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.