School District 93 seeking public input on new superintendent qualifications
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AMMON — Bonneville Joint School District 93 is looking for the public’s help in deciding what characteristics or traits they most want in a new superintendent.
Superintendent Chuck Shackett is retiring at the end of the school year after 18 years with the district.
As they’ve looked for a replacement, District 93’s school board members thought it vital to gather as much input as possible from the community before moving forward with a final candidate next year.
“We have over 13,000 students, and so there’s a lot of people that are interested in what we’re doing here with the next superintendent,” says Guy Wangsgard, D93’s chief financial operations officer.
As the district has contracted with the Idaho School Boards Association to help find the next superintendent they’ve been encouraged to use the survey as a tool to gather public opinion. Wangsgard says it’s a great way to hear from a large number of people what qualities are a priority in the next superintendent.
The school board is taking a lot of elements into consideration as they make a decision, as well as assessing that applicants meet the standard qualifications for the position.
“I think it’s hard to capture in a survey everything you’re going to base your final selection on,” Wangsgard says.
Wangsgard says the credentials include a doctorate degree or education specialist degree, along with experience in a district D93’s size. He says the district has about 1,500 employees that the superintendent would have to oversee.
“There’s a lot of things that come with a staff that large,” Wangsgard says.
Wangsgard says the survey has four questions, and he hopes the public will take extra time on question 3, which has a field for a written response. The question is: “please note a question you would ask the superintendent candidates.”
“I just think it’ll be really helpful if they take time on question No. 3, specifically to give us what it is that they want us to consider as we go through this process,” Wangsgard says.
The online survey will be available until Nov. 21, which is also the deadline for superintendent applications. The public will have a chance to give more input at a school board meeting at Thunder Ridge High School on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.
Wangsgard says the board hopes to announce the next superintendent at its meeting Feb. 13.
For the survey click here.
For the superintendent application click here.