Ypsilanti-Willow Run school board to select new district superintendent Tuesday
A leader for the new Ypsilanti Community Schools district will be chosen Tuesday.
The joint Ypsilanti-Willow Run Board of Education is expected to select its next superintendent at a special meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Ypsilanti Administration Building, 1885 Packard Road.
Ypsilanti and Willow Run schools will merge effective July 1.
The three candidates are Ypsilanti Executive Director of Human Resources Sharon Irvine, Willow Run Superintendent Laura Lisiscki and Ypsilanti Superintendent Dedrick Martin.
All three employees were interviewed on Thursday. The joint board will discuss the candidates and the interviews at its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, also at the YPS Administration Building.
The board hired a search firm, the Michigan Leadership Institute, to guide it through the process of selecting a superintendent. Board members decided to conduct an internal search first and will look externally for candidates only if an internal candidate cannot be agreed upon.
The cost of MLI's services was approved not to exceed $12,000. It is unknown how much the company's services have cost thus far.
Also at Monday's meeting, the school board will hear a presentation on the high school options for the new district. Which building will be used has not been identified yet.
In its deficit elimination plan for the 2013-14 academic year, which was approved prior to November's vote that authorized the merger, Willow Run Community Schools stated it would close its high school.
The joint Board of Education approved maintaining the New Tech education model at the new district's high school. Both Ypsilanti and Willow Run currently have New Tech programs.
Although the program was given the green light to continue, where the program will be housed next school year has not been decided.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
Danielle Arndt
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 11:52 a.m.
Thanks MCollins, for sharing information from last night's board meeting so quickly! Here's our story from the discussion: http://www.annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/ypsilanti-willow-run-school-board-to-explore-multi-person-superintendent-model/
RSampson1
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 4:14 a.m.
Oh my goodness. Thank you for the info M Collins. I wasn't able to make the meeting tonight. I can't believe they haven't unanimously voted to hire Sharon Irvine. What are they rewarding Ms. Lisisicki and Mr. Martin for? Did they have a choice but to support the consolidation? They were protecting their jobs from an emergency financial manager, that is all! I guess nothing has changed and we will be under the rule of an ignorant board for another two years. My family will be exiting the district in June too.
beardown
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 5:12 a.m.
It's depressing. I was there for the initial interviews and then there for most of the process (I missed tonight). All the talk about making a new school district was purely posturing. The new board doesn't have the desire to remake the new district into the "destination district" that was spoken about last summer. They are simply remaking a hybrid of the two failed districts. Once again, two failures combined do not make a success.
MCollins
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 4:07 a.m.
I have completely lost all respect for the new board of education and will be pulling my 8th grade student from YMS after spring break. I have given them enough of our time, energy, trust and they simply don't deserve it anymore. At tonight's meeting the board debriefed on each of the 3 interviews and candidates. It was clear that Ms. Irvine, who has the overwhelming support of the community and staff, exceeded the search criteria. But, she was quickly moved to the bottom of the pile so that the board could move on their back room deal with the other two candidates. In fact, every taxpayer will love this, they are entertaining hiring BOTH Lisiscki and Dedrick. I could barley believe my ears. They are going to reward them both as they have always planned. At the beginning of the meeting David Bates read a scathing note to the community about the outspoken criticism of both current superintendents. At the end of the meeting he asked the MLI search rep to try to figure out an "out of the box" idea that would allow them to keep both current superintendents and then begged the community for their support after the decision is made. I still cannot believe what I just witnessed. They are willing to lose the best candidate with the most support in order to keep the least candidates with very little support and now, in a state of financial ruin, they want to pay TWO superintendent salaries for a district that will have approximately 4,000 students! ALL TAXPAYERS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS NEED TO RISE UP NOW! I have never seen or heard anything like it. We will be exercising our right to a charter for the remainder of the year and school of choice to Milan in the fall. Done.
gold&purple
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 11:28 p.m.
It's a shame this summary landed on this article. It should be copied onto the newer article, especially since it's one of the best summaries of the meeting that I've read. The meeting really was a jaw-dropping experience.
beardown
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 5:15 a.m.
ytownmom, I think you are correct. Problem is, the board seems to disagree and is going for the more political choice as opposed to finding someone who might make fix the district.
Y-TownMom
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 5:09 a.m.
@Beardown - I don't think either side of the merger would want both.
Just me 43
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 4:21 a.m.
