Trent Grundmeyer of Grundmeyer Leader Services attended the Mid-Prairie School Board meeting on Monday, March 28 to give the board an update about the ongoing superintendent search.

Grundmeyer said there are currently seven applicants, but that many applicants tend to wait for stakeholder survey materials to be published, so they can cater their application toward what the school is looking for. He anticipates many applicants will apply in the last few days before the April 3 deadline.

Grundmeyer presented the results of the stakeholder survey, which got 334 responses, including 208 from parents and 75 from teachers.

The strengths of the Mid-Prairie school district, as indicated in the survey were a supportive homeschool assistance program, skilled and caring faculty and staff, community support, focus on student achievement and opportunities for students.

Areas identified as challenges in the survey were staff retention, behavior issues among students, competitive pay, communication (especially between staff and parents) and student achievement.

Grundmeyer also noted that, based on survey results, the stakeholders tended to put more importance on the future superintendent’s personal skills and personality than their professional skills. For example, 58% of respondents said the most important thing for the new superintendent is to be approachable.

“We praise Mark for how he is in the community and how he is approachable,” said board member Gabby Frederick. “I think a lot of people in this community are used to that and if we don’t have that, we’re going to see that. If we’re not going to see the superintendent at ball games and plays, it’s going to be a shock for the community.”

Grundmeyer agreed.

“We have to have the right person before we even start to look at the professional skills,” he said.

The application deadline for the superintendent position is April 3, then on April 13, Grundmeyer will present the candidates to the board in a pre-screening review. Then, a chosen group of candidates will undergo 30-minute Zoom interviews before the field is narrowed to two or three candidates, who will undergo formal interviews on May 9.