Under the
Umbrella
HIRING THE
BEST & BRIGHTEST
Volume 2, Issue 9
April 2020
CONTENTS Volume 2, Issue 9
2 A New Normal, G.A. Buie
4-5 How Do You Hire the Best and Brightest
When We Are in the Middle of a
Pandemic?, Jerry Henn
6-7 How Do I Find the Best and Brightest?, Dr.
Justin Henry
8-9 KASCD Curriculum Leader Spotlight
10 Non-Traditional Hiring, Jamie Rumford
12-14 Uncovering the Mysteries of Hiring, Mark
Wilson
16-17 ¡Muévete! Get Out of the Way!, Blake
Vargas
18-20 Classified Staff—Hiring the Best &
Brightest, Bruce Kracl & Amy Droegemeier
22-24 A Blueprint for Expanding the Teacher
Interview Process, Dr. Ann Gaudino
26-27 Technology for the New Decade, Dr. John
Vandewalle
29 Conference Flyer
@USAKansas
Facebook.com/USAKansas
Ryan Jilka—President, KAMSA
Christie Meyer—President-Elect, KASCD
Sean Cochran—Past President, KASEA
Eric Sacco—Director, KAESP
Mike Berblinger—Director, KSSA
Cory Gibson—Director, KSSA
Eric Hansen—Director, KASBO
Justin Henry—Director, KSSA
Jake Potter—Director, KanSPRA
Volora Hanzlicek—Director, KASCD
Mike Argabright—Director, KSSA
P.J. Reilly—Director, KLCTE
Donna Schmidt—Director, KASSP
Glen Suppes—Director, KSSA
Patrick Schroeder—Director, KAESP
Deanna Scherer—Director, KASSP
Rena Duewel—Director, KASSP
Andy Koenigs—Director, KASPA
Amy Haussler—Director, KASEA
G.A. Buie—Executive Director
Jerry Henn—Assistant Executive Director
G.A. Buie, Executive Director, USA-Kansas
Everyone’s life this changing. Developing a new
normal is common place and future plans often
have more questions than answers. Unfortunately
this has become our new reality. As you sit in your
home office (also referred to by family members
as the kitchen, bedroom, or basement) or your
school office isolated by limited contact and no
visitors, somehow the Kansas State Board of
Education’s vision of “Kansas leads the world in
the success of each student” is quickly becoming a
reality in your new normal.
I’m going to focus on a few of the positives we are
seeing in Kansas. First, we have a governor willing
to make the difficult decisions, when others
around the country are delaying school two
weeks, followed by two more weeks and
eventually the year, Governor Kelly gave Kansas
schools and students a chance to refocus and
begin again. Secondly, let’s talk about the
leadership from Commissioner Watson and KSDE.
Every step of the way the department has been
there to answer questions, provide advice, and
bring people together to establish an alternative
direction.
We can’t forget the amazing work happening
across the state in your schools, the collaboration
between administrators, teachers, and even
parents has been remarkable. We’ve had the
opportunity to hear story after story about how
quickly information has been gathered, plans
developed, and people willing to support change.
As an organization, we have promoted that our
Kansas students are the most important resource
we have in our state. The work you are doing right
now continues to demonstrate how educators are
supporting this resource, daily.
During these times of uncertainty, it is important
for each of you to develop your own new normal.
Let me encourage you to develop a routine
outside your work day. Take a walk/run, ride a
bike, read a book for enjoyment, enjoy the
sunshine, or more importantly make some
homemade ice cream and enjoy a sunset with your
family. As a school leader, you are some of the
most important people in your communities. You
can’t help your students or families create a new
normal if you are not emotionally healthy. Take
care of yourself!
Thank you for the hard work! Keep pushing
forward and remember other states are watching
Kansas school leaders make this change happen!
HOW DO YOU HIRE THE
BEST AND BRIGHTEST WHEN
WE ARE IN THE
MIDDLE OF A
PANDEMIC?
Jerry Henn, Assistant Executive Director, USA-Kansas
These are extraordinary times. Everything changes
each day we get up in the morning. With the new
school year being planned, we must think about what
video interviewing might look like. What steps must
be taken to have a successful interview and be able
to hire the best person for the job.
