Sun Post Editions Brooklyn Center/Brooklyn Park | Page 9

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Brooklyn Park / Brooklyn Center
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 • Page 9
Osseo School Board announces new superintendent
Anoka-Hennepin
Associate
Superintendent
McIntyre to
fi ll vacancy
By SOPHIA KHORI
[e-mail]
After completing sec-
ond-round
interviews
with fi nalist candidates
Feb. 23, the Osseo Area
School Board announced
Cory McIntyre, associ-
ate superintendent at
Anoka-Hennepin School
District, will serve as the
new superintendent.
Earlier this month,
the board conducted
fi rst-round
interviews,
ranked their top choices
and asked McIntyre as
well as Dr. Ryan Laager,
superintendent at Belle
Plaine School District
and Lisa Sayles-Adams,
assistant superintendent
at St. Paul Public Schools
to come back for another
interview.
These three fi nalists
were part of a pool of
21 candidates that a sub-
committee of the board,
district administrators
and search fi rm repre-
sentatives from School
Exec Connect screened.
Then, when the top 10
were chosen, four indi-
viduals were invited for
fi rst-round interviews.
The board chose fi nal-
ists based on how well
they fi t the profi le formu-
lated at the beginning of
the search.
The skills and char-
acteristics included in
that profi le, were high
levels of achievement,
closing the achievement
gap, attracting and re-
taining students, a deep
understanding of racial
equity, strong commu-
nication skills, someone
who can engage families
in the district, some-
one that can delegate to
staff, someone that can
manage both fi scal and
other resources, some-
one that puts students
fi rst, someone who can
make challenging deci-
sions and stand by them,
someone who can pro-
mote a healthy and safe
school climate, someone
that can articulate short
and long term goals, and
someone that bases deci-
sions on data.
After McIntyre, Laager
and Sayles-Adams went
through two rounds of
public interviews, led
a presentation in front
of district stakehold-
ers, participated in focus
groups with district stu-
dents and met with dis-
trict staff members and
administrators, most the
board agreed that any of
three candidates would
do well as the district’s
superintendent. To come
to a decision, each school
board member discussed
their top choice at the
end of second-round in-
terviews Feb. 23.
At the beginning of
the post-interview dis-
cussion, Boardmembers
Mike Ostaffe, Tanya Si-
mons and Heather Dou-
glass said McIntyre was
their top choice, Board-
members Kelsey Daw-
son Walton and Jackie
Mosqueda-Jones
said
Sayles-Adams was their
top choice, and Board-
member Jessica Craig
said Laager was her top
choice.
Before voting on a
resolution to appoint
a new superintendent,
each school board mem-
ber stated why they feel
their top choice best fi ts
the current needs of the
district.
M o s q u e d a - Jo n e s
kicked off the conversa-
tion, and said, “I chose
Lisa Sayles-Adams, not
because I don’t think
Calendar
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
the other candidates are
qualifi ed, but I feel like
they are all very quali-
fi ed and any one of them
could lead our district
and any of them could
bring us forward.”
Since reducing the
achievement gap and
having racial equity is at
the top of the district’s
priority list, Mosqueda-
Jones said Sayles-Adams
experience with hiring
teachers of color and in-
creasing Minnesota Com-
prehensive Assessments
scores within schools
would be benefi cial to
Osseo Area Schools. “If
we had a leader of color,
that would refl ect our
community more as we’re
54 percent of color,”
Mosqueda-Jones added.
M o s q u e d a - Jo n e s ’
stance was echoed and
expanded upon by Wal-
ton.
She said, “We truly are
a microcosm of America,
and I think that’s what
makes us special—we
have the opportunity
now to take the lead, to
be cutting edge.” Dawson
Walton also said Sayles-
Adams’ demonstrated in-
clusivity during student
focus groups conducted
as part of the interview
process as well as her
strong sense of fi scal ac-
countability, data-driven
approach, classroom ex-
perience, leadership ex-
perience, family engage-
ment
implementation
and reverence and respect
for the school board and
businesses in the commu-
nity also make her a top
choice.
On the other hand,
Craig stated Laager was
a top candidate. Craig
said she felt Laager was
the best communicator
of all the fi nalists. The
superintendent is the
face of the district and a
liaison between the board
and stakeholders, so be-
ing a good communica-
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tor is “something that is
extremely important to
me as a board member”
Craig said.
The other half of the
board said McIntyre was
their top pick for the va-
cant position that has
been fi lled with interim
leaders since Kate Ma-
guire’s retirement last
spring. Simons said she
backed McIntyre because
during his interviews he
referred to the district
as one entity and said he
would like to not only
contribute his ideas to
the district but also build
upon the work already be-
ing done. She added that
his strong administrative
experiences and experi-
ence in budget, negotia-
tion, curriculum, equity
work, special education,
levy and boundary work
would also make him a
strong leader of ISD 279.
Douglass agreed with
Simons’ statements and
said, “Ultimately, I felt
like when I look at that
list that we came up with
together with our com-
munity of what our dis-
trict needs, I felt like Mr.
McIntyre really hit most
of the boxes.”
McIntyre’s
fi nancial
experience is an attribute
Ostaffe said made Mc-
Intyre his top choice.
“I’ve said all along I’m
looking to hire somebody
to be CEO of a $320
million company and
with that, you have to
have knowledge across a
broad spectrum.” Ostaffe
noted that McIntyre has
run a $100 million budget
in special education, “the
biggest by far of any of
our candidates, that’s a
huge fi nancial responsi-
bility and a huge educa-
tional responsibility.”
The board was at a
standstill in their dis-
cussion and decision, so
they ranked top choices
again and assigned each
candidate to fi rst, second
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and third place. After this
second round of ranking,
both McIntyre and Say-
les-Adams had three fi rst
place rankings, however,
McIntyre had the most
second-place rankings.
Since the numbers were
showing McIntyre had
the most support, Ostaffe
made a motion to hire Mc-
Intyre. Only three mem-
bers voted to pass this mo-
tion, so back-and-forth
discussion continued.
Ultimately, when Os-
taffe made the same mo-
tion to hire McIntyre for
a second time, Ostaffe,
Simons, Douglass and
Dawson Walton voted in
favor of the motion. Daw-
son Walton previously
voted to not pass the fi rst
motion made, while Craig
and Mosqueda-Jones op-
posed both the fi rst and
fi nal motion.
Since McIntyre received
majority approval, he will
take on the superintendent
position after current In-
terim Superintendent Dr.
James Bauck completes
his contract, which be-
gan last October and ends
June 30.
Come summer, Mc-
Intyre will be able to apply
his current associate su-
perintendent experience at
Anoka-Hennepin School
District, his system-level
leadership experience at
Anoka-Hennepin, North
St.
Paul-Maplewood-
Oakdale, Rochester, and
Hudson, Wisconsin, his
special education coor-
dinator experience in
See Supt. , Page 12
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