Public to help pick next PW-S superintendent

The Port Washington-Saukville School Board got its first look at six semifinalists for the job of superintendent last week and decided to ask district residents to help evaluate the three finalists for the position.

Residents are invited to a forum in the Port Washington High School gym from  5 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 24, during which each of the three finalists will have one hour to introduce him or herself and answer questions from the district’s hiring consultants, Board President Brenda Fritsch said Tuesday.

Those who attend the forum will receive forms and be asked to score the candidates in various categories. The board will consider those scores when selecting the next superintendent, Fritsch said.

“No one will be asked to rank the candidates,” she said. “It’s really just intended to gather that intuitive feeling that residents have for the candidates.”

During the board’s May 3 meeting, Fritsch said the finalists would meet with three groups — administrators, teachers and other staff members and select members of the public such as parents who are active in school groups and civic leaders. But during its closed meeting on May 5, the board agreed to invite all district residents to a candidate forum based on a recommendation from consultants Gerald Freitag and Joe Sheehan of School Exec Connect.

At that meeting, Freitag and Sheehan presented the board with a list of six semifinalists they pared from the 36 people who applied for the district’s top job. Key to that process was a profile based on feedback from 150 people representing various groups in the community and school system who participated in 13 focus groups, as well as 758 people who responded to a survey asking about the district’s strengths and weaknesses and the ideal attributes of the next superintendent. 

“That input was critical,” Fritsch told the board last week.

“The most important thing about this search is the profile. Our consultants will only bring candidates to us that satisfy (the criteria of the profile).”

During the board’s Monday, May 10, meeting, Fritsch characterized the list of semifinalists as “diverse and interesting.”

She said during an interview that while some of the semifinalists currently work for large school districts, others lead smaller school systems. Some are assistant superintendents while others are head superintendents, she said. 

When asked if any of the semi-finalists are graduates of Port Washington High School or have previously worked in the district, Fritsch said, “None of the names were recognizable to me,” adding that she had not had the opportunity to study the resumes and backgrounds of the candidates.

The board is scheduled to interview the semifinalists on Monday, May 17, and Wednesday, May 19, when it is expected to select three finalists.

Finalist interviews are to be conducted on May 25 and 26, and the board is scheduled to deliberate and possibly select the district’s next superintendent on June 2.

The district’s current superintendent, Michael Weber, will retire on June 30 after 21 years as its top administrator.