The first thing to think about is your technology. Are
you set up to do video interviews? This is your IT
person’s job to make sure you are capable of
performing this task. If you interview with a team, do
they have the capabilities to complete the interview
via video? Do you expect your team to be together
or will they be at a different place and on video as
well? Much planning needs to happen before this
process even begins. Much more organization needs
to happen to make this a successful interview.
Second, does the candidate have proper technology
to handle a video interview? This is an important
question. If you want to hire the best and brightest,
can you hire someone that cannot participate in a
video interview? You can always supply the
candidate a means to video interview as well.
Do you still want the same expectations of your
candidate? Make sure the candidate is aware of
your expectations. How they dress, how they
speak, how they handle themselves when asked
questions, etc. are all still very important. Let them
know who will be in the interview. Your questions
will not change. If you ask for a lesson to be taught,
make sure they know that will happen. They will
need to be prepared to show you their teaching
style. If you require some type of written example,
use a shared platform that you can see their writing
while it happens.
Once the interview is completed, make sure they
understand when and how you will get back with
them. Notification is always important. Also,
remember, it might be good to invite them to the
school when you have less than 10 people in the
Building (currently). I would assume they will want a
tour of the room they will be teaching in. You could
do that tour virtually as well.
Your team must meet afterwards to get feelings of
the candidate and how they will fit in with the
faculty. Always remember, the candidate that is
recommended to the board is your candidate. The
team can have input, but realistically, you must be
the person to evaluate them. They need to be your
candidate.
The challenges to
video interviewing
really do not need
to be difficult.
Your main issue is
being prepared for
anything to
happen, especially
with an internet
connection. Good
luck and keep working hard to hire the best and
brightest.
HOW DO I FIND
THE BEST &
BRIGHTEST?
Dr. Justin Henry, Superintendent, Goddard USD 265
When politely asked by Professor Henn to write an
article this month, the assignment was to discuss the
approach and focus our district takes in attempting to
hire the “best and brightest” educators possible. Let’s
begin with a couple of questions.
1. When is the last time a parent called and
requested that their child be moved to a
classroom with a less effective teacher?
2. Do you spend more of your time working through
personnel issues with your superstar teachers or
staff members that maybe you should not have
hired?
The research on teacher quality and impacting
student achievement is clear. Great teachers improve
learning opportunities for all students and
unfortunately the opposite is also true. Stronge and
Hindman reinforce this point in their 2006 book, The
Teacher Quality Index. “Hiring, supporting, and
sustaining effective teachers is one of the most
important responsibilities of school leaders,
perhaps the most important responsibility. If we
believe that teaching and learning are the core of
schooling, then we also understand why good
teacher selection is absolutely indispensable to highachieving
schools.”
So, the question for Kansas school administrators is
not only what can we do to increase the number of
educators in Kansas, but how do we develop a
system that supports world-class educators in every
classroom?
Each Kansas district is unique and different from the
other 285 in the state. In our district, we try to
approach teacher recruitment in a manner like a
coach recruiting future players: identify the talent,
develop relationships, and then sign the best players
who match your culture. Our approach includes the
following steps:
• First, how do we find and connect with the
freshman and sophomore education majors from
our area colleges and universities?
• Next, how do we foster effective and ongoing
relationships with these future teachers? What
opportunities can we create while they are still in
college to get them in our district to work with
our students and teachers? This can be through
traditional opportunities such as student-teaching
and internships, but also can include hosting our
own teacher recruitment day or partnering with
future teachers to help in classrooms as possible.
• By the time they are seniors, hopefully, we have
had multiple years to get to know the candidates
and determine who might be the best fit for our
district. This allows us to offer contracts early in
the fall semester to fill anticipated openings for
the next year.
As the number of college students entering the
education field continues to decrease, it becomes the
responsibility of all leaders to look for new ways to
proactively promote and support this profession. The
graduating class of 2050 depends on your work
today!
Beth Sandness, Curriculum & Testing Director,
Prairie View USD 362
The true desire for everyone to look at
each child individually and help each child
reach the goals they have set for themselves.
teachers in your building have a
wealth of knowledge and most love
to share, it makes them feel valued.
