Update: Change to agenda announced. See end of story.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education is expected to vote on a contract for a new superintendent on Friday, April 23.
A special board meeting will be held at 3 p.m. Friday online, and is expected to be live-streamed on the district’s YouTube channel. The board room currently isn’t open to the public because of COVID-19 safety precautions.
Edwin Birch, a spokesman for the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools, did not release the name of the superintendent candidate on Thursday when asked.
While there were some reports made earlier at board meetings on the superintendent search, there wasn’t any report on it made during the past few school board meetings.
The agenda for the Friday meeting did not contain the name of the superintendent candidate.
When asked why nothing has been heard publicly about the superintendent selection for the past few meetings, Birch said the year was different because of COVID-19.
There was hesitation about holding large gatherings this year because of the pandemic, he said. Birch said there had been community input early with four virtual town hall meetings and an online survey where residents were asked what characteristics they would like to see in a superintendent.
In 2018, prior to the selection of Dr. Charles Foust as superintendent, there were board meetings where the public was invited to meet the finalists for superintendent.
Dr. Alicia Miguel was named interim superintendent of the school district in August 2020 when Dr. Foust accepted another position.
JG Consulting of Austin, Texas, was the search firm.
At a school board meeting on Feb. 23, the school board president said the search firm was affected by the extremely cold temperatures and power outages in Texas. The president reported at that meeting they had 21 completed applications from 11 different states.
The school board received a letter from Rachel Russell that was read at the April 13 board meeting. It said in part that she was disappointed at the lack of the opportunity for the community to engage with the two finalists. She felt that transparency and communication was lacking. The April 13 meeting is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1YTmWAsAzg.
The agenda for the 3 p.m. April 23 board meeting has been changed to include a budget priority discussion from 3 to 4 p.m., followed by the superintendent selection scheduled around 4:25 p.m.