MONROE — The search for a new school district administrator is gaining momentum, with the release of an awaited hiring consultant’s report on Monroe’s leadership needs; and upcoming interviews planned next week with potential candidates.
“We expect there likely may be three finalists, but that could change,” said District Business Administrator Ron Olson.
The new superintendent would replace Rick Waski, who retired due to health concerns, according to Joe Monroe, director of pupil services for the district. In fact, Waski had been battling health issues for some time. He assumed the top job after having served as principal of Monroe High School from 2010 to 2013 and as district administrator for the Adams-Friendship school district.
The report is critical to the process of finding a new leader for the district, officials say, and board members are reviewing its findings in advance of the site visits by candidates. The lengthy document presents the findings of the “Leadership Profile Assessment” conducted by school search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. In compiling the report, the outside firm interviewed more than 85 people and factored in the online survey results of about 310.
The largest “stakeholder group” surveyed were parents of students attending school, representing 31.3% of the responses. Just under 28% of all respondents were high school students. Results of the study and its recommendations are available on the district’s web site.
Among other findings, the report offered “three consistent themes” as urgent challenges for the School District of Monroe. Those include the need to focus on academic improvement — especially at the middle and high school levels — the need to focus and support the rapidly growing English as a second language population and their families; and the need to improve facilities “hopefully through the passing of the Fall 2022” referendum.
The School District of Monroe is the biggest in the region, made up of 360 staff and 2,270 students across 5 Monroe school facilities.
“A new superintendent will need to pay immediate attention to these urgent areas,” the report notes. “The future leader of the District should be interested in continuous improvement and addressing lagging academic performance.”
The district has cultivated a strong community tradition and culture, according to the report, which should help to form and implement the needed improvements.
“Unlike numerous other district searches which call for improvements in school culture, communication, transparency, and trust, the Monroe data was constantly focused on specific issues and not culture, policy and process issues,” said the report.
The site visits for the district administrator potential candidates are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, said Olson. The school board would then meet and interview the three finalists again on Thursday, April 28.
“Each candidate, one per day, would then have a day in the district where they tour the schools and community, have meet and greet sessions with students, staff, administrative team, and parents, community, (and) business leaders,” said Olson. “People attending those groups will all have an opportunity to provide feedback on the candidates to the Board of Education.”