Also, don't be afraid to step out and
suggest new things - everyone has
something to bring to the table.
We attend as many teacher interview days as we can,
as well as networking with the colleges of education
around the state. We also work hard to help mentor
our new teachers, which gets the word out that we
desire to help people grow in their desired
profession.
A true desire and love for kids, a desire to form
relationships with students, staff, parents and
community. Content and classroom management can
be learned and mentored, but loving your job and
connecting with students is something that must
come from within.
Continue to learn, don't close the door to new
opportunities. Ask for guidance, especially when you
start and have the difficult student- no teacher
started out knowing everything, and the veteran
I would tell myself that there will be tough days both
physically and emotionally, but those days are a small
percentage of the total, the good days make up for
the tough ones 3 to 1. The kids in your classes will
forever be your kids and you will remember them
always.
My superintendent is a firm believer in professional
development for all staff, so I make time in my
schedule to attend conferences, local meetings and
state meetings. If we aren't learning we can't be
moving forward.
I miss teaching at times- but I feel I am doing my
dream job in education. I get to help staff, students,
parents and community members better understand
our school system and how we want to help grow
their kids.
When someone answers a question with "because
we have always done it that way."
community member so it is important that they
understand the ins and outs. Also, we present data to
our Board of Education every time we do testing, so
they can also understand and share the results.
Through our professional development of Visible
Learning our staff has learned how to really break
down the success criteria that every child needs to be
successful and master a concept. This also requires
that they look at date consistently to make sure that
students are mastering those concepts. We then use
that data to help drive our future professional
development.
When I was teaching history I was able to take a
group of 24 junior high and high school students to
Washington D.C. and Gettysburg. Watching the
students walk where history was made and then 10
years later to have kids still talk about that trip- that
is what I love.
My position allows me to work with teachers across
the district from Pre-K through Seniors. I love being
able to help others, whether that be staff to find new
resources or students with post-secondary plans.
I tell people all the time that I am in the kid business
and every decision that we make has to be in the
best interest of the students. When you tackle every
topic and every day with that mindset, it reminds us
why we got into education in the first place and why
we do what we do. I also have to stay current with
the ever-changing world of education, especially post
-secondary so we can guide students with the best
possible information. Students are my livelihood and
we have to remember that on a daily basis. Even
though our colleagues are adults our customers are
students and their parents.
Want to be featured in KASCD’s Curriculum Leader
Spotlight? Email Tammy Martin at
tmartin3@usd259.net . Only current KASCD
members are eligible. Join KASCD at kascd.org.
I work with staff a lot to understand their data, they
are the ones that speak most often with parents and
Non-Traditional
Hiring
Jamie Rumford, Superintendent, Scott County USD 466
Recently one of our school board members raised the
question, “Does anybody take the traditional route to
the classroom anymore?” This question came on the
heels of hiring our second teacher for the upcoming
school year who will have to do some sort of
transition to teaching model.
It was a great question and led us to ponder the hires
we have made in the past five years who did not
come from the traditional college to student teaching
to hiring process. Our reality is that we have hired
just as many transitional teachers as we have
traditionally trained teachers during this time span.
Along with this reality is these transitional teachers
have been incredible for our kids. In most cases, they
chose another career direction after high school and
later felt the calling to teach.
Added to our traditional staff list we now have a
former nurse, construction site superintendent,
paralegal, chemist, property manager, military
instructor, X-Ray tech, recreation director, therapist,
and veterinarian, and each of them bring a
perspective we want our students to experience.
Isn’t this what we have identified as a key component
to our educational systems?
We have all heard about hiring people with
character, work ethic, and the ability to be coached.
Add to this list the ability to bring a perspective we
may not have considered before. Transitional
programs have been a reaction to a diminished work
force, but do not overlook the opportunities they
create within your district to influence your students
and their future.
The same thing is happening with our classified staff.
Most of our directors and business office staff had
alternate ambitions coming out of high school and
college, yet they see how their experience in other
careers can impact our school district in their related
areas.
