How to hire a principal

The Mat-Su Borough School District has several principals to hire for next school year, including at Palmer High and Colony High, but first the school board has to choose who is going to do the choosing.

Should high school students have a say in who their principal is? Should a school board member sit on a committee that makes recommendations to the superintendent? How many teachers and classified employees from a school should be members of that committee?

These are a few of the many questions the school board is wrestling with as it looks at its policy on hiring principals. During a regular meeting earlier this week, the board went through a first reading of the administration's policy recommendation with little comment, but members indicated it wasn't a done deal.

"We're going to have to amend and delete no matter what," board member Rob Wells said when some board members began to argue details during the first reading.

The policy will come before the board for a final reading at its May 1 meeting, at which point the board will vote on any changes. As it stands, the administration's proposal calls for principal selection committees to be made up of two teachers, one classified staff, two parents or community members and, at the high school level, two students. The superintendent would pre-select candidates to go before the committee, which would then review applications and participate in the interview process. The committee would recommend its top two candidates to the superintendent who, along with the school board, would have the final say.

The committee policy became the focus of attention after Colony parents complained that the superintendent rejected Colony Middle principal John J. Miller and former Colony High assistant principal Mark Okeson before ever allowing them to go before a committee. Okeson and Miller later confirmed with the Frontiersman that they had applied for the Colony High job.

Both Okeson and Miller have worked as administrators in the district for a number of years. Last year, Okeson was reassigned to Wasilla High following an investigation at Colony High when two teachers were charged in separate cases with sexually abusing their students. At the same time, Bill Harlow was removed as principal and reassigned to central administration.

District officials said at the time that they could not discuss those candidates who were rejected during the "pre-selection" process, but did say numerous factors were considered, including district-wide needs, and that Palmer High principal Wolfgang Winter was the only applicant referred to the committee at that point.

This week, the superintendent said nothing had changed in her pre-selection decision and that there has not been as much interest in the principal position as the district had hoped.

In the meantime, some Palmer High parents have also had complaints about the process. When Harlow was removed as Colony principal, Palmer High principal Mac Whyte stepped in as interim principal at Colony. When it was made known that Whyte would be returning to Palmer High next school year and that Winter was being considered for Colony High, some parents told the school board they were not pleased about the trade and that they would prefer to keep Winter.

The issue has become moot, however, as Mac Whyte has accepted a position in another district for next school year, leaving the top positions at both Colony and Palmer High up for grabs.

Whoever is chosen as the principals, numerous parents and teachers contend that they should be involved in the choosing.

"When that process doesn't happen, there is a severe breakdown in communication and trust in the district," Palmer High parent Anne Knobbe told the school board earlier this month.

During the same meeting, Colony High student Marie Stoner made her case for allowing students to sit on the selection committees, even if only to put in their two cents without any voting power.

At a previous meeting, board member Linda Menard said she had reservations about including students in the process because teen-agers seeking to be on the committee would be involved in a "popularity contest," and, once on the committee, would not respect confidentiality requirements when looking at personnel files.

With encouragement from board president Dan Contini, Stoner made an impressive presentation that included details as to how students would be selected through an application process that would include four letters of reference. From the pool of qualified candidates, the school's student government would choose a representative for the committee.

Stoner pointed out that many important people achieved success at young ages, including Mozart, who at 18 was famous, and King Tut, who ruled an empire as a youth. But, Stoner said, if these same people had been students in the Mat-Su Borough School District, they would have had no say in who their principals were.

"We are being fed mixed messages," she said. While teachers tell their students to reach out and change the world, she said, youth are unable to make a difference at the local level.

Stoner's presentation appeared to have swayed Menard, who asked the student a few questions and then indicated she would support having high school students on the committees.

While this item may be settled, the board seemed less sure of other specifics, including whether a board member would serve on the selection committee, what the superintendent's role should be in the process and how set in stone the committee guidelines should be.

In addition to Colony and Palmer High, the principal positions at both Wasilla Middle and Talkeetna Elementary are also open for next school year.