Committee narrows search for consultant

Germantown - The Germantown School Board Superintendent Search Committee is hitting the ground running in finding someone new to run the district following Sue Borden's resignation in February.

The committee met Monday and narrowed the field of consultant firms to four: WASB, BWP, School Exec Connect and HYA. They hope to hear presentations from the firms on Monday and select one that would best market the position and find suitable candidates to fill Borden's shoes.

"We're in motion, that's the good news; the bad news is there are a lot of pieces to put together which we are working to do right now," Committee Chairman Lester Spies said.

The clock is ticking to hire a new superintendent by June 30, Borden's last day with the district.

"Some would say we are behind the eight ball in terms of conducting a comprehensive search for a new superintendent, but in conversations I had this morning with four of the five, vendors aren't concerned at all," School Board President Bob Soderberg said. "They feel the candidate pool will be out there and there will be many candidates."

The committee is talking about putting a basic job description on the Wisconsin Education Career Access Network, the career search tool used by many school districts to find employees, to kick-start the process.

Assistant to the Superintendent Jayne Borst, who has gone through this search process before, said it may seem like there's not a lot of time, however, in years past it has always been a similar time frame to find a superintendent.

The Search Committee also debated whether they should narrow the selection of a firm and a candidate to those with knowledge of education in Wisconsin.

"Is our primary goal to get someone from Wisconsin? Because of the challenges that Act 10 has presented and being up to code with what's happening that I think that people should be from the state," committee and board member Sarah Larson said.

Getting input from the community is also a facet of the search process. Soderberg recommended having a survey available for residents to give input on what characteristics they would like in a superintendent.

"We need to do our due diligence to ensure keeping with our aggressive mind-set here to be open, collaborative and transparent," Soderberg said.