WE PLAN FOR A REASON
We’re still in the early stages of understanding how the coronavirus outbreak will affect global health care and
economics for the rest of the year. However, when you look into the future, you can see events that you’ve
been anticipating for quite some time: children heading off to college, home upgrades, family vacations, elder
care for your parents, and, of course, your own retirement.
Here’s why guiding you and your family through these life transitions should still be the central focus of your
planning, even during a significant bout of market volatility.
The big picture is always brighter: Nobody could have predicted that a virus outbreak would disrupt global
business right in the middle of a contentious presidential election cycle. But market history did tell us that the
record-breaking bull market of 2009-2019 wasn’t going to last forever. What goes up eventually comes down.
The further you pull back when you’re looking at market returns, the smaller today’s volatility looks.
Continuing to work towards your life goals and events is a much more effective strategy than trying to predict
the next natural disaster, the next market downturn, or the next president.
You have options: We understand volatility can be worrying, especially if you’re nearing retirement or newly
retired. While major market volatility is never about just one thing, the coronavirus is making it hard for
companies around the world to buy raw materials from China and sell to Chinese customers. Stocks in the
energy, travel, technology, and consumer goods sectors have been hit especially hard.
What’s going to guide the decisions you make during this market correction, and the next one? How are you
going to decide which levers, if any, to pull, and which to leave alone?
Creating your Plan: We can’t plan for the next significant market shakeup. How can you achieve your financial
goals no matter what’s going on outside of your home? There’s no “one-size-fits-all” answer when folks
wonder what they should do during a moment like this. That is why planning is vitally important. Some folks
will make the most progress towards their goals by sticking to their current saving and investing strategies,
even as the markets are unsettled. Others might need to increase allocations to their cash reserves. And still
others might look for “buy low” opportunities that will pay off in the long run. In each case, it guided by a
customized strategy, not today’s headlines.
http://www.ameritimeks.com/
Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through
Securities America Advisors, Inc. Ameritime, LLC and Securities America are separate entities.
Uncovering the
Mysteries of Hiring
Mark Wilson, The Principal Matters
One of the most important functions of the school
leader is the hiring process. It's also one of the most
anxious times for the leader, and with good reason.
When you're selecting someone to join your faculty,
you don't KNOW what kind of teacher they'll be for
you until they are actually a teacher for you.
Your selection of a candidate is a commitment, and
you don't always know as much about them as you'd
like to.
Here's a tip: Keep your focus on the essential
questions you're working to answer:
• seeing your candidate interact with students;
• observing your candidate take part in a
collaborative setting with teachers at your school.
If you can create circumstances to better see what
the candidate can really do, you're going to know
much more than if you merely hold an interview.
Everything you do in your hiring process should be
focused on answering those two questions. If that's
true, you really want to know about the candidate's
competencies as a teacher, and their dispositions as
an individual. What can they do, and how do they
relate to other people, particularly children?
SO your process, if conditions permit, should include:
• watching your candidate teach a lesson;
An interview minimally answers the questions you
want to know about your candidate. You may think
you have great intuition and can learn a lot about
someone during a 30-45 minute interview. Maybe
you're right. But wouldn't you rather watch a
candidate talk with students similar to those they'll
be working with? Wouldn't you like to see how they
would develop a brief lesson and connect the
learning with students?
It takes time to put together these experiences, but
not NEARLY as much time as it'll take you in the Fall if
you don't invest the time in the Spring to choose
wisely.
Asking teachers to participate in the process can
help you avoid blindspots, give you fresh
perspectives, and help build a sense of
community for the teacher who will be joining
you next fall.
Using a teacher committee is great; asking them
to rank candidates can be problematic. Consider
asking your teachers to ONLY give you these
things: what strengths they see in each
candidate; what weaknesses they see in each
candidate; and how well they can vision the
candidate teaching the students at your
school. (You may want to create a form for those
questions).
You don't. That's why you are better served by
checking references that aren't listed as well as
those who are. It's important to know people
beyond the borders of your school system, and
this is one of the times that comes into play. The
more people you know in education in your
general area and across the state, the more likely
you are to have someone who will give you the
real skinny.
how well this candidate will teach the students at
your school. You want to know how this candidate
will treat the children in her class. How well will this
candidate get along with other teachers and
collaborate in our faculty? These are questions that
you may better learn in other ways-- experiences as
part of the "interview" that will better tell you those
things.
