currently in an advanced finance class.
"I can tell you I worked through [this] when I
was here as curriculum director....you have a
budget set and then you fulfill what you need to
fulfill, what's required, you will get
cost-saving measures that way.
"The other thing I've done is I've written
grants and been very successful at writing those
grants and bringing in other resources.
Currently I manage about a $450,000 budget in
terms of federal programs with federal
guidelines attached to them. I manage multiple
grants that have restrictions on those, and you
have to be fiscally responsible. You have a
requirement under state law to have a balanced
budget, which is very tough in these economic
times, and it does impact everyone.
"I have been part of little budgets such as
Student Council, all the way to large budgets
under federal programs. I've never overspent a
budget, if you want to know that."
She was asked what are the two best things she
would bring to the position of school
Superintendent. "I'm an effective communicator,
and I'll be very transparent. I think that's
essential to move the District forward. But I
would also say I'm a visionary, and I really
want to support what this community wants out of
the educational system. And I believe working
collaboratively and collectively we'll be able
to achieve that goal."
"Anybody that knows me knows that I am going to
work very, very hard, and I will do whatever it
takes to make our visions and our goals become
reality."
"I'll work really hard for you. I'll do whatever
it takes."
At the end of the candidates
presentations . . .
After each applicant spoke, the audience was
given the opportunity to fill out a survey on
each candidate, and to add any individual
thoughts or comments about the candidates.
David Brinkman, School Board Chairman, indicated
that no decision would be made until late next
week. He further stated that having these two
applicants interviewed did not necessarily
mandate that one of them would be getting the
position. After reviewing all applications, the
Board decided to meet with these two candidates.
It is possible they may wish to meet other
additional applicants as the selection process
progresses.
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