Superintendent recruitment, appointment discussed in special school board meeting

By Leah Rainwater

The St. Joseph School District Board of Education discussed possible firms in the search for a new superintendent Monday night in a special meeting.

Both firms, the Missouri School Boards’ Association and the Education, Governance and Leadership Association were interviewed by the SJSD Board of Education.

Ultimately, the board voted for the MSBA to lead the search for a new superintendent.

“If you looked at their layout and the plan, it was really thorough, it was really in depth and it answers a lot of our questions,” said LaTonya Williams, the president of the Board of Education. “It meant a lot to us in order to chose a firm that is already invested in the community.”

Williams is also a member of the MSBA and abstained her vote to hire a firm, as to not allow conflict of interest in the matter of voting.

Williams says the goal is to find a new superintendent by Christmas break.

Also during Monday’s meeting, board member Whitney Lanning requested for all closed board sessions to be recorded visually and with audio moving forward.

This comes after a “disagreement” was caught on camera between Lanning and fellow board member, Isaura Garcia after a closed session in February of this year.

After Lanning presented her request, Williams provided that she “received statements and opinions from administration about their opinions on the request and for various reasons, they (administration) understand the request, but they’re nervous about filling the request.”

Lanning’s request is “undecided” following the meeting.