If you spend an hour a month in your teachers'
classrooms every month all year long, they STILL are
in the class with the students (and on their own)
99.2% of the time. Do you feel good enough about
the candidate to leave them on their own with the
children of your school that much? We have some
tough situations, but if you know a candidate may
not be able to do the work, you'll need to have a
thorough plan and a lot of resources to make it work
in the fall.
While you are interviewing them, you can learn a lot
about someone by asking them what gets them
excited, what makes them stressed, what book
they're currently reading, and what day they'd like to
re-live if they were able.
Again, those questions STILL don't tell you what you
need to know, but you will get to know them better
by asking them.
The biggest questions that you have may be difficult
to get answered in the interview. You want to know
Blake Vargas, Superintendent, Caney Valley USD 436
A great district is only as strong as the people working in it. Budget and resources are only
valuable if you have capable teachers to apply them. There are three key factors I have applied
over the years to build a fantastic group of educators here at USD 436 Caney Valley; Retention,
Recruitment, and finding employees with Reliability. Then often the hardest part, getting out of
their way to let their abilities shine.
Hiring begins with retention of those that are willing
to do whatever it takes for their students. As a
leader, it is important to set the tone; put incentives
in place, create a culture that is rewarding, push your
staff to grow, and lead by example in order to retain
your best and brightest so hiring becomes easier.
Establishing a culture of doing what is always best for
the kids will reduce the number of departures, and
contributes to an overall positive working
environment. However, for those that are unable to
keep pace with the staff around them that truly
impact kid’s lives, simply put, it may be time to move
along. Unfortunately, for some, the desire to do what
is best for students has faded, and I always respect
those that will move out of the way, versus hanging
on in a situation that is not beneficial for anyone. The
key fact is that staff know those who have lost their
passion for kids, and it is amazing the great things it
will do for culture when they vacate. But at all costs,
hang on to those that are doing the very best for
students.
There is always a point in the spring that the modus
operandi changes, and all is fair during hiring season.
Every district is looking to secure the best there is in a
potential vacancy. Oftentimes that means attending
college career fairs, but I have found one of the best
ways to strengthen your organization is to attract and
bring in seasoned educators from other districts. If
you have done your job with culture, this is not
something you will have to work too hard on. Word
gets out quickly, and I have found that educators will
often be excited to join a thriving district with a
strong passion for its students. This can be difficult if
you are in an area with many great surrounding
districts, but can still be accomplished with the right
angle. For some it is a supplemental, others a certain
class that the educator is passionate about, or even
professional development opportunities they would
have access to. Plant the seed early! Build
relationships with people in your community that you
see potential in. I have slowly recruited over years to
assemble a strong team of passionate and dedicated
faculty and staff.
When I am reviewing potential candidates, I am
looking for the candidate with tenacity; the individual
who has had to, in a sense, fight a little to get where
they are. In my experience, this is the employee that
tends to be most reliable. I’m not looking for “flash,”
or the perfect student. I’m looking for an employee
that, if called upon, will come through when you
need it most. This has never been more beneficial
given the impact of the current Covid-19 situation.
My Bullpup Family never hesitated once to do what
was best for the students in our community.
The formula really is rather simple; hire the very best,
and get out of their way! I tell my staff when I hire
them that I just want to be the individual that
eliminates barriers to educate our kids to the very
best ability we have. They are the experts in their
respective area, and I challenge them to push their
students outside of their comfort zone. Because, in
the end, I will be doing the same with them. So
Muévete!
Bruce Kracl, Director of Operations &
Amy Droegemeier, Director of Nutrition Services,
Gardner Edgerton USD 231
“Hiring the Best and the Brightest” may conjure up a
notion of a long line of seasoned, experienced, and
anxious job candidates applying for an available
nutrition service, custodial housekeeping, grounds, or
maintenance job opening; or conversely a long line of
young, energetic, and recently trained job
candidates. Unfortunately, the prospect of a long
line of “best and brightest” candidates applying for
available classified openings in the school district is
usually not practical or realistic.