I am appalled by the actions of the board tonight. In my communications with them I have begged them to listen to their constituents and do what's right for our children. The board is inept and ineffective. They should be removed. They will get their wish to transform the district. They will transform it into a further embarrassment and model of what NOT to do. Scholars will use this situation as an example of failed reform. I am disgusted.
beardown
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 4:13 a.m.
It is by far the best political move. It keeps both sides of the merger happy. Of course, it does nothing to help the district. As much as I though the Ms. Irvine lacked the experience for the job, she would at least have been a new direction for the district. Instead, a school board made up of past school board presidents is going to repeat the mistakes of the past. MCollins, I have a feeling that you are not going to be the only person pulling their child out of the district.
Basic Bob
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 3:30 a.m.
Just curious, what happens to the superintendent(s) who lose his/her job on July 1st? Does the new district have to honor an existing contract?
T Wall
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 12:48 a.m.
I was under the impression that the 3 internal candidates would be interviewed on February 14th and then candidates outside the district would be chosen by the Michigan Leadership Institute, who was being paid a up to $12,000 to find exceptional candidates who would be interviewed sometime in early March. It is unclear whether money was actually paid to MLI. I would hope that the tax payer's money was not wasted on finding new candidates when they had already made up their mind on an internal candidate.
beardown
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 1:47 a.m.
A couple weeks ago at a meeting to set up advisory groups, it was announced that if an internal candidate was found, they would forgo the external candidates, not even choosing to interview any of them. It seems that they have decided to do this. So hopefully they didn't pay the MLI a dime because none of their services will have been used.
beardown
Mon, Feb 18, 2013 : 10:06 p.m.
Wait, so they paid a firm some amount of money to get resumes from three people who work in the district already? I hope they make better use of the rest of the taxpayers money that they got from Snyder to help rebuild the district. And they are not going to look at outside candidates? Was one of these three so overwhelmingly amazing that they are not going to at least review other options? That seems incredibly short sighted as they could be leaving an excellent fit for the position without even looking at them. Maybe if they hadn't taken 3 months to get the process rolling they maybe could have reviewed more candidates?
beardown
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 4:15 a.m.
From a comment further down from a person at the meeting. "At the beginning of the meeting David Bates read a scathing note to the community about the outspoken criticism of both current superintendents. At the end of the meeting he asked the MLI search rep to try to figure out an "out of the box" idea that would allow them to keep both current superintendents and then begged the community for their support after the decision is made." I keep getting down votes for asking for the board to look into the external candidates. And I guess I am not in the minority on this one.
beardown
Tue, Feb 19, 2013 : 12:35 a.m.
"The MLI is doing their job and what they've been paid to do." Getting the resumes of people in the district? You can get paid for something that could have been done via email in a couple of minutes? Sweet, sign me up. I thought, having worked with various academic search firms, that their job was to find a top candidate from a field of QUALIFIED applicants from across the country. Not two people who ran districts into the ground and forced this merger or a person who has never done the bloody job before. Actual people who have experience either working in a new district or someone who has come in and fixed a failed one. And of course MLI would be happy if they hire one of these three. They get paid to do little or nothing instead of running a full search. Why would they not like this? "an external candidate take on average 2 years to understand the district properly. " An external candidate will also come in with experience running a district. Instead, we have this crop. They most likely hired the green candidate, so it will take her that long just to learn how to do the job. I would rather err on the side of someone with experience. "You clearly don't understand the timeline and steps needed to prepare for and execute an executive search." As an academic who has been through a couple searches for academic leadership, I know that they take time to be done properly. Thats why this process should have been started in December, or earlier if started by WISD, not late January or February. They wasted two months on retreats and worrying about the name of district and not on what all of them said was their top priority in the interview process. Plus, this person cannot even start until July 1, so what's the rush? Why not see what they paid for with the search committee? Maybe there is an excellent candidate there who has experience? What's the risk in seeing what is out there?
Elgin
Mon, Feb 18, 2013 : 10:31 p.m.
This makes three different aa.com articles now, beardown, where you continue to post the exact same complaints over & over. How many times did you say this same thing in the last article comments? 10? 20? Look ... all your questions have been answered. - The MLI is doing their job and what they've been paid to do. - Exhausting internal searches before external searches is a common practice in both the private and public sector. - Like the gentleman from the MASB said in another article, an external candidate take on average 2 years to understand the district properly. - You clearly don't understand the timeline and steps needed to prepare for and execute an executive search.