The Bowling Green City Schools Board of Education is on track to name a new superintendent this month.
The board of education met again in executive session Wednesday to discuss the candidates.
The board has narrowed down the number of finalists to three: Kim Brueck, director of Human Resources and Student Services for Green Local Schools; Ted Haselman, superintendent at Pike-Delta-York Local Schools; and Bruce Otley, operations director at Liberty-Benton Local Schools.
Recent comments from teachers that the board needs to start the process over have not been ignored.
“It’s a small group of teachers that had made those statements,” school board President Ryan Meyers said before Wednesday’s meeting. “We’re taking their feedback like we have with all the other stakeholders that have been a part of the second interview process.”
Myers said they are trying to compile all that feedback including comments made after last week’s community forum where the three candidates explained why they wanted the job.
The process has been very thorough, he said.
“We’ve been very meticulous and detailed in this process. We were committed to getting every stakeholder group an opportunity to be able to interact with the candidates,” Myers said.
Each candidate was invited to meet with various groups last week.
Myers said the board is “reading every single word” on close to 1,000 forms collected at the community forum and small group meetings.
“If someone filled out a feedback form, it was read and considered,” he said. “We value every single person who has taken the time to provide feedback.”
He said the board was committed to these three finalists.
“We’ve spent hours upon hours upon hours looking at each and every candidate,” he said.
Myers confirmed the board was still getting feedback from the community.
“A lot of people care about what happens in our district,” he said.
The executive session was to continue the discussion on the best candidate, Myers said.
Myers said the intent is to name a replacement for retiring Superintendent Francis Scruci as soon as possible.
That may occur at a special meeting or at the scheduled board meeting on May 16, he said.
Scruci has announced his intent to retire on July 31. The new person will start Aug. 1.
Before the execution session, the board rescinded the previous resolution selecting a design professional firm.
The board agreed to negotiate with DLR Group to provide master planning services.
Myers explained DLR Group, which has offices in Cleveland and Columbus, will evaluate all the district’s facilities.
Previous focus groups and survey results have done a lot of the heavy lifting, he said, and that work will not be duplicated.
Fanning-Howey previously had led a group whose final recommendation was to focus on the high school.
“We want to get a fresh look, fresh conversations to see what we want to do with mapping and timing everything out. Maybe it’s the same thing, maybe it’s not, but we have to have those conversations,” Myers said.
Putting a bond issue for facilities on the November ballot is still realistic, he said, but nothing has been determined.
The board in March had chosen ThenDesign Architecture to develop the district’s new master plan in preparation for a facilities project.
Myers explained at Wednesday’s meeting that an issue had been brought to the district’s attention regarding its selection process.
The state auditor’s office had asked the board to reinitiate the selection process due to a defect in the initial process, he said.
A request for qualification was republished and the responses were evaluated.
Two new firms were invited for interviews and the recommendation was for DLR Group.
The firm has done jobs from coast to coast and overseas.
