Month: November 2020

The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education on Friday selected a Texas firm to do a superintendent search.

The school board selected the JG Consulting firm in a special meeting at 2 p.m. Friday.

Board members had ranked the three applicants, also including the Kansas Association of School Boards and Bakertilly. JG Consulting was at the top of all but one board member’s list.

James Guerra, the president and CEO of JG Consulting, of Austin, Texas, told the school board on Oct. 30 in a video meeting that they would be an equitable search firm. Board members would be able to see all the interviews and pre-interviews they do with candidates, and would be able to access all the information from all the candidates, he said.

JG Consulting offered to do the superintendent search for $25,000, and that would include everything, except travel expenses for candidates who come here.

At the Nov. 6 school board meeting, board members said they wanted board attorney Greg Goheen to explore some issues to clarify exactly what the agreement would pay for, including travel expenses. The board also asked him to find out about who would be paying for translators and community outreach.

Guerra said his firm recently recruited one of the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools administrators, Dr. Lynette Hookfin, deputy superintendent, who went to work this past summer for a school system in Louisiana.

During the Oct. 30 school board meeting, Guerra showed the KCK board the Louisiana interview with Dr. Hookfin, and said it was part of the public record in that state. In the interview, she said she was attracted by the data and demographics of the new district, and the new district was close to the high school she had attended.

During the past meeting discussions on a superintendent search, some board members expressed the desire to have a superintendent who looks like the students.

Guerra said his firm would cast a very wide net for superintendent candidates.

Guerra presented a possible timeline Oct. 30 for the superintendent search, including naming a finalist in March. The KCK board, however, said today they would want to to adjust the timeline to its own schedule.

Guerra also told the board on Oct. 30 that he had some candidates now who have expressed interest in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools superintendent position.

One of the JG Consulting team members on Oct. 30 asked about Kansas open meetings and records laws, and whether all the candidates for superintendent in Kansas were required by law to be public. Some candidates who are currently working may not want their employers to know they are applying somewhere else.

Goheen told him Kansas law has an exemption for personnel in the open meetings and records act, and the names would not be required to be public.

In the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools’ superintendent search a couple of years ago, the top two finalists were announced and met the public as part of the superintendent selection process.

Board members said they plan to start meeting with JG Consulting in the week before Thanksgiving.