Thursday, March 28, 2024

Superintendent search continues to move along

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    After Superintendent Bill Motsenbocker announced his retirement in November, and as a result, his resignation as Cascade School District superintendent, the school district has been tasked to search for his replacement. The search began almost immediately in order to find a promising fit by June 30 when Motsenbocker's retirement will be effective.
    At the December 17 school board meeting, executive secretary for the school district, Julie Winters partnered up with former NCW Educational Service District Superintendent, Dr. Gene Sharratt to review the overview of the entirety of the search and share the announcement brochure.
    Winter opened with explaining that there are fillable forms (in English or Spanish) and surveys have been open for the Cascade School District community to weigh in - there have been 135 responses for that. Additionally there was also two public forums the previous week (December 10 and 11) that the community was invited to.
    "With that information and input from responses, Gene has put together what we're proposing as a brochure," said Winters.
    The brochure does need approval from the board after they review it - but Winters stated they want the brochure on the website by the 28th in order to follow the timeline accordingly. The brochure is for candidates for the superintendent position to use as way of applying.
    The hunt for the new superintendent has been a transparent process along with making sure all channels of communication were open to parents and students for voicing concerns, comments or requests. Some of the suggestions that have emerged from students are humorous such as 'be nice and not grumpy', 'it would be nice if the superintendent liked Star Wars' and 'be a female and color coordinated'.
    "There were electronic 135 responses - breaking that down, community members (18), parents (79), teachers (15), support staff (12) and other. We've had a good response," said Sharrant. "We will continue to put information all the way up to the time the new superintendent signs their contract."
    He stressed for the community to continue the dialogue and welcomed any and all input. Sharrant also addressed the audience about the competition in regard to securing a superintendent due to the multitude of job openings across other school districts - particularly the ones in similar size to Cascade School District.
    "By getting the brochure on the website by the 28th, most of our candidates are going to be spending their Christmas break filling out the forms and getting their recommendations. So it's really smart to do that. I think we all know the earlier the pool, the stronger the pool generally is. It would be tough if it opened in April or May to start July 1 - so early is good," said Sharrant.    
    Motsenbocker will be a tough act to follow, but the search will be thorough and involve all hands on deck to produce a new addition to the school district.
    "This is a really attractive district here - just everything going for us. Great staff, great administrative team, really strong community," said Sharrant. "Already strong interest in the district."
 

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