Trent Grundmeyer of Grundmeyer Leader Search answers question at Sheldon Superintendent Search Forum
Sheldon, Iowa — And then there were five. In a closed session meeting following Thursday’s community forum, The Sheldon Community Schools Board of Education narrowed the list of superintendent candidates from eighteen to five.
The five candidates still in the running to replace Superintendent Robin Spears when he retires next summer, will now go through a screening interview process, which will be conducted between the Board and the candidate via videoconference. These interviews are tentatively scheduled for February 7th, according to Trent Grundmeyer of Grundmeyer Leader Search, the firm hired by the school boad to assist them in the hiring process.
Following the screening interviews, the Board will cut the field of five down to two or three finalists, each of whom will be brought to Sheldon for final, face-to-face interviews. Each interview will be conducted by mixed interview teams made up of faculty, staff, students and community members. These final interviews are tentatively set to begin February 13th.
Following the in-person interviews, the Board will narrow the field down to the candidate they believe will be the “best fit” for the District, and will then extend an employment offer to that candidate.
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Posted 1/26/18, 9:31 am
Sheldon, Iowa — Eighteen people completed the application process to try and become the next Superintendent of the Sheldon Community School District. That according to Trent Grundmeyer of Grundmeyer Leader Search, the firm hired by the Sheldon School Board to assist in their search for a replacement for outgoing Superintendent Robin Spears. That was some of the information presented during a Community Forum Thursday afternoon in the high school library.
Grundmeyer said the eighteen candidates for the position are comprised of sixteen men and two women. He says the candidate pool includes four candidates with Doctoral degrees, two with Masters Degrees, and twelve with Specialist qualifications.
During the month of December, district residents were asked to complete an electronic survey about qualifications desired in the next superintedent. Grundmeyer told the group Thursday afternoon that 417 people responded to the survey. Of that number, 53.8% were students in the District, 4.8% came from support staff, 15% from teachers, 1.9% from administrators, 16.7% from parents, 1.4% from school board members, and 12.6% from community members.
Grundmeyer says the most common feedback from the survey was the desire for a superintendent who builds school and community relations, has the ability to lead important efforts, is a strong instructional leader, is visible in the school and the comunity, is approachable and open minded, brings out success in others, and demonstrates collaborative leadership.
He says the purpose of the closed session of the Sheldon School Board that took place later Thursday evening, was to allow the Board to pick four to six candidates to advance to the interview process. Grundmeyer says the initial screening interviews will be done via videoconference with each of the four to six candidates, and are tentatively scheduled for February 7th. Following the initial screening interviews, the Board will narrow the field to their top two or three choices, according to Grundmeyer. Those finalists for the position will come to Sheldon for the final interviews, which are tentatively scheduled for February 13th. Following those interviews, the Board will decide which finalist they believe will be the “best fit” for the Sheldon Community School District, and extend a job offer to that individual.