School district administrators and supervisors are
more and more challenged with identifying talented
applicants that may require job specific training after
their hire to meet the needs of the job opening.
Many of the candidates that apply for jobs such as
custodial, grounds, or maintenance positions may not
have years of experience in housekeeping or a
specific construction trade. Competition from a good
construction or production economy means there is
an abundance of construction and production related
jobs that typically offer higher wages to the most
experienced candidates. Consequently, for school
districts, the ability to select candidates with great
work ethic and a willingness to learn becomes
increasingly important. If you can cross train a
candidate from another vocation (such as
commercial cleaning, retail, food industry, delivery
service, or warehousing jobs), you may just find an
applicant that will be a great employee for a number
of years.
Hiring food service employees can also be challenging
due to limited hours and, surprising to some, the
physical stamina required of these positions. These
factors, coupled with the fact that most positions are
not year-round, can make it difficult to fill food
service positions, especially when the economy is
booming. The best strategy to fill many of these food
service positions is to hire employees who already
have children in the school district and want to
ensure that their family’s day-to-day needs are met.
By providing a partial-day schedule, many parents
take these positions to ensure that they are there to
see their children off to school, greet them at the end
of the day, and take care of them on days out of
school. These employees are also typically the most
loyal as they are invested in the success of the
district. We often say that even though the job is not
glamorous and the pay will not make you a
millionaire, the intangible benefits such as excellent
work/life balance are invaluable.
It is important to also understand that you may be
hiring for the short term, as opposed to a long time
career. Retirees and (to a much lesser degree)
college students may both represent a competent
and willing candidate pool for these jobs. As
economic conditions change, it is natural for
employees to seek better financial opportunities. It is
also not unusual for former employees to want to
return to a school district position when the economy
slows, or they grow tired of their better opportunity.
Be open to good former employees that may wish to
return to work for the school district.
Here are some suggestions for seeking and selecting
classified staff in the present job market.
Advertising and solicitation. Posting an available job
on the district web site may not yield the volume or
quality of candidates needed to competently fill a
position. Utilize available commercial job listings,
local newspapers, public and social media to list jobs.
Post job openings in the school newspapers, at the
local grocery, at church, the local YMCA, trade
schools, colleges and universities. Consider
establishing a job fair for the district specifically
suited to all classified positions (not necessarily just
nutrition service, custodial, grounds, or
maintenance). Understand that more than half of
the applications you receive are probably not going
to be a reasonable or ready-made fit for your
position.
Encourage your current employees to recruit, recruit,
recruit. Oftentimes word of mouth solicitations for
available positions create a practical interest and
expectation for a job and a job candidate.
Establish a broad range of criteria for screening and
candidate selection. While experience in a similar
position should always be a primary consideration,
evaluate experience in other vocations that require
similar skills or job functions.
Interview with purposeful questions. Try to develop
questions that challenge a candidate to show a
general knowledge and expand on the specific
aptitude you require. Strive to ask questions that you
can use to assess a candidate’s flexibility and ability
to learn new skills. Focus on a candidate’s potential
to adapt to your job description, if they don’t have an
abundance of prior experience in that vocation.
Utilize your existing staff in the interview process to
ask questions, and provide valuable input in making a
selection.
Get multiple references and get as much information
as possible. In an age where other employers HR
departments may not be willing to offer much in the
way of applicant information, it is important to work
with a highly thought of candidate to obtain a
number of references; especially references willing to
offer meaningful information about the applicant.
Sell a school district’s opportunity to provide steady
employment over the course of a number of years.
Provide information regarding employee benefits,
and advancement opportunities that may exist.
Candidates that have worked seasonal or
construction related jobs often times tire of riding the
construction economy with long demanding hours
during the high times, and short hours during the off
season or poor construction times.
with available training from other sources; such as
vendors that you already use. Most vendors
(especially in the custodial field) offer a multitude of
training opportunities. Be open to having the new
employee review and select training that they have
interest in. Share training opportunities with the
candidates during the interview and selection
process; so that they understand training is available,
and also expected.
Establish a plan for training inexperienced, or undertrained
new hires. Utilize the talents of your existing
employees to offer hands-on instruction and training
for the new employee. Supplement in-house training
Good luck as you market and solicit for your open
positions, screen applicants, interview, and make
your selections for the “best and the brightest”.
