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Portland Public Schools

Superintendent Search Committee Kickoff Meeting

January 5, 2022

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Agenda

  • Introductions

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  • Our Shared Purpose and Shared Understanding of the Roles

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  • Search Timeline and Community Engagement

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About Alma

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About Alma Advisory Group, a mission-driven consulting organization, founded by Monica Santana Rosen in 2016:

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  • We are dedicated to helping school systems attract, hire, and inspire great staff, and create the conditions where people can do their best work on behalf of their students

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  • We believe in capacity-building at our core

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  • We support anti-biased and equity-focused CEO, Superintendent and C-Suite Executive Searches in education

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The Team Dedicated to this Search

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MONICA SANTANA ROSEN

SYLVIA FLOWERS

NAJJAH THOMPSON

NITA LOSOPONKUL

VENUS VELEZ

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Agenda

  • Introductions

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  • Our Shared Purpose and Shared Understanding of the Roles

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  • Search Timeline and Community Engagement

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​

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Our Shared Purpose

Our goal is to recruit, screen and select the next transformative superintendent of Portland Public Schools.

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Our purpose is to lead a transparent superintendent search process, guided by equitable input of the Portland community, while centering on Portland Public Schools historically marginalized students, families, and staff and designed to mitigate bias every step of the way.

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Items in red added by the Board.

Question: What is missing? What else should we consider?

What are the core values you want to follow throughout the search?

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Roles of the Board & Search Committee

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  • Reviews community feedback and develops and approves the profile
  • Ensures appropriate outreach and communication with all stakeholders for a transparent and accessible process
  • Engages media and handles any crisis response
  • Actively participates in all aspects of the design, interview and selection of the final candidate
  • Makes the final Superintendent selection
  • Likely meets monthly

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  • Advises on community engagement, helping identify stakeholders and support outreach
  • Provides feedback on the job profile
  • Brainstorms interview activities and questions
  • Serves as the community panel at the finalist stage
  • Meets with the Board before the Board’s final deliberation
  • Likely meets twice per month

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…THE SEARCH COMMITTEE HELPS INFORM THE PROCESS

THE BOARD SETS DIRECTION, MAKES KEY DECISIONS…

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Agenda

  • Introductions

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  • Our Shared Purpose and Shared Understanding of the Roles

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  • Search Timeline and Community Engagement

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Proposed Superintendent Search Timeline

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Dec - Jan�2022

Jan - Feb�2023

Mar

2023

Apr�2023

May

2023

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Alma will work with the Board to confirm overall plan

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January convenings are confirmed, outreach begins

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Network outreach to identify potential candidates

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Planning for

Stakeholder Input

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Early Recruitment Begins

Jan 30-31, Feb 2

Stakeholder input helps inform recruitment and screening

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Posting advertised and Alma builds interest and applicants for the role

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Community Engagement

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Job Profile Finalized

Recruitment and screening continues

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Interviews may begin and are performance- and competency-based

�Candidates� Identified

Finalist round includes opportunities to fully engage with Search Committee, Board members and key stakeholders

Finalist Round

Once candidate is selected, Board plans for transition and induction of the incoming Superintendent

Accepted Offer,

Finalize Induction Plans

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Key Activities

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Meeting #

Key Activities

Today

Confirm timeline, project coordination and meeting cadence

Discuss community engagement plan

#2 (~early Jan)

Confirm community engagement questions, including survey

Determine steps of screening and selection

#3 (~early Feb)

Confirm job profile

#4 (~ Feb)

Design interview questions and activities

#5 (~late Feb)

Anti-bias training

#6 (~ Mar)

Prepare for interviews, includes panelist nominations

#7 (~late Mar)

Debrief Candidates, select finalists, confirm panels

#8 (~ Apr)

Finalist interviews

#9 (~late Apr)

Debrief interviews, select candidate (may require more than one meeting)

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3 Primary Activities for Community Input

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2 in-person on Jan 30-31 and 1 virtual on Feb 2

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Focus is to engage in conversations with the community

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Breakout groups allow for

candid and deep discussion

3 COMMUNITY GATHERINGS

1:1 interviews and focus groups with teachers, students, principals, staff, union leaders and community partners

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Allow deeper discussions

by role

INTERVIEWS & �FOCUS GROUPS

The survey will be open and available broadly

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Our goal is to maximize knowledge of and participation in the survey

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STAFF & COMMUNITY SURVEY

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How Community Input Will Support the Process

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  • Informing and strengthening the role description and competencies that will be used to recruit and screen candidates
  • Leveraging the examples shared by stakeholders to inform screening activities
  • Community input following engagement with finalists will be reviewed by the board to inform their final decision

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Planning for Community Input

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  • How will we capture all the communities that we want to be sure to engage?

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  • What do you hope the community engagement process will help the board learn and/or better understand?

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  • How will we know we have successfully engaged the community throughout the search process? 

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  • Are there any existing meetings or community engagement opportunities that we should attend?

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Potential Pitfalls to Solve For

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  • How to maximize awareness and participation

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  • Ensuring as many people as possible know about and can �access the survey

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  • Finding unique channels that enable participation

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  • How to handle the potential volume of meetings within our specific time constraints

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Next Steps

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  • Provide feedback on the survey draft

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  • Determine bi-weekly meeting schedule and confirm next meeting

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Thank You!

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