On December 18, 2023, the Grand Haven Area Public Schools (GHAPS) Board of Education (BOE), held a special meeting to determine the steps they need to take to find the next Superintendent.
More than two weeks prior, on December 1, the current Superintendent, Scott Grimes, announced his plan to retire at the end of the 2024 school year after serving less than two years. He wrote: “[…] now appears to be a good a time as any with the pandemic behind us, our focus on instruction, and a great Board of Education in which to select a new leader.”
There was no mention in his letter of why he was retiring. He still had almost two years left in his contract.
Did he feel internal pressure to retire, or -- as some have speculated -- pressure from the board? Of note, Grimes was the public face of two failed school district bond proposals in 2023.
During board discussion, Trustee Carl Treutler said he had known Grimes for 35 years, and described how Grimes was appointed during COVID, after the discovery of the embezzlement. He said, “Scott was a steady hand during all of that. I certainly […] want to thank you for all that you contributed to work and the school district as a whole.” Trustee Chris Streng said, “Having the stability, by and large, over the last couple of years, having that for the teachers and your own staff, the students, the parents, the community at large, I think was top notch.” Grimes was given a 91% rating (“highly effective”) for his evaluation and a three percent raise for his last six months.
Grimes was appointed to the position after the previous superintendent Andy Ingall, submitted his resignation in 2021. Ingall informed the BOE in August of 2021 that he would be retiring on December 31, 2021. His formal announcement was made on September 10 and came just eight days after President John Siemion, announced his resignation. Meanwhile, in November of 2021, GHAPS made an announcement that Brian Wheeler, Assistant Superintendent, had embezzled more than $1 million from the district.
Why did the board not to a formal search for a superintendent when they were notified four months prior to Ingall’s retirement? They have publicly stated that they did not have enough time. However, a full search takes around 13 weeks and they had 16 weeks notice. They could have also considered appointing an interim superintendent while a formal search was completed.
Grimes was co-Assistant Superintendent with Wheeler during this time. There was some speculation and concern that the board appointed Scott Grimes in order to keep the details of the embezzlement under their control, without bringing in an “outsider.” Whether this is true or not, it was a factor in the subsequent degradation of trust by residents of the district. The residents rightly felt that the proper protocols were not in place to protect the funds of the district. Many wanted transparency and for those responsible for overseeing the district to be held accountable. When the board quickly appointed Grimes -- an “insider” -- this appeared to be a move to protect the board and leadership from scrutiny. Regardless, the board chose to directly appoint Grimes without doing a formal internal or external search.
Now, with Grimes’ retirement announcement, the board has decided to do a formal search and asked Jay Bennett, Assistant Director of Executive Search Services, from the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) to give them training on the process. The representative gave a 2-hour presentation to the board. All members were present except for Treasurer Seth Holt.
The purpose of the training was to familiarize the trustees with the search process and teach them how to make an informed decision on hiring a search firm. Bennett stressed that arguably the most important role of any school board is to recruit, hire, and evaluate the performance of the superintendent. The district requirements are also outlined in Board Policy 1220 – Employment of the Superintendent. The agenda was as shown below:
He outlined the process for a search which generally follows this timeline lasting around 13 weeks:
Update the contract
Determine selection criteria
Hire a search firm, if desired
Survey the community
Hold meetings with community and stakeholders
Recruitment -- post and market the job listing
Conduct interviews
Decide
One of the first tasks for the board is to update the contract for the superintendent. There may be legal updates, salary updates, etc. He then outlined “key findings” to understand what to look for in an effective superintendent, which included things like “Collaborative Goal Setting” and “Board Alignment and Support.” There are also mandatory requirements such as holding a valid administrator certificate and a college degree. He outlined additional things they should be looking for: education background and related advanced degrees, professional development and district-wide responsibilities.
GHAPS will be competing for candidates with other districts of similar size including Forest Hills, Midland, Ann Arbor, Rochester, and Bloomfield Hills. He said the district’s goal is to make the position look as attractive as possible. He said they could opt to do an internal search first before opening it up to external candidates.
There are rules the board must follow which include holding all discussions and interviews in an open meeting. The representative explained this can cause a precarious situation if a sitting superintendent interviews for a different district; however, this is a law in Michigan. Interestingly, Nichol Stack mentioned that when they appointed Scott Grimes, they did not do an interview and that other candidates were not considered, at least publicly. He stressed that as they go through the process they have to deliberate and discuss everything in open session. He said there were only two reasons to go into closed session: if there are internal candidates that need to be discussed (to protect confidentiality) or to discuss behavioral testing.
The board has the option to hire in-state or out-of-state firms or an individual to help in the selection of a new superintendent. They can also choose to do it themselves but it is not recommended. In Michigan, the MASB and the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI) are the most popular options. There are also other statewide and nationwide services available. The board will need to determine a budget they are willing to spend (Bennett estimated between $6,500 - $8,500). They may need to do a request for proposal (RFP) due to the amount. Bennett said most boards have the firms come to a meeting and give a presentation. Afterwards, the board will vote to select the firm.
Once the board selects the search firm, the firm will then walk them through the steps outlined above (community events, posting job, communication with applicants, etc.) and lead them through the interview process. He stressed that it is very important to have community involvement and to follow all Open Meeting Act Provisions for decisions and deliberations. Most search firms will meet with the community and key stakeholders and bring that information to the board. Some ways the community can be included are shown on this slide:
The board will have access to the pool of applicants. The average number of applicants is normally in the range of 12-20. The search firm will typically ask each board member to come to the meeting with his/her top six applicants, and from there they can narrow it down to 5 or 6 candidates to interview. Michigan attracts few out-of-state applicants due to these factors:
If a district is interested in attracting someone from out-of-state, he advised that the salary needs to be higher—in the $275k - 350k range. The board should publish the range being offered with the posting and consider the following, as well:
According to Bennett, superintendent vacancies are filled by other superintendents (35%), principals (38%), and front-line staff (27%).
One part of the presentation stood out. Transparency. This is especially important for GHAPS, where distrust is still elevated due to leadership’s actions during the COVID pandemic, handling of the embezzlement, and leadership not listening to parents’ concerns with curriculum.
At the end of the meeting, the board authorized the Board President Christine Baker, to seek proposals from at least two MI-based search firms and one additional firm. These will be presented to the rest of the board at the January 15 meeting. The selected firm will facilitate the search, community input, and interview process for both internal and external candidates. During the January 8 Program Committee meeting, MASB and MLI were mentioned as top considerations, as well as two national search firms. Of note, Andy Ingall, GHAPS’ former Superintendent as mentioned previously, is a consultant for MLI.
Isn’t it interesting that someone again that was on the “inside” during the embezzlement could be helping to find the next superintendent? He would have the power to screen the candidates that make it into the candidate pool for the board to consider. This is an important aspect of transparency for the community to keep in mind when the board chooses their search firm.
There were many key takeaways from the superintendent search training. With due diligence, the board will select a search firm that will do a thorough job in helping the district through a transparent process. The community of Grand Haven should look for opportunities for involvement in the process and be notified of open meetings on deliberations, decisions, and interviews. The next board meeting is Monday, January 15 7:00 PM at Lakeshore Middle School when the search firm will be selected.