A Blueprint for
Expanding the
Teacher Interview
Process
Dr. Ann Gaudino, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Millersville University, Millersville, PA
*Originally featured in the Feb-April Perspective Magazine provided by the American Association of
School Personnel Administrators (AASPA)
Recognizing and responding to the long-term
importance of the interview process are essential to
hiring the best teachers. When we hire teachers, we
are binding our district by contract with that teacher
potentially for 30 or more years; the working life of
that teacher. We must approach hiring keeping this
long range in mind; how many students will be
influenced by this teacher over the course of his or
her working lifetime? And how time consuming and
expensive would it be to remediate his or her faults
or move towards dismissal?
As a human resource director and assistant
superintendent, I often wondered why districts hire
teachers after a short interview process; sometimes
after meeting the applicant for one or two hours. Do
we really believe that we know someone well enough
so quickly to offer them a contract; potentially
binding our district with the person for their working
lifetime?
I thought about these ‘whys’ many times, looked at
many years of research on aspects of personnel, and
decided to take the steps necessary to change our
hiring process for teachers. It took time to get
everyone on board with the idea and process, but
long-term it was vital to ensuring that we hired and
retained the best teachers. Working collaboratively,
stakeholders can reform our teacher hiring process;
making it more in-depth, with a longer
in-person interview, and involving more people to get
a variety of perspectives on the applicant.
A comprehensive teacher hiring process begins with
the principal and central office administrator (HR
director, assistant superintendent, etc.). Working
together, they conduct a comprehensive paper
review and have much discussion and comparison of
scoring rubrics to narrow the pool. Keeping this initial
screening process at the administrative level helps to
ensure that the potential pool of applicants going
forward meets the required and preferred
qualifications of the school and district.
Next, an interview team consisting of the principal,
assistant principal, central office administrator and
lead teachers is assembled. These team members
must be employees who are committed to hiring the
best for the school and not burdened with other
agenda. They must be vetted through a careful
process of consideration. Working together, they will
conduct i n-depth phone/online individual interviews;
again with much comparison and discussion of
scoring rubrics and thoughts about why or why not
each candidate was the ‘right’ fit. An additional step
that can be added at this point is to conduct a group
interview with applicants to get a sense of how
applicants interact with colleagues. While best done
in person to get a ‘read’ on all aspects of the
applicants’ professional behaviors, distant applicants
could participate via an online technology platform
(Zoom, etc.). After these interviews, the team works
to carefully narrow the pool to the top three to five
top candidates to campus for a full-day interview
process.
Establishing a full-day interview process that involves
many groups of constituents interacting with the
candidate is time consuming and labor intensive; but,
in the end, I noticed that the quality of the teachers
who we hired increased measurably. There were no
more ‘mis-hires’; never hiring someone who turned
out to not be what we had hoped for. Student test
scores improved, as did parent and community
satisfaction, and building and district morale.
Moreover, candidates invited to campus commented
that they got to know the school well and could
determine if our school was a good fit for them,
should they be offered the position. Giving the gift of
a full-day of time to each candidate who was invited
to campus and carefully vetting the applicants
through the eyes of many constituents over an
extensive full-day interview was instrumental in
hiring and retaining the best teachers.
The full-day interview begins before the school day
started with coffee/light breakfast with the teacher
applicant, principal, interview committee and a
central office administrator. This informal time
together is optimal for observing applicant
interpersonal skills.
Next, the principal and central office administrator
interview the candidate and then walk the school
with the candidate to give him or her the tour. It’s
amazing how much information can be noticed and
conversation. Having two sets of administrator eyes
is valuable in noticing and noting key points
of the applicant’s performance and interactions. By
the end of the tour, the principal and central office
administrators have both spent several hours,
nonstop with the candidate—it’s so enlightening to
observe and interact with the candidate for this long
time and in a variety of circumstances and locations.
The rest of the day is spent with the candidate
interviewing with various groups: faculty, service
personnel (secretaries, custodians, etc.), parents and
students because each brings a valuable perspective.
