Fort Scott school board begins process of hiring new superintendent

Less than a month after Superintendent Rick Werling announced his retirement from the district, USD 234 school board members met Wednesday with Doug Moeckel of the Kansas Association of School Boards to discuss the process for hiring a new school chief.

Moeckel is the associate executive director of leadership for KASB, which will be leading the search.

"We're here to serve you," Moeckel said at the special meeting.

During the almost two-hour gathering, Moeckel outlined what duties both KASB and board members will be responsible for throughout the seven-week process.

KASB will assemble a screening team to sort through the applications and conduct background and reference checks.

"We interview them, but we don't," Moeckel said. "You (the board) does the actual interview."

In considering candidates for the position, both board members and KASB said they would like to involve the community in the search process.

At the meeting last night, board members decided who they would like to invite to participate in focus groups to discuss characteristics they see as important for a superintendent to possess.

Those groups included: teachers, students, parents, business leaders and community officials.

Moeckel will return on March 15 to listen to those groups individually during the day and then report his findings that night during a special board meeting.

The timeline for the search is as follows:

*April 2: The position of superintendent will close and no more applications will be accepted.

* April 4: KASB's screening team will report to the board, notifying them of at least three, possibly four, suitable candidates for the position.

* The week of April 9: Board members will interview each candidate

* April 18: A special meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., of which the majority will be spent in executive session, for board members to make their final decision.

Collectively, board members said they would like to find and hire a new superintendent as soon as possible to include him or her in the hiring process for the other three administrator positions that are open.

The school board will meet for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on March 5 at which the intramural sports committee will be making recommendations regarding middle school athletics.