At Tuesday’s night’s school board meeting, the trustees listened to a presentation from Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, Ltd. (HYA), the national search firm retained by the district to find and hire a new leader for Sonoma Valley High School. This will be Micaela Philpott’s last year with the school.
HYA was retained by the district in early December and community input on desirable characteristics for a new principal was sought shortly thereafter. The district sought input from a wide range of participants, in order to generate a clear expression of interest in the high school and the principal search process on the part of the entire community. HYA compiled their findings into a leadership profile report, which they presented at the school board meeting. Stakeholders were brutally honest in the qualities in which they were interested. For some, a bilingual/bicultural principal was a must-have and many community members cited concerns over the school’s limited efforts to serve the needs of the growing population of Latino students. According to the presentation, the achievement gap is significant and there is a perception that the school must develop and enhance academic programs that engage all students and better meet their needs. There is a related concern about the dropout rate for Latino students.
For other stakeholders, a visionary to lead the high school to be a world-class institution was important. The presentation stated that a culture of excellence is not evident at the high school. There are attendance problems and students are not inspired to excel. In fact, most respondents felt that students could easily “coast” without being challenged. This must be addressed in order for students to be college ready. In addition, there is a strong sense that there must be more career and technical educational opportunities.
The next step in the process is to identify and solicit a small group of people to form a paper screening committee. This committee, along with HYA will see all the applications, passing along only those that meet the pre-set criteria.
Once qualified candidates have been identified, two other committees will take part in the interview process. As suggested by school board President Helen Marsh, each of these committees may consist of the following constituents: two students, two classified employees, four teachers, four administrators, three parents and three community members, bringing the total number of interviewers to 18.
The position has been advertised nationally. The position closes on February 9. Candidates will be identified immediately and interviews conducted February 18 and 19. A recommendation to hire will be heard by the board at the March 9 meeting.