In advance, the principal works with a how to select
group members, guiding them with formulating their
questions, deciding which student or parent would
pose which question and how the group will evaluate
the applicant. During the day, the principal meets
with each interview group after the interview to
debrief and learn the findings of the group about the
candidate. The candidate spends lunch with the
teacher and administrator interview committee.
There is a teaching demonstration with a group of
students and teachers and administrators observing
to gauge the quality of teaching done by the
applicant. The day concludes with the candidate
interviewing and debriefing with the principal again;
and it also serves as a chance for the candidate to ask
As an administrator, I felt simultaneously invigorated
and exhausted by this long, and sometimes grueling,
process. But, in the end, I felt that I truly knew the
applicants and could make the best recommendation
for our students. Feedback from candidates indicated
that they, too, felt they got to know our school well
and have a sense if working there would be the right
fit for them, if offered the position.
It is difficult to find time in K-12 education. We are
pulled in so many directions all at once. The upfront
investment of time and effort in the interviewing
process yields a long term investment of hiring the
best and ‘right’ teachers. It is less financially and time
costly than having to remediate or terminate an
employee. Hiring the best employees ultimately
translates to helping our students; our number one
goal.
TECHNOLOGY FOR THE NEXT
DECADE
Dr. John Vandewalle, CEO Lumen Touch, johnv@lumentouch.com
There is no turning back, so how do we deliver top quality education and effectively
provide student and data security, streamline workflow for overworked teachers
and administrators, while fostering community support with strong security and
fiscal responsibility?
So, what keeps the CEO of Lumen Touch and his team awake at night?
“The last thing I ever want to hear is that one of our school partners has had a tragedy of some kind with one
of their students, families or staff members. It breaks our hearts whenever we hear of the various tragedies,
schools have to deal with every day. The next thing that I loathe to hear is that students or their schools have
been compromised through their technology or data that has been violated in some way!”
Maintain the updates and configurations of all services, following industry best
practices. Isolation of risk and standardization are core principals you should use when
determining the design and configurations of your services, and rather than react to
existing threats, work under the assumption that all networks are potentially hostile,
including other servers in the local network and clients across the web. With this assumption in mind, you
should explicitly ban the use of defaulted trust between services. All systems should have access rules and
firewalls enforced.
Consider migrating to a fluid system of interoperability that allows for sharing of data across platforms and
vendors while creating technological engines for automated data integration. This allows you to meet the
standards of EdFi, IMS Global, CoSN and other organizations that create these standards. You should be able to
distribute data across platforms in a just-in-time manner that provides instant communication and dashboards
to all the stakeholders from Board members to students and their families on the technology of their choice.
Redesign should be dedicated to helping schools and districts transform how they deliver education, support
teachers, and manage their schools using edtech that is not only comprehensive but
extremely secure. There should be an ongoing search for opportunities to have state-ofthe-art
technology to address the stresses on students, teachers and the staff. This may
require moving away from the comfort of extant systems that have kept us comfortable
for years. Today, we should look at technology with the bottom line metric of Return on
Education (ROE). This will address fiscal responsibility and ultimately save your district
time and money. Also beware of the brave new app. that just walked in from the latest
conference that is tacked on to your menu of technologies without passing the muster of a good approval and
implementation process. This may add to the swiss cheese opportunity for system violation.
In general, schools that implement these ROE strategies experience an average savings of 30% to 60%, which is
realized from diminishing redundant expenditures, time savings for educators and administrators and
insurance protection through fluid interoperability and cyber-security.
SafeDefend.com
May 27-29, 2020
Hyatt Regency • Century II Convention Center
Wichita, KS
CLICK HERE FOR MORE
INFORMATION
KAESP—Kansas Association of Elementary School Principals
KAMSA—Kansas Association of Middle School Administrators
KASBO—Kansas Association of School Business Officials
KASPA—Kansas Association of School Personnel Administrators
KASCD—Kansas Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development
KASEA—Kansas Association of Special Education Administrators
KASSP—Kansas Association of Secondary School Principals
KLCTE—Kansas Leaders of Career and Technical Education
KanSPRA—Kansas School Public Relations Association
KSSA—Kansas School Superintendents Association
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